Water is an integral part of life on this Planet. It is an odorless, tasteless, substance that covers more than three fourths of the earth’s surface. Most of the water on earth, 97% to be exact, is salt water found in the oceans We cannot drink salt water or use it for crops because of the salt content. We can remove salt from ocean water, but the process is very expensive. Only about 3 % of Earth’s water is fresh. Two percent of Earth’s water (about 66% of all fresh water) is in solid form, found in ice caps and glaciers. Because it is frozen and so far away, the fresh water in ice caps is not available for use by people or plants. That leaves about 15 of all the earth’s water in a form useable to humans and land animals. This fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and in the ground. (A small amount of water is found as vapour in the atmosphere.)
There is a need for water conservation, not only to restore the fast deteriorating eco system of the country but also to meet the inevitable emergency of shortage even for drinking and domestic water in near future. The following points are to be pondered upon to plan strategies to meet the crisis:-
1. Water is a finite resource and cannot be replaced/duplicated.
2. Water resources are theoretically “renewable” through hydrological cycle. However, what is renewable is only the quantity, but pollution, contamination, climate change, temporal and seasonal variations have affected the water quality and reduced the amount of “usable water”.
3. Only 2.7 % of the water on earth is fresh.
4. About 310 blocks in the country are over-exploited where ground water is withdrawn more than its replenishment from rainfall.
5. Increased demand in coastal areas , the fresh water is becoming saline due to excessive withdrawal of ground water.
6. Water conservation practices in urban areas can reduce the demand as much as by one third, in addition to minimizing pollution of surface and ground water resources.
Availability of natural resources, particularly land and water, for people of India is inequitable at global level. Presently , with 2.4 percent of land and 4 percent of water resources, India has to support 16 percent of world’s population and 15 percent of Livestock.
India gets an average precipitation of 4000 billion cubic meters (BCM) per annum. Precipitation is highly unevenly distributed with respect to time and space, over the country. As much as 75% of total average annual precipitation occurs in 4 months of monsoon period. Even during the monsoon months, about 50% of total annual rainfall takes place only in 15 days and in less than 100 hours. As far as spatial unevenness is concerned, the average rainfall in Meghalaya is 10900 mm, whereas, in Rajasthan it is as low as 100 mm against the national average annual rainfall of 1100 mm. On the other hand demand for fresh water is increasing with every passing day. It is not only due to rapid population growth alone, but also on account of many other factors such as rise in per capita water demand arising out of continuous upward movement of living standards, increased reliance on irrigated agriculture, massive urbanization and industrialization etc. As per the present indication, population of the country may stabilize by the year 2050 at aound 1.6 billions. The available utilizable water resource of the country is considered insufficient to meet all future needs. Under such a situation, in order to face the challenge of water deficit, apart from accelerating pace of development of available utilizable water resources, all out efforts, on the part of people from every walk of life, would need to be made to conserve every drop of water and improve efficiency in all areas of water use. With a view to improving performance of irrigation projects and to increase productivity per drop of water, “Performance Evaluation Studies of Irrigation projects” have been taken up in the country since the seventies. Central water commission started such exercise since the 8th plan period.
The Valley of Kashmir, characterized by the numerous aquatic ecosystem of great ecological and economic importance, is a lacustrile basin of intermontane depression existing between the lesser and the great Himalaya. The fresh water natural Lakes of Kashmir which are important for fishery, agriculture and recreation, are characterized into three different types. 1. Glacial mountain Lakes 2. Pine Forest Lakes 3. Valley Lakes. Based on their origin, altitudinal situation and nature of biota they contain (Zutshi et al. 1972, kaul, 1977 ; Kaul et al. 1978 ; Trisal.1985) The valley lakes are spread throughout the expanse of valley proper at altitude of 1583-1600 m. They are probably fluvial origin having been formed from the ox-bows of the river Jehlum, which flows through the valley, meandering the alluvial deposits. These lakes have the higher organic production. Zutshi and Khan (1978) while elaborating the lake topology of Kashmir have further recognized three sub types among the valley lakes. These three groups are , Drainage, semi-drainage and non drainage lakes. Separated on the basis of the presence or absence of inflow or out flow channels, have been found to differ in several limnological characteristics especially the water characteristics. Those lying in the valley against the charming mountain background are the wular lake, Dal lake, Khushalsar Lake and Manasbal Lake etc ( the Wular lake is the largest fresh water lake in India). The impacts of Socio economic environment of a locality or region are of significant importance. The concept is recent and some studies have been carried out in this field.
(The authors write regularly for the edit page of “Kashmir Horizon”.Their views are personal)