Abstract Water is one of the basic resources needed to sustain plant and animal life and ultimately human

existence. Judicious use of this resource should be the concern of all people. This booklet gives a brief amount of estimated water resources and its efficient use. This booklet describes the hydrologic cycle, types, utilization and economic use of water. This will enable the farmer to use the water more scientifically and economically.

Introduction
Water is an essential requirement of all living beings and indispensable for many human related activities. In nature it transports eroded material from mountains and forests to the plains and the sea. Man uses water to carry away his wastes, generate electric power, for navigation, industrial purposes and also as a source of recreation. Apart from all these, the role of water in agriculture is very significant Water is a limited resource and its efficient use is crucial to the survival of the human beings. Therefore, every effort must be made to make the best use of water so as to make possible a high level of continuous production. Several factors are to be kept in mind for the conservation and development of water resources. These are as follows:

1. availability and source of water; 2. climatic condition; 3. quality of water; 4. factors affecting water resources; 5. distribution and variation of rainfall & water resources; 6. competing demands; and 7. nature of the soil. .

Water resources of a country constitute one of its vital assets. India receives annual precipitation of about 4000 km3. The rainfall in India shows very high spatial and temporal variability and paradox of the situation is that Mousinram near Cherrapunji, which receives the highest rainfall in the world, also suffers from a shortage of water during the non-rainy season, almost every year. The total average annual flow per year for the Indian rivers is estimated as 1953 km3. The total annual replenish able groundwater resources are assessed as 432 km3. The annual utilizable surface water and groundwater resources of India are estimated as 690 km3 and 396 km3 per year, respectively. With rapid growing population and improving living standards the pressure on our water resources is increasing and per capita availability of water resources is reducing day by day. Due to spatial and temporal variability in precipitation the country faces the problem of flood and drought syndrome. Overexploitation of groundwater is leading to reduction of low flows in the rivers, declining of the groundwater resources, and salt water intrusion in aquifers of the coastal areas. Over canal-irrigation in some of the command areas has resulted in water logging and salinity. The quality of surface and groundwater resources is also deteriorating because of increasing pollutant loads from Point and non-point sources. The climate change is expected to affect precipitation and water availability. So far, the data collection, processing, storage and dissemination have not received adequate attention. The efforts initiated under the Hydrology Project Phase-I and the development of the Decision Support System proposed under Hydrology Project Phase-II are expected to bridge some of the gaps between the developed advanced technologies of water resources planning, designing and management and their field applications. The paper presents availability and demands of water resources in India as well as describes the various issues and strategies for developing a holistic approach for sustainable development and management of the water resources of the country. It also
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highlights integration of the blue and green flows and concepts of virtual water transfer for sustainable management of the water resources for meeting the demands of the present, without compromising the needs of future generations.

The overall navigable span of the inland watercourses in India is 14,500 km. The legal authority in control of the watercourses in the country is the Inland Waterways Authority of India or IWAI. The national watercourses in India can be divided into three and they are as follows: The Brahmaputra river system - extending from Sadiya to Dhubri The Ganga Bhagirathi Hooghly river - extending from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal The West Coast Canal from Kottapuram to Kollam together with Udyogmandal canal and Champakara canal. The water bodies are top tourist draws as well. Visitors from different corners of the world come to see these water resources. As a result, the travel and tourism sector of India is getting a boost. In addition, a large number of hotels and accommodations have come up around these visitor attractions to fulfill the requirements of the travelers. The country houses 13 major ports and approximately 180 small and medium harbors. The harbors manage over 95% of the commerce in the country and they also function as the principal entranceways for doing business. The important ports in India are as follows: Haldia, Kolkata, Visakhapatanam, Paradip, Chennai, Ennore, Cochin, Tuticorin, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, and Kandla. Rivers in India The country houses 12 rivers that are categorized as important rivers. The overall drainage basin watered by these rivers is more than 976,000 sq miles or 2,528,000 km2. All the important rivers in the country have their sources in any of the following areas:

Vindhya and Satpura mountain range, forming a part of the heart of the country The Karakoram and Himalayan mountain ranges Sahyadri or Western Ghats mountain range, forming a part of western India The biggest drainage basin in the country is created by the Ganges-BrahmaputraMeghana river network and it covers a total area of approximately 620,000 sq miles or 1,600,000 km2. The drainage basin of the Ganges river singularly covers a total area of around 420,000 sq miles or 1,100,000 km2.

The source of the Ganges river is the Gangotri Glacier, which lies in the state of Uttarakhand. Subsequently, the river runs in the southeast direction, before pouring into the Bay of Bengal. The headwaters of the Gomti and Yamuna rivers lie in the western part of the Himalayan mountain range. These two rivers meet the Ganga in the flat terrain. The Brahmaputra River has its headwaters in the territory of Tibet. In the province of Tibet, people call it "Tsangpo" or Yarlung Tsangpo River. The river then penetrates the Indian Territory via the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast. Subsequently, the river moves to the west into Assam. In Bangladesh, the river meets the holy Ganga and the name of the river changes to the Jamuna River.

A major branch of the river Ganga (Yamuna) is the Chambal River. The river has its headwaters in the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges. It runs to the east. From the same source, other rivers that have originated include the Tapti and Narmada and both of

these rivers pour into the Arabian Sea in the west. The river system that runs from the east to west forms 10% of the overall outpouring of water in India. All the rivers of the Deccan plateau have their headwaters in the Western Ghats mountain range. These rivers include the Godavari River, the Mahanadi River (passing across the delta formed by itself), Kaveri River, and Krishna River. All these rivers ultimately pour into the Bay of Bengal. Approximately 20% of the overall outpouring of the country is represented by these rivers. The intense precipitation in the rainy season in the southwest results in the swelling of the banks of the Brahmaputra and other rivers in India. This frequently leads to inundating of the bordering regions. Despite the fact that these rivers work as a fundamentally reliable source of fertilization and natural supply for the paddy cultivators, these inundations have resulted in loss of lives of a large number of people and force the population of the area to move to other places. Capes in India The major capes in India are as follows - Indira Point, the southernmost tip in India which is situated on the Great Nicobar Island, the Kanyakumari, the southern point of territory of India., Point Calimere, and Adam's (Rama's) Bridge. Gulfs in India

The important gulfs in India are the Gulf of Kutch, the Gulf of Cambay, and the Gulf of Mannar. The country houses straits like the Ten Degree Canal, which dissevers the Andamans from the Nicobar Islands, the Palk Strait, which splits India from Sri Lanka, and the Eight Degree Canal, dissevering the Lakshadweep and Amindivi Islands from the Minicoy Island in the south.

The Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal are situated towards the south and east of the country and the Arabian Sea is located in the west. The Andaman Sea and the Lakshadweep Sea are smaller water bodies. The country houses four coral reefs and they lie in the Gulf of Mannar, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Kutch, and the Lakshadweep Islands. Lakes in India The major lakes in India are as follows - Vembanad Lake (Kerala), Sambhar Lake, (the biggest saltwater lagoon of the nation in Rajasthan), Loktak Lake (Manipur), Kolleru Lake (Andhra Pradesh), Chilka Lake (Orissa), Dal Lake (Kashmir), and Sasthamkotta Lake (Kerala). Water bodies that border India Given below are the names of the water bodies that surround India from different sides: Lakshadweep Sea in the southwest Arabian Sea in the west Bay of Bengal in the east Indian Ocean in the south

Problem Statement, hypothesis and rationale Total water in the world is estimated to be 1.5 billion cu km. About 95% of this is the salty water found in the oceans. This comes to around 1.425 billion cu km. Remaining 5% is fresh water i.e. only 75 million cu km. Out of this 75 million cu km 60 million cu km are immobilized as continuously frozen polar ice and snow, leaving only 15 million cu km as fresh liquid water for human, animal and plant needs. The world reserve of water resources is given in Fig. 1.

World Water Resources

Of the 15 million cu km of fresh water about 1 % (150,000 cu kin) is surface water found in rivers, lakes and streams and 99% is stored underground at varying depths. About half of this ground water (7,000,000 cu km) is stored at depths greater than 1000 metres and is considered too expensive to pump to the surface for most uses. So total usable water in the world is 7 million cu km of fresh ground water at reasonable depth plus the 1,50,000 cu km of surface water.

III. Hydrologic Cycle Consumable water is obtained through precipitation. Precipitation occurs by the unending moisture cycle of the earth called hydrologic cycle. Moisture is constantly circulating between the land, the ocean and the atmosphere. This hydrologic cycle has neither a beginning nor an end. Radiation from the sun evaporates water from ocean, lakes, rivers into the atmosphere. Transpiration also takes place from the vegetation and adds water to the atmosphere. The water vapour rises and collects to form clouds. Under certain conditions, the cloud moisture condenses and falls back to the earth as rain, hail, sleet or snow. The whole process is diagrammatically given in two Figures 2a & 2b. The Hydrologic Cycle.

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Hydrologic cycle.

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Hydrologic cycle.

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Types of water resources

OF all the planets renewable resources, water has a unique place. It is essential for sustaining all forms of life, food production, economic development, and for general well-being. It is impossible to substitute for most of its uses, difficult to de-pollute, expensive to transport, and it is truly a unique gift to mankind from nature. Water is also one of the most manageable of the natural resources as it is capable of diversion, transport, storage, and recycling. All these properties impart to water its great utility for human beings. The surface water and groundwater resources of the country play a major role in agriculture, hydropower generation, livestock production, industrial activities, forestry, fisheries, navigation, recreational activities, etc. According to National Water Policy in the planning and operation of systems, water allocation priorities should be broadly as: (i) drinking water, (ii) irrigation, (iii) hydropower, (iv) ecology, (v) agro-industries and non-agricultural industries, and (vi) navigation. India receives annual precipitation of about 4000 km3, including snowfall. Out of this, monsoon rainfall is of the order of 3000 km3. Rainfall in India is dependent on the south-west and north-east monsoons, on shallow cyclonic depressions and disturbances and on local storms. Most of it takes place under the influence of south-west monsoon between June and September except in Tamil Nadu, where it is under the influence of north-east monsoon during October and November. India is gifted with a river system comprising more than 20 major rivers with several tributaries. Many of these rivers are perennial and some of these are seasonal. The rivers like Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus originate from the Himalayas and carry water throughout the year. The snow and ice melt of the Himalayas and the base flow contribute the flows during the lean season. Lal2 mentioned that more than 50% of water resources of India are located in various tributaries of these river systems. Average water yield per unit area of the Himalayan rivers is almost double that of the south peninsular rivers system, indicating the importance of snow and glacier melt contribution from the high mountains.

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Apart from the water available in the various rivers of the country, the groundwater is also an important source of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial uses, etc. It accounts for about 80% of domestic water requirement and more than 45% of the total irrigation in the country. As per the international norms, if per-capita water availability is less than 1700 m3 per year then the country is categorized as water stressed and if it is less than 1000 m3 per capita per year then the country is classified as water scarce. In India per Capita surface water availability in the years 1991 and 2001 were 2309 and 1902 m3 and these are projected to reduce to 1401 and 1191 m3 by the years 2025 and 2050 respectively. Hence, there is a need for proper planning, development and management of the greatest assets of the country, viz. water and land resources for raising the standards of living of the millions of people, particularly in the rural areas.

Mans influence on hydrological cycle The hydrological cycle is being modified quantitatively and qualitatively in most of the river basins of our country as a result of the developmental activities such as construction of dams and reservoirs, land use change, irrigation, etc.Such human activities affecting the hydrological regime can be classified into four major groups: (i) activities which affect river runoff by diverting water from rivers, lakes, and reservoirs or by groundwater extraction, (ii) activities modifying the river channels, e.g. construction of reservoirs and ponds, levees and river training, channel dredging, etc.(iii) activities due to which runoff and other water balance components are modified due to impacts of basin surface e.g. agricultural practices, drainage of swamps, forestation or deforestation, urbanization, etc. and (iv) activities which may induce climate changes at regional or global scale,e.g. modifying the composition of atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse gases or by increased evaporation caused by large scale water projects. For understanding the effects appropriately, hydrological modeling approaches have to be adopted3 .
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Monsoon and its forecasting The word monsoon is derived from mausim, Arabic word, which means season and the word is applied to winds whose direction is reversed completely from one season to the next season. The largest precipitation accumulations for periods greater than 24 h are associated with the Asian monsoon. Normal duration of monsoon in India is about 100 to 120 days beginning from first June. In India, the two monsoon seasons (the southwest monsoon in June to September and the northeast monsoon in November December) bring forth rains. An important feature affecting the rainfall in India is the change in the direction of wind currents that occurs in different months. In May when the weather is very hot, the south-east trade winds from the south Indian Ocean cross the equator and after deflecting, due to rotation of the earth, extend rapidly into the north Indian Ocean, viz. the Bay of Bengal in early May and afterwards get established over both the sea areas. This westerly current, which extends from the Arabic coast to the China Sea across India, is known as the southwest monsoon. In winter season, the wind currents over India Blow from north to south.

Precipitation variability

The long-term average annual rainfall for the country is 1160 mm, which is the highest anywhere in the world for a country of comparable size2. The annual rainfall in India however fluctuates widely. The highest rainfall in India of about 11,690 mm is recorded at Mousinram near Cherrapunji in Meghalaya in the northeast5. In this region rainfall as much as 1040 mm is recorded in a day. At the other extreme are places like Jaisalmer, in the west, which receives barely 150 mm of rain. Though the average rainfall is adequate,
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nearly three-quarters of the rain pours down in less than 120 days, from June to September. As much as 21% of the area of the country receives less than 750 mm of rain annually while 15% receives rainfall in excess of 1500 mm. Precipitation generally exceeds 1000 mm in areas to the east of Longitude 78E. It reaches nearly to 2500 mm along almost the entire west coast and over most of Assam and sub-Himalayan West Bengal. Large areas of peninsular India receive rainfall less than 600 mm. Annual rainfall of less than 500 mm is experienced in western Rajasthan and adjoining parts of Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. Rainfall is equally low in the interior of the Deccan lateau, east of the Sahyadris. A third area of low precipitation is around Leh in Kashmir.

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Figure 1. Distribution of normal annual rainfall in India (IMD, 2004).

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Water resources of India

Although India occupies only 3.29 million km2 geographical areas, which forms 2.4% of the worlds land area, it supports over 15% of the worlds population. The population of India as on 1 March 2001 stood at 1,027,015,247 persons. Thus, India supports about 1/6th of world population, 1/50th of worlds land and 1/25th of worlds water resources7. India also has a livestock population of 500 million, which is about 20% of the worlds total livestock population. More than half of these are cattle, forming the backbone of Indian agriculture. The total utilizable water resources of the country are assessed as 1086 km3. A brief description of surface and groundwater water resources of India is given Below.

Surface water resources

In the past, several organizations and individuals have estimated water availability for the nation. Recently, the National Commission for Integrated Water Resources

Development8 estimated the basin-wise average annual flow in Indian river systems as 1953 km3. The details are given in Table 1. Utilizable water resource is the quantum of withdraw able water from its place of natural occurrence. Within the limitations of physiographic conditions and socio-political environment, legal and constitutional constraints and the technology of development available at present, utilizable quantity of water from the surface flow has been assessed by various authorities differently. The utilizable annual surface water of the country is 690 km3 (Table 1)9. There is considerable scope for increasing the utilization of water in the GangaBrahmaputra basins by construction of storages at suitable locations in neighboring countries.

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Table 1. Basin wise average flow and utilizable water9 (in km3/year)

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Groundwater resources

The annual potential natural groundwater recharge from0 rainfall in India is about 342.43 km3, which is 8.56% of total annual rainfall of the country. The annual potential groundwater recharge augmentation from canal irrigation system is about 89.46 km3. thus, total replenish able groundwater resource of the country is assessed as 431.89%. After allotting 15% of this quantity for drinking, and 6 km3 for industrial purposes, the remaining can be utilized for irrigation purposes. Thus, the available groundwater resource for irrigation is 361 km3, of which utilizable quantity (90%) is 325 km3. The estimates by the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) of total replenish able groundwater resource, provision for domestic, industrial and irrigation uses and utilizable groundwater resources for future use are given in Table 2. The basin wise per capita ater Availability varies between 13,393 m3 per annum for the BrahmaputraBarak basin to about 300 m3 per annum for the Sabarmati basin. The state-wise estimates of dynamic Groundwater (fresh) resource made by the CGWB10 is given in Table 3. The basin-wise groundwater potential of the country is given in Table 4.

Water requirements of India. Traditionally, India has been an agriculture-based economy. Hence, development of irrigation to increase agricultural Production for making the country self-sustained and for poverty alleviation has been of crucial importance for the planners. Accordingly, the irrigation sector was assigned a very high priority in the 5-year plans. Giant schemes like the Bhakra Nangal, Hirakud, Damodar Valley, Nagarjunasagar,Rajasthan Canal project, etc. were taken up to increase irrigation potential and maximize agricultural production.

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Long-term planning has to account for the growth of population. According to National Water Policy1, the production of food grains has increased from around 50 million tones in the fifties to about 203 million tones in the year 19992000. A number of individuals and agencies have estimated the likely population of India by the year 2025 and 2050. According to the estimates adopted by NCIWRD9, by the year 2025, the population is expected to be 1333

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million in high-growth scenario and 1286 million in low growth scenario. For the year 2050, high rate of population growth is likely to result in about 1581 million people While the low growth projections place the number at nearly 1346 million. Keeping in view the level of consumption, losses in storage and transport, seed requirement, and buffer stock, the projected food-grain and feed demand for 2025 would be 320 million tones (high-demand scenario) and 308 million tones (low-demand scenario). The requirement of food grains for the year 2050 would be 494 million tones (high-demand scenario) and 420 million tones (low demand scenario). Table 5 provides details of the population of India and per capita water availability as well as utilizable surface water for some of the years from 1951 to 2050 (projected). The availability of water in India shows wide spatial and temporal variations. Also, there are very large inter annual variations. Hence, the general situation of availability of per capita availability is much more alarming than what is depicted by the average figures.

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Domestic use

Community water supply is the most important requirement and it is about 5% of the total water use. About 7 km3 of surface water and 18 km3 of groundwater are being used for community water supply in urban and rural areas. Along with the increase in population, another important change from the point of view of water supply is higher rate of urbanization. According to the projections, the higher is the economic growth, the higher would be urbanization. It is expected that nearly 61% of the population will be living in urban areas by the year 2050 in high-growth scenario as against 48% in low growth scenario. Different organizations and individuals have given different norms for water supply in cities and rural areas. The figure adopted by the NCIWRD9 was 220 liter per capita per day (lpcd) for class I cities. For the cities other than class I, the norms are 165 for the year 2025 and 220 lpcd for the year 2050. For rural areas, 70 lpcd and 150 lpcd have been recommended for the years 2025 and 2050. Based on these norms and projection of population, it is estimated that by 2050, water requirements per year for domestic use will be 90 km3 for low demand scenario and 111 km3 for high demand scenario. It is expected that about 70% of urban water requirement and 30% of rural water requirement will be met by surface water sources and the remaining from groundwater.

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Irrigation

The irrigated area in the country was only 22.6 million hectare (Mha) in 195051. Since the food production was much below the requirement of the country, due attention was paid for expansion of irrigation. The ultimate irrigation potential of India has been estimated as 140 Mha. Out of this, 76 Mha would come from surface water and 64 Mha from groundwater sources. The quantum of water used for irrigation by the last century was of the order of 300 km3 of surface water and 128 km3 of groundwater, total 428 km3. The estimates indicate that by the year 2025, the water requirement for irrigation would be 561 km3 for low-demand scenario and 611 km3 for high-demand scenario. These requirements are likely to further increase to 628 km3 for low-demand scenario and 807 km3 for high-demand scenario by 2050. Hydroelectric power The hydropower potential of India has been estimated at 84,044 MW at 60% load factor. At the time of independence, the installed capacity of hydropower projects was 508 MW. By the end of 1998, the installed hydropower capacity was about 22,000 MW. The status of hydropower development in major basins is highly uneven. According to an estimate, India has plans to develop 60,000 MW additional hydropower by the twelfth five-year plan. It includes 14,393 MW during the tenth five-year plan (20022007); 20,000 MW during eleventh (20072012) and 26,000 MW during the twelfth (20122017) five-year plans. A potential of the order of 10,000 MW is available for development of small hydropower projects in the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions of the country. Therefore, it is not only desirable but also a pressing need of time to draw a master plan for development of small, medium and large hydro-schemes for power generation. Industrial water requirement

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Rough estimates indicate that the present water use in the industrial sector is of the order of 15 km3. The water use by thermal and nuclear power plants with installed capacities of 40,000 MW and 1500 MW (1990 figures) respectively, is estimated to be about 19 km3. In view of shortage of water, the industries are expected to switch over to water efficient technologies. If the present rate of water use continues, the water requirement for industries in 2050 would be 103 km3; this is likely to be nearly 81 km3 if water saving technologies are adopted on a large scale.

Total water requirements Total annual requirement of water for various sectors has been estimated and its break up is given Table 6. With the increasing population as well as all round development in the country, the utilization of water has also been increasing at a fast pace. In 1951, the actual utilization of surface water was about 20% and 10% in the case of groundwater. The
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utilizable water in river basins is highly uneven. For example in the Brahmaputra basin, which contributes 629 billion m3 of surface water of the countrys total flow, only 24 billion m3 is utilizable. Water resources management in India In view of the existing status of water resources and increasing demands of water for meeting the requirements of the rapidly growing population of the country as well as the problems that are likely to arise in future, a holistic, well planned long-term strategy is needed for sustainable water resources management in India. The water resources management practices may be based on increasing the water supply and managing the water demand under the stressed water availability conditions. Data monitoring, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination constitute the very important aspects of the water resources management. These data may be utilized not only for management but also for the planning and design of the water resources structures. In addition to these, now days decision support systems are being developed for providing the necessary inputs to the decision makers for water resources management. Also, knowledge sharing, peoples participation, mass communication and capacity building are essential for effective water resources management. Some important aspects of such strategies are described as follows. Flood management Among all natural disasters, floods are the most frequent to be faced in India. Floods in the eastern part of India, viz.Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in the recent past, are striking examples. According to the information published by different government agencies, the tangible and intangible losses due to floods in India are increasing at alarming rate. As reported by the Central Water Commission (CWC) under

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the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, the annual average area affected by floods is 7.563 Mha.
Drought management

The drought-prone area assessed in the country is of the order of 51.12 Mha. The planning and management of the effects of drought appear to have a low priority due to associated randomness and uncertainty in defining the start and end of droughts. Further, most of the drought planning and management schemes are generally launched after persisting drought conditions. The traditional system of drought monitoring and estimating losses by crop cutting needs replacement with real time remote sensing, GIS, GPS and modeling techniques for ensuring transparency and quick response. Scope of losses may be extended to groundwater depletion, damage to perennial trees, plantations, orchards and depletion in fertility of livestock. Groundwater management To protect the aquifers from overexploitation, an effective groundwater management policy oriented towards promotion of efficiency, equity and sustainability is required. Agricultural holdings in India are highly fragmented and the rural population density is large. The exploitation of groundwater resources should be regulated so as not to exceed the recharging possibilities, as well as to ensure social equity. The detrimental environmental consequences of over-exploitation of groundwater need to be effectively prevented by the Central and State Governments. Overexploitation of groundwater should be avoided, especially near the coasts to prevent ingress of seawater into freshwater aquifers1. Clearly, a joint management approach combining government administration with active people participation is a promising solution. Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater
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Large canal infrastructure network for providing irrigation has been the prime goal of the Government of India, since the first five-year plan, which continued up to seventh fiveyear plan. In some of the irrigation project commands such as Sarda Sahayak in UP, Gandak in Bihar, Chambal in Rajasthan, Nagarjuna Sagar in Andhra Pradesh, Ghataprabha and Malaprabha in Karnataka etc., problems of water logging are being faced. The main reason for excessive use of surface water as compared to groundwater is its much lower price for irrigation as compared to the cost incurred in using groundwater. Water logging problems could be overcome if conjunctive use of surface and groundwater is made. Groundwater utilization for irrigation in waterlogged areas can help to lower the groundwater table and reclaim the affected soil. Over exploitation of groundwater in areas like Mehsana, in Gujarat; parts of Meeurt and Varanasi districts in Uttar Pradesh, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Karnal district in Haryana etc. have resulted in mining of groundwater20. Many research workers have focused the causes of waterlogging21. Several groundwater flow modeling studies have focused on assessing the waterlogged areas and measures to control problems of water logging and salinization22,23. It is desirable that the irrigation needs for fulfilling crop water requirements should be satisfied by judicious utilization of available canal water in conjunction with groundwater so as to keep the water table within the acceptable range. Thus, the optimal conjunctive use of the regions surface and groundwater resources would help in minimizing the problems of water logging and groundwater mining. Water conservation Water conservation implies improving the availability of water through augmentation by means of storage of water in surface reservoirs, tanks, and soil and groundwater zone. It emphasizes the need to modify the space and time availability of water to meet the demands. This concept also highlights the need for judicious use of water. There is a great
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potential for better conservation and management of water resources in its various uses. On the demand side, a variety of economic, administrative and community-based measures can help conserve water. Also, it is necessary to control the growth of population since large population is putting massive stress on all natural resources. Since agriculture accounts for about 69% of all water withdrawn, the greatest potential for conservation lies in increasing irrigation efficiencies. Just a 10% improvement in irrigation efficiency could conserve enough water to double the amount available for drinking. In India, sprinkler irrigation is being adopted in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The use of sprinkler irrigation saves about 56% of water for the winter crops of bajra and jowar, while for cotton, the saving is about 30% as compared to the traditional gravity irrigation. An important supplement to conservation is to minimize the wastage of water. In urban water supply, for example, almost 30% of the water is wasted due to leakages, carelessness, etc. while most metro cities face deficit in supply of water. It is, therefore, imperative to prevent wastage. In industries also, there is a scope for economy in the use of water. Rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting is the process to capture and store rainfall for its efficient utilization and conservation to control its runoff, evaporation and seepage. Some of the benefits of rainwater harvesting are: It increases water availability It checks the declining water table It is environmentally friendly It improves the quality of groundwater through dilution,
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Mainly of fluoride, nitrate, and salinity, and It prevents soil erosion and flooding, especially in the Urban areas. Even in ancient days, people were familiar with the methods of conservation of rainwater and had practiced them with success. Different methods of rainwater harvesting were developed to suit the geographical and meteorological conditions of the region in various parts of the country. Traditional rainwater harvesting, which is still prevalent in rural areas, is done by using surface storage bodies like lakes, ponds, irrigation tanks, temple tanks, etc. For example,Kul (diversion channels) irrigation system which carries water from glaciers to villages is practiced in the Spiti area of Himachal Pradesh. In the arid regions of Rajasthan, rainwater harvesting structures locally known as Kund (a covered underground tank), are constructed near the house or a village to tackle drinking water problem. In Meghalaya, Bamboo Rainwater Harvesting for tapping of stream and spring water through bamboo pipes to irrigate plantations is widely prevalent. The system is so perfected that about 1820 liters of water entering the bamboo pipe system per minute is transported over several hundred meters. There is a need to recharge aquifers and conserve rainwater through water harvesting structures. In urban areas, rainwater will have to be harvested using rooftops and open spaces. Harvesting rainwater not only reduces the possibility of flooding, but also decreases the communitys dependence on groundwater for domestic uses.

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Recycle and reuse of water Another way through which we can improve freshwater Availability is by recycle and reuse of water. It is said that in the city of Frankfurt, Germany, every drop of water is recycled eight times. Use of water of lesser quality, such as reclaimed wastewater, for cooling and fire fighting is an attractive option for large and complex industries to reduce their water costs, increase production and decrease the consumption of energy. This conserves better quality waters for potable uses. Currently, recycling of water is not practiced on a large scale in India and there is considerable scope and incentive to use this alternative. Estimates25 show that recyclable water is between 103 and 177 km3/year for low and high population projections. People participation and capacity building for making the people of various sections of the society aware about the different issues of water resources man SPECIAL management, a participatory approach may be adopted. Mass communication programmers may be launched using the modern communication means for educating the people about water conservation and efficient utilization of water. Capacity building should be perceived as the process whereby a community equips itself to become an active and well-informed partner in decision making. The process of capacity building must be aimed at both increasing access to water resources and changing the power relationships between the stakeholders. Capacity building is not only limited to officials and technicians but must also include the general awareness of the local population regarding their responsibilities in sustainable management of the water resources. Policy decisions in any water resources project should be directed to improve knowledge, attitude and practices about the linkages between health and hygiene, provide higher water supply service levels and to improve environment through safe disposal of human waste. Sustainable management of water requires decentralized decisions by giving
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authority, responsibility and financial support to communities to manage their natural resources and thereby protect the environment.

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Work Plan On an average, India receives about 120 cm of precipitation in a year, mostly as rainfall. .On volume basis this is 394.5 million hectare metre (m. ham). (let us take 400 m. ha m as an approximate figure). The main source of precipitation is rainfall. India is a vast country in the world compared to any other country having an annual rainfall of about 117 to 120 cm. Rainfall over the entire country during monsoon is nearly 75% of the mean annual, while during pre-monsoon and post -monsoon seasons the country receives almost the same amount of rainfall which is about 10 to 11 % of the mean annual. In January and February the country receives just about 3.5% of the mean annual rainfall and it is mostly confined to Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Po.jab, North-West U.P., North Bengal and Assam. Different monsoons is shown below in Tables 1 & 2 respectively.

Table 1 .Rainfall distribution In various states of India (in mm)

Sl.No. States

Meteorological Sub-divisions

Rainfall

Andhra Pradesh

Costal Telangana Rayalaseema

935 891 893 3736 2423 2065 1490 1267

North Eastern States

Arunachal Pradesh Assam Nagaland

Bihar

Plateau Plains

33

Gujarat

Gujarat Saurastra

1002 590 772 1971 967 3366 837 914 2961 1144 1470 706 780 1124 2871 1486 760 465 937 1008 1335 873 806 1840 3079 1846

5 6 7 8

Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka

Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Costal North Interior South Interior

9 10

Kerala Madhya Pradesh

Kerala West East

11

Maharastra

Madhya Marathwada Vidarbha Konkan

12 13 14

Orissa Punjab Rajasthan

Orissa Punjab West East

15

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Pondichery

16

Uttar Pradesh

East Plains Hills

17

West bengal

Sub-Himalayan Gangetic

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Note: The above mentioned figures are based on the total rainfall received from June to September during 1977-78. On the basis of these, different regions of the country can be divided into three categories viz., high rainfall areas, medium rainfall areas and low areas. The areas receiving above 1,150 mm annual rainfall are high rainfall areas, those receiving between 750 and 1,150 mm are medium rainfall areas and the areas with annual rainfall below 750 mm are low rainfall areas. Table 2 .Distribution and extent of rainfall through different monsoons

Sl.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. .

Time & type of monsoon South West monsoon (June to Sept) Post monsoon season ((Oct to Dec.) Winter season ( Jan to Feb) Pre-monsoon season ( Mar to May)

% of rainfall 75 10 11 3-4 10-11

IV. Types of Water Resources Based on Uses According to the uses water resources may be classified into three main groups. 1. For consumptive uses 2. Partially consumptive uses 3. Non consumptive uses 1. Consumptive uses Irrigation, urban and rural water supplies are grouped in this ' category, since, in these situations, water is directly consumed by living beings. 2. Partially consumptive uses

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Use of water for domestic and industrial purposes, thermal and nuclear power generation, etc. are partially consumptive as, a part of the water can be renewed for reuse after proper conditioning.

3. Non-consumptive uses This includes the quantity required for hydro-power generation, navigation, pollution control, recreation, preservation of fish and wild life etc. V. Water Resources in India According to the placement, water resources of India are : divisible into two distinct categories: A. Surface water resources B. Ground water resources The precipitation that falls on land is the ultimate source for both the categories of water resources. A. Surface water resources When rain falls, a sizable portion is intercepted by the vegetation, or temporarily detained in surface depressions. When the available interception or the depression storages are completely exhausted and when the rainfall intensity at the soil surface exceeds the infiltration capacity of the soils, the over land flow begins. This water reaches the rivers, streams, lakes, surface reservoirs, darns, etc. Our irrigation mainly depends on surface water resources. Runoff water from streams and rivers is stored in reservoirs or is diverted directly through canal system for irrigation. Water re- sources region can be planned on the basis of river basins. 1. River systems in India Rivers are the main source of surface water. A river basin has well defined watershed boundary and also has relationship with ground water resources in most of the cases. India has been divided into six river basins for the purpose of assessment of the available water resources. The following table will present the location, climatological factors, annual run-off and approximate volume of water of these six river basins. These are: a. Indus basin b. Ganga system
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c. Brahmaputra system d. East coast e. West coast and f. Rajputana region

Table 3 -Different river basins of India Sl. Important State in the Cath region No. River basin Men t Area (m ha)

Avge Annua l

Total Precipi -

Mean

Avg

Precipi Tation Tation M ha

Tempe- Annua l Of Rature Wate Runoff r

O C

Volu me

M ha metre

M ha metr e 04.93

M ha metre metre 56.00 19.82 1260

Ravi, Beas, Sutlej

J & 35.4 Kashmir, 0 Punjab Haryana Himachal prade

07.94

Ganga, Yamuna Chambal gogra Guwduk, Kosi

U.P. Bihar, 97.6 M.P 0 Rajasthan & West Bengal

111

108.3

16.80

48.96

18.50

Brahmaputra , Subausiri, Manar Teest

Assam, Meghalaya , Nagaland West Bengal

50.6 2

122

61.72

08.20

38.08

1.23

37

Cavery, Krishna, Godavari, Mahanadi, Subarnarekh a Damodal

Madhya Prades Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal A.P. Maharastra Karnataka Tamil Nadu

121

109

131.9

26.1

41.19

33.80

Tapti, Narmada, Mahi, Sabarmati

Gujarat, Kerala Maharastra Karnataka

49.1 6

122

59.98

25.5

31.06

6.92

Luni & Rajasthan Ghagaoa

16.8 0

29.00

04.87

26.2

1.22

Total

370. 61

---

386.7

---

167.2

66.6

The assessment of this surface reservoir is also calculated by lots of assumptions on run-off, rainfall temperature etc. So this resource can be an approximate figure. All these water resources cannot be utilized due to the limitations imposed by the physiographic factors. Surface water stored in reservoirs or diverted directly is distributed for irrigation through the canal irrigation network. A canal starts either from a water storage dam or

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diversion darn. Irrigation water flows through the complete canal system before it reaches the farmer's field to be irrigated. The canal network consist- of canals, distributaries, water courses and field channels. B. Ground Water Resources The main source of ground water is rainfall. However, ground water recharge is supplemented by other sources such as seepage from canals and field channels, ponds, tanks, effluent drainage from rivers, deep percolation from irrigated fields, etc. A part of any of these water sources that infiltrates into surface soil may continue to move laterally at a shallow depth. This water which flows below the soil surface may eventually reach the stream channel. This flow of water below the surface is called sub surface run off. A part of the sub surface run-off may enter the stream promptly, whereas the remaining part may percolate deeply into the soil and remain above the water table in the zone of saturated flow. This water table shows the upper level of ground water in the earth. The total run-off in the stream channel includes the melted snow, the surface runoff, the sub surface run-off and the ground water run -off. The portion of run-off water, after infiltration reaches the ground water table, together with the contribution made to ground water from a neighbouring basins, effluent rivers, natural lakes, ponds, artificial storage reservoirs, and canals irrigations r constitutes the ground water resources. This whole process is diagramatically explained below Figure 2 1. Ground water regions or India The availability and development potential of ground water in India on the basis of geological consideration can be described under the following three broad categories: a. Unconsolidated rocks b. Semi-consolidated rocks

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Methodology Utilization of Water Resources Water resources are utilized mainly for three purposes: 1. Irrigation 2. Industrial 3. Domestic Out of these three, irrigation is the major consumer of water resources. The total utilization of water in India is depicted in the following flow-chart in Figure 3. on the Total Precipitation. Total Precipitation

Our water resources are insufficient to meet the long term requirement of agriculture, industry and other uses, unless its judicious and economic uses are ensured.

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The total geographical area of our country is 328.7 million hectares (m.ha). About 42% of this area is under cultivation i.e., 140.7 m ha. Only 26.6% of this area is irrigated through various sources. Following tables give the area irrigated by different sources indifferent years and the States.

Table 6 .Irrigation potential or different sources or water (Area in million hectars)

Sl.No.

Sources

1981-82

1982-83

1983-84

198485 15.33 (36.5) 0.495 (1.2) 3.330 (8.0) 11.265 (26.9) 8.723 (20.9) 2.600 (6.2) 41.779

Government canals

14.68 (36.3)

14.87 (37.2) 0.495 (1.2) 3.112 (7.8) 10:684 (26.7) 8.428 (21.1) 2.375 (6.0) 39.969

15.74 (37.5) 0.495 (1.2) 3.783 (9.0) 10.973 (26.I) 8.548 (20.4) 2.411 (5.8) 41.995

Private canals

0.84 (2.1)

Tanks

3.506 (8.8)

Tubewe/ls

9.900 (24.9)

Other wells

8.267 (20.8)

Other sources

2.566 (6.5)

Total irrigated area

39.764

(in bracket per cent of the area is shown) Irrigation is mainly carried out through minor irrigation schemes as well as major and medium irrigation schemes. Our nation has the potentiality to explore maximum amount of water but technology and attempts have to be developed for the utilization. Following table gives the potential created and utilized water.

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Table 7. Net area irrigated by different sources (in thousand ha)

Sl .No.

States

Canals

Tanks

Tube wells

Other wells

Other source

Total Irrigat ed area

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar Gujarat Haryana Arunachal pradesh Jammu & Kashir Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharastra Manipur Meghalaya Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil nadu Tripura Uttar pradesh West Bengal Union Territores

1627 362 896 245 1036 --280 480 86 801 379 ----655 1383 887 911 --2473 960 28

1100 --118 25 1 0.5 0.5 410 58 132 260 ----233 -53 750 2 330 303 3

114 --846 130 682 2 2 0.5 54 26 -----NA 1559 50 62 --3189 --45

470 --225 999 31 1 1 336 NA 700 1046 ----127 172 1219 807 0.5 1314 17 7

126 210 475 15 4 87 11 131 30 145 117 65 37 --7 30 35 23 349 209 35

3437 572 2760 1414 1754 90 302 1365 228 1804 1802 65 37 1015 3121 2547 2565 30 7933 1409 118

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All India

13775 NA = Not Available

3986

6469

7557

2304

34491

Source: Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture by S. Giriappa, P.35. Total ground water resources can irrigate 42.29 m ha, but present utilization is only 10.01 m ha and remaining 32.28 m ha is left unutilized, though there is a potential to explore it.

VII. Economic Use of Water Resources Water is the most critical input in crop production. It also influences almost all the bio-physiological processes of plants. When we speak of economic use of water, it refers to the system which aims at optimum utilization of available water resources in crop production without adversely affecting soil health. As we have discussed earlier the main source of water for plant growth is irrigation, so while irrigating following important points are to be kept in mind. These are: --when to irrigate --how much to irrigate --how best to irrigate Determination of water requirement and criteria for scheduling irrigation help to define when to irrigate. The estimation of plant available moisture and deficit expressed as depth in the rooting zone enables to decide how much to irrigate. Selection of suitable method of irrigation in a given situation will meet the question how best to irrigate. Some other measures for efficient management of irrigation water are discussed as below.

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Solution of the problem 1. Check water logging It is one of the major problems in water management. The concept of plant available water capacity enables one to avoid application of excess water which further helps to minimize water- logging along with salinity and alkalinity. Frequent irrigations maintain high soil moisture regime but it depends on the method adopted for irrigation.

2. Drainage To avoid water logging condition and salt accumulation, the field should be provided with a proper drainage system. The drainage provides suitable environment to the development of plant root system and helps in optimizing crop production. 3. Disiltation of tanks Siltation of tanks and reservoirs both traditional and modem, has added to the gravity of problem of surface water management. It reduces the storage capacity of the reservoir or tanks and increases in the volume and velocity of floods. Disiltation may be difficult for the big reservoirs but this can be easily practised in tanks, ponds, ditches etc. 4. Ground water management Management of surface water and ground water are equally important in water harvesting and recycling. In areas that greatly depend on ground water for their irrigation requirement, should be ensured that crops are provided with water during the critical period of their growth. For this exploitation of ground water should be managed in a balanced manner.

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Total amount of precipitation received is constant, and its economical use is the only way to increase production. At present, 29% of the total precipitation is lost through surface run-off and 53% through infiltration. For better management of ground water, the ultimate aim is to increase from 53% of the total precipitation moving into the soil to 100 per cent. This will recharge to ground water. Ground water availability gets considerably reduced due to increased exploitation and poor recharge conditions. Therefore, proper water balance between availability, recharge and exploitation should be maintained. For this, a proper study and planning is very necessary" 5. Watershed management Watershed is the geographical area from which the entire surface run-off originating due to the rainfall coverage flows through the existing drainage system towards a common outlet Let us say, it is a small catchment area in which the excess water of that particular region resulting from run-off is conserved either by check darns or by gully plugs or through percolation ponds. An important planning input is watershed management is to conduct the ground water study. This study is undertaken to assess the ground water status, soil types and water stored at various depths. With this information it will be possible to plan properly the optimum utilization of the available water.

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Conclusion The above discussion underlines the fact that in the face of anticipated population growth and technological advancement, the country's utilizable water resources are limited and there is no ground for complacency in the matter. There is utmost need for laying maximum emphasis on conservation and most efficient utilization of the available water resources. Technological and management capabilities will have to be upgraded for this purpose.

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References www.indiawaterportal.com www.wbic.gov.in www.cwc.gov.in www.inseda.org

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