States advised to give preference to drinking water and irrigation and enhance groundwater use.
An alarming depletion in the water levels (at 57 per cent of last year’s storage) of important reservoirs, owing to the delayed and weak southwest monsoon, has prompted the Central government to issue an advisory to the States on Monday to make “judicious and regulated” releases.
The States have been advised to give preference to drinking water and irrigation and enhance groundwater use to meet current needs.
Top officials said there was a serious concern over the spread and intensity of rain and apprehension that the monsoon might remain weak in parts of the country. Already, there are reports of damage to the kharif crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat. A letter from Water Resources Secretary D.V. Singh to the Chief Secretaries urges the States to go in for crops that require less water.
Anxiety is building up as all major reservoirs, barring those in central India, are showing deficient storage. Against the live storage capacity of 154.421 billion cubic metres (BCM), the average storage till July 5 was only 25.191 BCM in the 84 major reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission.
The current year’s storage is nearly 57 per cent of last year’s storage. It was 62 per cent in the previous week.
The worst-hit basins are the Godavari, Krishna, Indus, Cauvery and the west flowing rivers of the south. The Kutch rivers are ‘highly deficient,’ say official sources.
The storage in the Thein, Bhakra and Pong dams in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh is lower by 37 to 45 per cent than normal. Despite rain in the eastern region, 15 reservoirs in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal are filled only up to 40 per cent or below. The storage in Maharashtra is lower by 39 per cent and in Uttar Pradesh, by 26 per cent of the normal on an average. The 30 reservoirs in the south have storage levels that are lower by 4 to 59 per cent than the normal. Dams in Karnataka have a departure from the normal storage of 59 per cent, Kerala of 45 per cent, Andhra Pradesh of 18 per cent and Tamil Nadu of four per cent.
Keywords: water depletion, weak monsoon
The vagaries of S W monsoon has affected the water position very critically!The centre has alerted the States to be prudent in the use of water in the reservoirs! Drinking water & irrigation should be given top priority!There is also the fear of El Nino that may affect the course of monsoon! While a few interior districts have received some rain,Chennai & it's suburbs have got scanty rain only!! Drinking water problem has started already in Tamilnadu! Deforestation & the increase of concrete jungles all over India are also the cause for very low rainfall!!
India is a country which is bound to go down with water and power issues
just like failed state in North African countries.
Lack of Political will & regional issues are main blockades
Obviously its a very big problem for the central and state governments. The storage of water is now the necessary if we want a proper survival in the future. The monsoon is not as good as predicted earlier by the weather forecasters so its mandatory to prioritize our need that how much amount we want for irrigation and how much for drinking water. As both the things are equally important for human survival because by one we get food and by second drinking water. These thing will be manage by the sustainable development of water resources as underground water and surface water both. So its the duty of common person to conservation of resources.
Monsoon plays a pivotal role in water storage in reservoirs.As we have a delayed and weak monsoon this year , Indian govt needs to emphasise more on rain water harversting. Also they need to encourage farmers doing drip irrigation by providing the equipment at subsidy rates.This way large amount of water can be conserved.In cities corporations should give permissions to either apartments or houses only if they show the provision of rain water harvesting.People should also adopt slowly towards solar energy for purposes like electricity.This way as the hydro electricity need reduces the same water could be used for harvesting and to provide drinking water.
Farmers also should be educated or atleast be made aware of the ways of rain water harvesting in their lands and its uses.
Rains are hugely dependent on forest, with a alarming decline on forest cover the rain pattern get affected, forests also store water and distribute them slow and even in pools. We Indians need to support forest preservation.
Moreover, linking of Rivers is another farce prospect. It will incur huge habitat loss and will eventually spoil the natural balance forever. Also all major large scale projects are proposed to make lots of money.
I am always wondering that when private bottling plants which having limited resources when compared with the government organisations successfully suppling their products into the markets whereas the government always fails to give protected water periodically to the people.
What happened to the Desalination Plant that was built in North
Chennai, in Minjur? I'm sure i saw its photo and announcement that it
would be started as a pongal gift, then it become Tamil new year gift
and till now it is not operational. And what about the Nemmeli
desalination plant that was promised? All this desalination plant are
built, but are not functional. Waste of crores of money.
If this is the case in Chennai, what it would be throughout the
country, the water resource department is capable of only making
promise, but is not doing anything. Only at the last minute they realize that the rain has not come, when lay people realized it long
ago, with searing heat and no rain visible.
We are not pro active. We wait for problems to happen and then get panicked. When monsoon in full force grabs many parts of India our brothers and sisters in other parts struggle for even drinking water. This shows we are still not united, we are still states rather than nation.
We forgot saving water resources for quite sometime. We removed greenery. So clouds are moving to green areas. When there is less water, we have to use them "judiciously". Using Judiciously means, technocology(Drip; manual work). Who does? Farmer ! No. For two reasons, (a) he has no money (b) No youngters in farming today. Enter Corporates under cover of Contract farming. AP has already legalized Contract farming !. They install drip, give seed, take harvest. The total food grain production will remain around 200 MT. No worries, we continue to import pulses, and other things, which we dont grow. Because we have money. Look at service industry. 60% of GDP contributor. Agriculture is just 18%. So no Neta worries on reduced production. What farmers (and sons) do? Easy route: Migrate to towns/cities. become part of 60% contributor. 60% grows to 70%. General Economy and Nature will do correction, naturally. Agriculture goes to 10% contributor & cycle continues till contributions reverse
Mr. Atal Bihari Vajapeyee's priority was Roads and linking rivers. He made solid foundation for Roads but, before taking up the river linking project, we brought him down! At least now,let our PM give priority to link the rivers. This will make our country rich in agriculture products and problem of flooding river can be controlled effectively. Can some one wakeup our Kumbhakarna PM!!
Water resources secretary has taken right step to make use of water judiciously.India has lot of water which is sufficient for drinking and irrigation.Irrigation water can be saved to 70% by using drip system.But it is very costly for Indian farmers.Government should implant these systems in the fields of farmers.Israel has done so and has got tremendious results.
Rain water harvesting should be promoted in cities and on government buildings.
Water pipes should be connected with building roofs to water works in cities as pipes bring water from water works to houses.In the same way pipes can take water to water works from houses.Then it can be sent back to the houses by recycling or filtering it.This will also solve the problem of water logging in the streets.
By doing so cities can become self sufficient in drinking water.For yearly stocks of water,capacities of water tanks in water works can be increased.And existing water reservoirs can be used for irrigation and industries
Considering the agro based economy of our country which is largely
dependent upon the monsoon, for a sustained growth, the only alternative
is linking of rivers.Apart from providing security against floods it
will fulfill the need for agriculture and drinking water.It may also
open up new chapters in safer power generation.
Indeed, this year’s poor and erratic monsoon should be regarded as a wake-up call for all residents in metros, big cities and towns who depend on monsoon rain for their daily needs. Municipal corporations have so far ignored the need for recycling of waste water. Use of waste water must be given due attention after examining it from angles of financial and technical viability. Water treatment plants and desalination plants in coastal cities and towns cannot be set up overnight without proper planning. Our local and State governments and urban planners need to give a serious thought to this aspect.
Mighty Brahmaputra is killing and destroying property as has been the yearly parade this year also.Cannot our brightest engineers in the world,plan and execute something specific for the problem and use all that water for constructive purposes.Please come on Indians,rise.
This was predicted long time ago by many experts and laymen. But
political leadership did not care. Dam builders made lots of money, but
benefit received from it was very small and the dams caused many other
environment problems. United States has similar experience -- many dams
in United States have been decommissioned. In future we will be forced
to decommission many of our dams.
The obvious choice when faced with low monsoon is ground water. However
there is a need to ensure ground water gets recharged during the rains
and the rain water does not run off. Though its mandatory to have rain
water harvesting for each new house in my city; the implementation is a
farce. Most of urban space is covered by asphalt, buildings or concrete
floors. There is very reduced recharge happening and a steep increase in
usage.
This news comes in the wake of the news of the much familiar destruction caused by Assam floods.Grand plans involving lakhs of crores of rupees are being announced for water resource management in every five year plan outlay.Water is a scarce national resource and the government seems to have no clue of what should be done to harness and distribute it efficiently across the states by diverting them from surplus to deficit pockets. Interlinking of rivers has become a vexatious issue with occasional noises from parched throats, whenever the heat becomes unbearable. No state should be permitted to claim ownership of water resources as they are nature's gift to mankind.Only when this cardinal truth is realised and parachial voices are silenced by law, will there be an end to this annual bemoaning and closure of all tribunals and cases involving interstate disputes languising for several decades in the supreme court.
Shame on us, UAE a country located in the desert makes its own water, We shout and scream that we are technologically advancing, yet we have no basic amenities like water or power instead like idiots we sit and wait for the rain....our politicians will not propose linking of rivers and start large scale desalination, wonder why.....oh wait, if water becomes abundant, food will follow, then there will be no stopping of development....
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