K. Narayana Shenoy, an expert in water issues and conservation of the water, warned that unless the country and the people adopt water conservation methods and take up the recharge of the groundwater levels seriously, the future would be bleak with an acute shortage of drinking water.
Delivering a lecture on ancient water conservation practices and the importance of rain harvesting at a workshop on ‘Rainwater harvesting and Recharging in Urban Local bodies’, Prof. Shenoy said that despite India receiving 117 cm rainfall and having rich source of water from rivers originating from the Himalayas, many parts face a severe shortage of water.
Prof. Shenoy, who is head of the Civil Engineering Department in the Manipal Institute of Technology, said that the annual precipitation of rainwater n the country was 37,00,000 million cubic metres.
He said that once there were 13 lakh tanks in the country but most of them have vanished due to the encroachments.
In Old Mysore area, there were 36,000 tanks and most of them had vanished now. The tanks were essential for the recharge of the groundwater sources. Prof. Shenoy said that according to one government study, the total availability of water in the country was 1,22,200 cubic metres and the demand was 71,000 cubic metres and despite having 41,000 cubic metres of excess water available, many areas faced drinking water shortage and majority of the lands continued to be dependent on rain.
