Class
– 10th Chapter 3
Water
1. Approximately,
71 % of the earth’s surface is covered with water.
2. Only
3 % (70% - Glaciers & ice caps (Antarctica, Greenland and
the mountainous regions) and 30% - ground water) of the
total available water is a freshwater.
3. A
very small proportion of freshwater is effectively available for human use.
4. India receives only 4% of world’s
precipitation (Rainfall)
5. By
2025, it is predicted that large parts of India will join countries or regions
having absolute water scarcity (कमी).
WATER SCARCITY AND THE NEED FOR WATER CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
1. When
we speak of water shortages, we think about having low rainfall
area or drought (सूखा) prone areas, deserts of Rajasthan (where women collecting &
storing water with ‘matkas’)
2. So
the availability of water resources varies over space and time and depends in
seasonal and annual precipitation
3. Water
scarcity (कमी) – Increasing population, Increasing
business activities, over-exploitation (उपयोग), excessive (हद से ज़्यादा) use and unequal access to water among
different social groups
4. A
large population requires more water not only for domestic use but also to
produce more food.
5. For
higher food-grain production, water resources are being over-exploited to
expand (फैलाना) irrigated areas for dry-season
agriculture.
6. Many
farmers have wells and tube-wells in their farms
for irrigation to increase their produce due to this, falling groundwater
levels, adversely (विरुद्ध) affecting water availability and
food security
7. Many
MNCs (Multinational Corporations) are also responsible for contaminating (दूषित करना) the fresh water.
8. They
require more power to run them
9. Much
of this energy comes from hydroelectric power which contributes approximately
22 % of the total electricity produced.
10. Increasing
urban centres & dense populations are also responsible for
the water scarcity.
11. Most
of these housing societies or colonies have their own groundwater pumping
devices to meet their water needs.
12. Much
of fresh water is polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals,
pesticides (कीटनाशक) and fertilisers (खाद) used in agriculture, thus, making
it dangerous (खतरनाक) for human use.
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MULTI- PURPOSE RIVER PROJECTS AND INTEGRATED WATER
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
1. In ancient times, constructing sophisticated hydraulic structures
like dams built of stone rubble, reservoirs (कुण्ड) or lakes, embankments (बांध) and canals for irrigation.
2. We have continued this tradition in modern India by building dams in
most of our river basins.
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Hydraulic Structures in Ancient India
1.
In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near
Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system channelling the flood water
of the river Ganga.
2.
During the time of Chandragupta Maurya, dams,
lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built.
3.
Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works
have also been found in Kalinga, (Odisha), Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh),
Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), etc.
4.
In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of the
largest artificial lakes of its time was built.
5.
In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas,
Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for supplying water to Siri Fort area.
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Dams
1.
Dams were traditionally built to impound (बन्द करना) rivers and rainwater that could be
used later to irrigate agricultural fields.
2.
Today, dams are built not just for irrigation
but for electricity generation, water supply for domestic and industrial uses,
flood control, recreation (मनोरंजन), inland navigation and fish breeding
(पालन).
3.
Now, dams are multi-purpose projects where the
many uses of the impounded water.
4.
E.g. in the Sutluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra
– Nangal project water is being used both for hydel power production and
irrigation.
5.
Similarly, the Hirakud project in the Mahanadi
basin integrates (जोड़ना) conservation of water with flood
control.
6.
Multi-purpose projects, launched after
Independence with main Agenda to development and progress.
7.
Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed (घोषणा करना) the dams as the ‘temples of modern
India’; and used for the development of agriculture and the village and the
urban economy with industrialisation.
8.
In recent years, multi-purpose projects and
large dams have come under great scrutiny (सूक्ष्म परीक्षण) and
opposition (विरोध) for a variety of reasons.
9.
Due to damming of rivers affect their natural
flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive (ज़्यादा) sedimentation at the bottom of the
reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers’
aquatic life.
10.
Dams also fragment (टुकड़ा) rivers making it difficult for
aquatic fauna (जीवजंतु) to migrate, especially for spawning (अंडे देना).
11.
Multi-purpose projects and large dams have
also been the cause of many new environmental movements (आंदोलन) like the ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and
the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc.
12.
Resistance (प्रतिरोधक) to these projects has primarily been
due to the large-scale displacement of local communities.
13.
Local people often had to give up (छोड़ देना) their
land, livelihood and control over resources.
14.
So, if the local people are not benefiting
from such projects then who is benefited?
15.
Perhaps, the landowners and large farmers,
industrialists and few urban centres
16.
In Gujarat, the Sabarmati-basin farmers were
agitated (आंदोलन करना) and almost caused a riot (दंगा) over the higher priority given to
water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts.
17.
Inter-state water disputes are also becoming
common with regard to sharing the River-water.
18.
Most of the objections (विरोध) to the projects arose due to their
failure to achieve the purposes (Irrigation, flood controlling) for which they
were built.
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RAINWATER HARVESTING
1. In
ancient India, along with the sophisticated hydraulic structures, People had
deep knowledge of rainfall and soil types and techniques to harvest rainwater,
groundwater, river water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological (पर्यावरणीय) conditions.
2. In
hill and mountainous regions, people-built diversion channels like the ‘guls’
or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas for agriculture.
3. ‘Rooftop
rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practised to store drinking water,
particularly in Rajasthan.
4. In
the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation (सैलाब) channels to irrigate their fields.
5. In
arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain fed
storage structures like the ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts
of Rajasthan.
6. In
the semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi
and Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had underground tanks or tankas
for storing drinking water.
7. The
tanks could be as large as a big room; one household in Phalodi had a tank that
was 6.1 metres deep (गहरा), 4.27 metres long and 2.44 metres
wide.
8. The
tankas were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and
were built inside the main house or the courtyard (आँगन).
9. They
were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe.
10. Rain
falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these
underground ‘tankas’.
11. The
first spell (बदली) of rain was not collected as this
would clean the roofs and the pipes after that this was stored as a source of
drinking water when all other sources are dried up (पूरी तरह से सूखा होना).
12. Rainwater,
or palar pani (called in some region), is considered the
purest form of natural water.
13. These
tankas are made with room to safe from the summer heat and to keep the room
cool.
14. Today,
in western Rajasthan, the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is
decreasing due to Indira Gandhi Canal available plenty of water.
15. In
Gendathur, village in Mysuru, Karnataka, villagers have installed, in their
household’s rooftop, rainwater harvesting system.
16. Gendathur
receives an annual precipitation (rainfall) of 1,000 mm, and with 80 % of
collection efficiency and of about 10 fillings, every house can collect and use
about 50,000 litres of water annually.
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