In “Problems Related to Water Resources Management in India,” the authors discuss problems, solutions, policy objectives, and locations of a number of water related issues in India. These issues include floods, droughts, pollution, groundwater depletion, water conservation, water prices, and water as a commons (Jain et al., 2007). Solving these water related problems is essential for India to continue its economic growth, and social advancement in the coming years.
Jain, Agarwal, and Singh’s argument concerning the depletion of groundwater is backed up Rodell, Velicogna, and Famiglietti, in their paper, “Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion of in India.” Using NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellites, along with hydrological modeling, it was shown that groundwater was being depleted at a rate of 4+1 cm per year (Rodell et al., 2009).
Availability and distribution of water resource varies drastically throughout different regions of India. The region with the highest availability of water has on average 14,100 m^3 per capita, per year, while the area with the lowest water availability has on average 300 m^3 per capita, per year (Jain et al., 2007). Although these are two extremes, the former with excess water resources, and the later with stressed water resources, India as a whole has seen massive decreases in its water resources over the passed 60 years. Between 1947 and 2000, per capita water availability dropped from 6,008 m^3, to 2,384 m^3 (Jain et al., 2007).
Having abundant and excess water resources is beneficial in some aspects, but because much of the rainfall is concentrated during the monsoon season, these areas are extremely prone to flooding. Historically, flooding has caused loss of human life, death of livestock, loss of crops, and overflow of urban drainage systems. At the other extreme, drought occurs when expected rainfall never comes. In India, drought prone areas account for one sixth of the total land mass, and 12% of the population (Jain et al., 2007).
The widespread use of groundwater allowed for development in agriculture, and helped sustain the green revolution. However, increasing from 3.86 million dug-wells, and 3,000 tube-wells in, to 10.2 million dug-wells, 60,000 deep tube-wells, and 5.4 million private tube wells, over the course of four decades, has lead to a drastic fall in the water table (Jain et al., 2007). In the Region Including Punjab, Haryana & Delhi, and Rajasthan, the annual available water recharge and the annual withdraw is at a 13.2 km^3 per year deficit (Rodell et al., 2009), a product of the increase in well use. This massive influx in well use allowed India to triple the total area of irrigated land between 1970 and 1999, to 33,100,000 hectares. The huge reliance of the Indian people on groundwater is apparent in the the fact that 50-80% of domestic water use, and 45-50% of irrigation is dependent on groundwater (Rodell et al., 2009).
Along with higher crop productivity, the use of groundwater opened up a new source for clean drinking water. Because life expectancy is closely tied to availability of clean drinking water, it is likely that 20 year increase in life expectancy over the last 45 years in tied to huge increase in groundwater use (Jain et al., 2007). Pollution from anthropomorphic and natural sources are jeopardizing the quality of surface and groundwater, limiting the amount of clean water available.
Waterlogging is a problem in coastal areas, or areas that have saltwater intrusion into groundwater. Excess water in the soil does not allow for normal circulation of air, can cause root rot, and causes dissolved minerals from the water to be left in the soil after evaporation. All of this leads to lower crop productivity (Jain et al., 2007).
Climate change effects India’s water resources by shifting weather patterns, such as monsoons, and melting glaciers. For regions that rely glacier melt for their freshwater supply, the fast retreat of glaciers is a major obstacle. Temporally, increased melting means increased flow, and more water for drinking and agriculture, but if the melting trend continues and glaciers disappear, whole regions of people will be left without water during the dry months. In all, 67% of glaciers in the Himalayas have receded in the past decade (Jain et al., 2007).
Flooding, droughts, groundwater depletion, pollution, waterlogging, and climate change are all serious obstacles that must be addressed and combatted if India is to continue on its path of rapid economic growth and social development.
Jain, S. , Agarwal, P. & Singh, V. (2007). Problems related to water resources management in india. Water Science and Technology Library, 57, 871-936.
Rodell, M. , Velicogna, I. & Famiglietti, J. (2009). Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion in india. Nature, 460, 999-1002. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7258/pdf/nature08238.pdf
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