WATER RESOURCES

Very Short Answer Questions of 1 mark each. i. How much water is present on the earths surface? Ans. Three-fourth of the earths surface is covered with water but only 3.5% of the total volume of earths water is available as freshwater. ii. How the freshwater can be obtained? Ans. The freshwater can be obtained directly from precipitation, surface runoff and ground water. iii. Explain how the water is being over-exploited in agriculture. Ans. To facilitate higher food-grain production, to expand irrigated areas and dryseason agriculture the water resources are being over-exploited in India. iv. State the effects of over-exploitation of water resource through tube wells. Ans. It may lead to falling groundwater levels, adversely affecting water availability and food security of the people. v. Mention the reasons water pollution in India. Ans. The bad quality of water is due to pollution by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture. vi. Name important hydraulic structures of ancient India. Ans. important hydraulic structures built in ancient India are: a. In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system channelling the flood water of the river Ganga. b. During the time of Chandragupta Maurya, dams, lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built. c. Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works have also been found in Kalinga, (Orissa), Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh), Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), etc. d. In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes of its time was built. e. In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas, Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for supplying water to Siri Fort area. For what the Narmada Bachao Andolan is famous for? Ans. Narmada Bachao Andolan is a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) that mobilised tribal people, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river in Gujarat. It originally focused on the environmental issues related to trees that would be submerged under the dam water. Recently it has re-focused the aim to enable poor citizens, especially the oustees (displaced people) to get full rehabilitation facilities from the government. viii. What is rainwater harvesting? Ans. Rainwater harvesting is a technique for capturing and storing rainwater through hydro-structures such as recharge through hand pumps and abandoned dug well. The technique is: Roof top rain water is collected using a PVC pipe. Rainwater is filtered using sand and bricks. Underground pipe takes water to sump for immediate usage. Excess water from the sump is taken to the well. Water from the well recharges the underground. People can take water from the well (later) vii.

Important Question and Answers

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Q.1 Ans.

Describe the water as a renewable resource. Water is renewable resource because all water moves within the hydrological cycle and it is recharged and renewed by the hydrological cycle. Q.2 Mention the important causes of water scarcity in regions of the world. Ans. Water scarcities in some of the regions of the world are caused by: i. The distribution and availability of water resources is unequal in space and time, mainly due to the variations in seasonal and annual precipitation. ii. Water scarcity is caused by over- exploitation of water resources. iii. Excessive use of water for domestic and irrigational uses. iv. Unequal access to water among different social groups. Q.3 Why many of our regions/cities faces water scarcity although they have ample water resources? Ans. Water scarcity in such regions is due to: i. Large and growing population in a region/city. Having large population means greater demands for water for domestic uses. ii. High demand for food-grain production: farmers in order to produce more, over-exploit water resources. Farmers expand irrigated areas and cultivate crops in dry-season. This may lead to falling groundwater levels and adversely affecting water availability. iii. Intensive industrialization: Large industrial units require large amount of water of processing of raw materials. They also require power to run them which comes from hydroelectric power. iv. Multiplying urban centres: Cities with large and dense populations and their urban lifestyles require large amount of water. Most of the urban housing societies or colonies have their own groundwater pumping devices to meet their water needs. This has resulted in over-exploitation and depletion of water resources. v. Bad quality of water: much of water resources may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture, thus, making it hazardous for human use. Q.4 What may be the effects of over-exploitation and excessive use of water resources? Ans. Over-utilization and mismanagement of water resources may cause: i. Serious health hazards ii. Shortage of availability of food which may adversely effect food security in the country. iii. Our livelihoods and productive activities may be affected. iv. Degradation of our natural ecosystems. v. Deplete water resource. Q.5 Why conservation and management of water resource is necessary? Ans. Conservation and management of water resource is necessary for: i. Safeguarding ourselves from health hazards, ii. Ensuring food security, iii. Continuation of our livelihoods and productive activities iv. Preventing degradation of our natural ecosystems. Q.6 Mention how in ancient times we have been conserving and managing the water resource? Ans. From ancient times we have been constructing sophisticated hydraulic structures like dams built of stone rubble, reservoirs or lakes, embankments and canals for irrigation. Q.7 Why dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects?

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Ans.

Dams are built not just for irrigation but for hydel power generation, water supply for domestic and industrial uses, conservation of water with flood control, recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding. Hence, dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects. In multi-purpose projects many uses of the impounded water are integrated with one another. For example, the Bhakra Nangal project, the Hirakud project. Q.8 Why the multi-purpose projects were called as the temples of modern India? Ans. Multi-purpose projects were built for integrated water resources management, it was thought that they would lead the nation to development and progress; it would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and growth of the urban economy. Q.9 Why the construction of multi-purpose projects and large dams is opposed by many people? Ans. In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny and opposition for a variety of reasons. i. Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow. a. This results in poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir. b. Stream beds get rockier. c. Destroys the habitat of the rivers aquatic life. ii. Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning. iii. The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time. iv. Dams displace local communities living in the area. v. Irrigation through dams has also changed the cropping pattern. Many farmers are shifting to water intensive and commercial crops. This has great ecological consequences like salinisation of the soil. vi. It has transformed the social landscape. a. It has increased the social gap between the richer landowners and the landless poor. b. The dams create conflicts between people. In Gujarat, the Sabarmatibasin farmers were agitated and almost caused a riot over the higher priority given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts. c. Inter-state water disputes are also becoming common with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the multi-purpose project. vii. Failure to achieve the purposes of controlling floods. a. Dams have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir. b. The big dams have been unsuccessful in controlling floods at the time of excessive rainfall. c. The floods caused extensive soil erosion. viii. The problem of land degradation has increased by sedimentation. a. The flood plains are deprived of silt, a natural fertilizer, coming along with the free river. ix. It was also observed that the multi-purpose projects induced earthquakes, caused waterborne diseases and pests and pollution resulting from excessive use of water. Q.10 Why many new social movements are resisting the construction of multipurpose projects and large dams?

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Ans.

Multi-purpose projects and large dams have caused many new social movements like the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the Tehri Dam Andolan etc. Resistance to these projects has primarily been due to: i. The large-scale displacement of local communities. ii. Local people often had to give up their land and livelihood iii. They have to give up their available resources for the greater good of the nation. iv. Local people are not benefiting from such projects but the landowners and large farmers, industrialists and few urban centres are getting all benefits. Q.11 Describe how the rainwater harvesting was carried out in different parts of India. Ans. In ancient India there existed an extraordinary tradition of water-harvesting system. People developed wide ranging techniques to harvest rainwater. i. In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the guls or kuls of the Western Himalayas for agriculture. ii. Rooftop rain water harvesting was commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan. iii. In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields. iv. In arid and semi-arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain fed storage structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil. Like the khadins in Jaisalmer and Johads in other parts of Rajasthan. Q.12 Describe how the rainwater harvesting is carried out in semi-arid and arid parts of Rajasthan. Ans. In the semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan almost all the houses traditionally had underground tanks or tankas for storing drinking water. i. They built tanks as large as a big room and were built inside the main house; ii. The tankas were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system. iii. They were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe. iv. Rain falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and was stored in these underground tankas till the next rainfall. v. They became an extremely reliable source of drinking water when all other sources are dried up, particularly in the summers. Q.13 Why the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on decline in Rajasthan? Ans. Today, in western Rajasthan, the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on the decline because i. Plenty of water is available due to the perennial Rajasthan Canal.

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