Chapter 3

Water Resources
Water a Renewable resource
Q. Explain how water has become a renewable resource.
Water becomes a renewable resource by hydrological cycle. The fresh water which is only a small
proportion of water available on earth is mainly obtained from surface run off and ground water that is
continually being renewed and recharged through the hydrological cycle.

• Three- fourth portion of the world is covered with water.

WATER SCARCITY
Water scarcity implies water shortage in low rainfall regions or drought prone areas. It is also related to
the bad quality of water. The main causes of water scarcity are:

1) Over exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among different social groups.

2) Increase in Population: Large population requires more water for domestic use as well to produce more
food. To provide assured irrigation for agriculture water resources are over exploited resulting in lowering
of the water table.

3) Intensive Industrialization: Setting up of industries and MNC’s on a large scale has created ever
increasing demand for water and cheap source of power for running the machines.

4) Urbanization and Modernization: Large scale Urbanization and modern lifestyle of the people in cities
has created more demand for water and energy resources resulting in water scarcity.

5) Bad Quality of water: leads to water scarcity. There may be sufficient water available in an area but it
may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture,
thus, making it unsafe for human use.

JJM – JAL JEEVAN MISSION

• Government of India has accorded highest priority to improve the quality of life and enhance ease
of living of people especially those living in rural areas by announcing the Jal Jeevan Mission
(JJM).

• The Goal of JJM is to enable every rural household get assured supply of potable piped water at a
service level of 55 liters per capita per day regularly on long-term basis by ensuring functionality
of the tap water connections.

WATER CONSERVATION – Need

Conservation of water is necessary in India due to following reasons:
i) To safeguard ourselves from health hazards: as polluted water is not good for health and the quality of
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water is badly affected by discharge of urban wastes, industrial effluents, pesticides and fertilizers.

ii) To ensure food security to the people: Sufficient water is required for growing crops to meet the food
requirement in the country. Shortage of water may lead to condition of drought and failure of crops.

iii) Continuation of human activities and prevention of degradation of environment: Over exploitation and
mismanagement of water resources will impoverish this resource and can cause ecological crisis.

MULTI -PURPOSE RIVER PROJECTS AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES

MANAGEMENT

Ancient Hydraulic structures:

First century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting
system channelling the flood water of the river Ganga
The time of Chandragupta dams, lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built
Maurya
11th Century Bhopal Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes of its time was built
14th Century the tank in Hauz Khas, Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for
supplying water to Siri Fort area.
In Kalinga, (Odisha), sophisticated irrigation works
Nagarjunakonda (Andhra
Pradesh), Bennur
(Karnataka), Kolhapur
(Maharashtra), etc

Dams : A Multipurpose Project

• Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate
agricultural fields.
• Today, dams are built not just for irrigation but for electricity generation, water supply for
domestic and industrial uses, flood control, recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.
• Hence, dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects where the many uses of the impounded
water are integrated with one another.
• For example:
a) in the Satluj-Beas river basin, the Bhakra – Nangal project water is being used both for hydel
power production and irrigation.
b) the Hirakud project in the Mahanadi basin integrates conservation of water with flood control.

Q. What are Dams?

Ans. A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a
reservoir or impoundment.
Dams are generally classified according to:
A) Structure
i) Timber Dams ii) Embankments
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 B) Height
i) Low Dams ii) Medium Height Dams iii) High Dams

Dams: Temples of Modern India- JawaharLal Nehru

Q. Why were Multipurpose projects called “temples of modern India” by Jawaharlal Lal Nehru?
Ans. Multipurpose Projects were thought of as the vehicle that would lead the nation to development and
progress, overcoming the handicap of its colonial past. They were called as temples as it would integrate
development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid Industrialisation and growth of the urban
economy.

Q. Large multipurpose projects are under great scrutiny. Justify.

Ans. Dams are under great scrutiny and have come under lot of opposition as :
• Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow.
• Poorer the habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.
• Fragment rivers make it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate.
• Dams created on the floodplains submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its
decomposition over a period of time.
• Creating of large dams has been the cause of many new environmental movements like the
‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ and the ‘Tehri Dam Andolan’ etc. Resistance to these projects has
primarily been due to the large-scale displacement of local communities and large scale
deforestation.
• Many times, local people had to give up their land, livelihood and their control over resources
for the construction of the dam.
• Changed the cropping pattern of many regions with farmers shifting to water intensive and
commercial crops.
• It has transformed social landscape by increasing the social gap between the richer landowners
and the landless poor

Q. How have multipurpose projects and large dams been the cause of many new social movements?
Ans.
1) In Gujarat, the Sabarmati-basin farmers were agitated and almost caused a riot over the higher priority
given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts.
2) Krishna-Godavari dispute is regarding the diversion of more water at Koyna by the Maharashtra
government for a multipurpose project. This would reduce downstream flow in their states with adverse
consequences for agriculture and industry.
3) Narmada Bachao Andolan or Save Narmada Movement is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO)
that mobilised tribal people, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar
Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river in Gujarat. It originally focused on the environmental
issues related to trees that would be submerged under the dam water. Recently it has re-focused the aim to
enable poor citizens, especially the oustees (displaced people) to get full rehabilitation facilities from the
government.
4) Rihand Dam survivors - accepted the trauma of displacement believing in the promise of irrigated fields
and plentiful harvests. They accepted their sufferings as sacrifice for the sake of their nation. After thirty
bitter years of being adrift, their livelihood having even being more precarious.

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Q. The dams that were constructed to control floods have triggered floods. Analyse the statement.
Or
Most of the objections to the projects arose due to their failure to achieve the purposes for which
they were built. Justify the statement by giving examples.
Ans.
1) The dams that were constructed to control floods have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the
reservoir.
2) Sedimentation also meant that the flood plains were deprived of silt, a natural fertiliser, further adding
on to the problem of land degradation.
3) It was also observed that the multi-purpose projects induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases
and pests and pollution resulting from excessive use of water.

Note: the release of water from dams during heavy rains aggravated the flood situation in Maharashtra
and Gujarat in 2006.

Rain Water Harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is a simple method by which rainfall is collected for future usage. The collected
rainwater may be stored, utilized in different ways or directly used for recharge purposes.

Q. Describe how modern adaptations of traditional rain water harvesting methods are being
carried out to conserve and store water.
Ans. Different methods have been adopted in different areas for Rain Water Harvesting.

1) In hill and mountainous regions- people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the
Western Himalayas for agriculture.

2) Flood plains of Bengal - people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.

3) In arid and semi-arid regions –

i) Johads and Khadins: agricultural fields were converted into rain-fed storage structures that allowed
the water to stand and moisten the soil such as ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of
Rajasthan.
ii) Rooftop rainwater harvesting is commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan
to recharge ground water table.
iii) Underground tankas - are part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and
are builtinside the main house or the courtyard. This is mainly practised in Rajasthan, particularly in
Bikaner, Phalodi and Barmer areas for saving the rainwater. Many houses constructed underground
rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heat as it would keep the roomcool.

4) In Meghalaya - BAMBOO DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM - 200-year-old system of tapping

stream and spring water by using bamboo pipes, is prevalent. About 18-20 litres of water enters the
bamboo pipe system, gets transported over hundreds of metres, and finally reduces to 20-80 drops per
minute at the site of the plant.

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Extra Questions:
Q. Write a short note on Tankas.
Ans.
- The tankas were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system and were built
inside the main house or the courtyard.
- They were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe. Rain falling on the
rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these underground ‘tankas’.
- The first spell of rain was usually not collected as this would clean the roofs and the pipes. The
rainwater from the subsequent showers was then collected.
- The rainwater can be stored in the tankas till the next rainfall making it an extremely reliable
source of drinking water when all other sources are dried up, particularly in the summers.
- Rainwater, or palar pani, as commonly referred to in these parts, is considered the purest form of
natural water.
- Many houses constructed underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanka’ to beat the summer heat as it
would keep the room cool.

Q. Describe the procedure of Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting System.

Ans.
- Rooftop rainwater is collected using a PVC pipe.
- Filtered using sand and bricks
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 - Underground pipe takes water to sump for immediate usage
- Excess water from the sump is taken to the well
- Water from the well recharges the underground
- Take water from the well (later)

Q. Give reasons why, the practice of rooftop rain water harvesting has declined in Western
Rajasthan.
Ans. the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on the decline in Western Rajasthan as plenty of
water is available due to the perennial Indira Gandhi Canal, though some houses still maintain the
tankas since they do not like the taste of tap water.

Q. How has Gendathur achieved the status of being rich in rainwater.

Ans. In Gendathur, a remote backward village in Mysuru, Karnataka, villagers have installed, in their
household’s rooftop, rainwater harvesting system to meet their water needs. Nearly 200 households
have installed this system and the village has earned the rare distinction of being rich in rainwater.

Q. How does Bamboo Drip Irrigation System work?

Ans.
- Bamboo pipes are used to divert perennial springs on the hilltops to the lower reaches by gravit.
- The channel sections, made of bamboo, divert water to the plant site where it is distributed into
branches, again made and laid out with different forms of bamboo pipes. The flow of water into
the pipes is controlled by manipulating the pipe positions.
- If the pipes pass a road, they are taken high above the land.
- Reduced channel sections and diversion units are used at the last stage of water application. The
last channel section enables water to be dropped near the roots of the plant.

Points to remember:
- Sardar Sarovar Dam has been built over the Narmada River in Gujarat. This is one of the largest
water resource projects of India covering four states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat
and Rajasthan.
- Rooftop rainwater harvesting is the most common practice in Shillong. Nearly every household
in the city has a rooftop rainwater harvesting structure. Nearly 15-25 per cent of the total water
requirement of the household comes from rooftop water harvesting, yet the state capital Shillong
faces acute shortage of water.
- Tamil Nadu is the first state in India which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structure
compulsory to all the houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.

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