Water Resources Management

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Introduction:Water is essential for socio-economic development and for maintaining healthy ecosystems. Properly managed water resources are a critical component of growth, poverty reduction and equity. The livelihoods of the poorest are critically associated with access to water services. Energy demand will more than double in poor and emerging economies in the next 25 years and hydropower will need to be a key contributor to clean energy production. Floods and droughts will continue to threaten farmer livelihoods and lowland economies. Besides the needs for these human activities we have to ensure that the environmental water flows required to maintain and ecosystems are also 4/8/12 maintained.

Physical Basis for Water Resources Management

It is important to understand the physical basis of a catchment before looking at water governance and other issues related to water management. Within a catchment, water is found in a series of interconnected reservoirs. These reservoirs include surface water (overland flow, stream-flow, lake, and floodplain wetlands), groundwater, and atmospheric water sources. WRMRCDP focuses on two of these reservoirs surface water and groundwater resources.

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Surface

water and groundwater continually move between reservoirs, and both within and between catchments. Activities undertaken in any individual reservoir can have extensive impacts on other reservoirs within the system, and failing to recognise these impacts in advance can result in unforeseen consequences. Three interconnected components of the hydrological environment are:
fluvial and groundwater processes (surface and subsurface interactions), longitudinal variations, and catchment processes (including lateral processes and floodplains).

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water resources are divisible into two distinct categories : surface-water resources
ground-water

resources.

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FACTORS AFFECTING WATER RESOURCES

CLIMATIC FACTORS
Rainfall : its intensity,duration & distribution. Snow Evapo-transpiration

PHYSIOGRAPHIC FACTORS

Basic characteristics.

Geometric factors : drainage area,shape,slope & stream density.

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Integrated water resources management in basins

At

the river or lake basin and aquifer level, IWRM can be defined as a process that enables the co-ordinated management of water, land and related resources within the limits of a basin so as to optimize and equitably share the resulting socioeconomic well-being without compromising the longterm health of vital ecosystems.

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Within

the limits of a basin, it is not an easy task to integrate land uses and water management. This is because land management, which covers planning, forestry, industry, agriculture and the environment, is usually governed by policies not connected to water policy and is managed by many different parts of an administration.

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Basin management as an iterative process Policy making, planning and management

might be considered as a series of sequential steps in basin management +draw up broad policy goals (where we want to get to) +to specify water management problems to be solved (identify issues), +list potential strategies (how we are going to get there), +Evaluation of strategy +Implementation +Evaluation of outcome 4/8/12

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Entry levels for integrated water resources management wonder where to start in basins Basin managers may
with an integrated approach, who to target and at what level. A simple and effective way to find out where to target action initially is to identify entry levels: 1. Local level (sub-basin plan, local aquifer management plan, local water allocation plan in water user districts, local government plan). 2. Implementation level (basin or provincial scale management plan). 3. Policy level (national and 4/8/12 international processes for developing water

zone, such as a river, lake or aquifer basin. A meso-level system deals with a regional or local ecological system of a lake, river valley within a basin, or subaquifer within an aquifer province. A micro-level system deals

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RAIN WATER HARVESTING

Rain Water Harvesting RWH- process of collecting, conveying & storing water from rainfall in an area beneficial use. Storage in tanks, reservoirs, underground storagegroundwater.

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RWH
million litres of rainwater can be collected in a year in an acre of land (4,047 m2). With the water table falling rapidly, & concrete surfaces and landfill dumps taking the place of water bodies, RWH is the most reliable solution for augmenting groundwater level to attain selfsufficiency. For ex.
Four

Tarun Bharat Sangh (Young India Association) or TBS is an NGO which promotes sustainable water management through rainwater harvesting in Rajasthan
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RWH-MEHODLOGY

Roof Rain Water Harvesting Land based Rain Water Harvesting

For Urban & Industrial Environment

Roof & Land based RWH

Public, Private, Office & Industrial buildings Pavements, Lawns, Gardens & other open spaces

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A watershed is a basin like landform defined by peaks which are connected by ridges that descend into lower elevations and small valleys. It carries rainwater falling on it drop by drop and channels it into soil, rivulets and streams flowing into large rivers and in due course sea. It is a synonym of catchment or basin of a river coined for an area restricted to 2000sq. Km. Watershed is the unit of management in IWRM, where surface water and groundwater are inextricably linked and related to land use 4/8/12 and management

Watershed management

Wsm (cont)
Watershed management aims to establish a workable and efficient framwork for the integrated use, regulation and development of land and water resources in a watershed for socioeconomic growth. For ex. Hariyali (meaning greenery) is a watershed management project, launched by the Central Government, which aims at enabling the rural population to conserve water for drinking, irrigation, fisheries and afforestation as well as generate employment opportunities.

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WSM

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GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT

To protect the aquifers from overexploitation. An effective groundwater management policy oriented towards promotion of efficiency, equity and sustainability is required. The detrimental environmental consequences of over-exploitation of groundwater need to be effectively prevented by the Central and State Governments.
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An uncontrolled use of the borewell technology has led to the extraction of groundwater at such a high rate that often recharge is not sufficient. The causes of low water availability in many regions are also directly linked to the reducing forest cover and soil degradation. The pollution of air, water, and land has an affect on the pollution and contamination of groundwater.

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CAUSES OF GROUND WATER DEPLETION AND CONTAMINATION

CAUSES OF (CONT.)
solid, liquid, and the gaseous waste that is generated, if not treated properly, results in pollution of the environment; this affects groundwater too due to the hydraulic connectivity in the hydrological cycle. For example:when the air is polluted, rainfall will settle many pollutants on the ground, which can then seep into and contaminate the groundwater resources.
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The

workable solutions for management of Banning private wells is futile; crowd them out by groundwater resources

improving public water supply. Regulating final users is impossible; facilitate mediating agencies to emerge, and regulate them. Pricing agricultural groundwater use is infeasible; instead, use energy pricing and supply to manage agricultural groundwater draft. No alternative to improved supply side management: better rain-water capture and recharge, imported surface water in lieu of groundwater pumping. Grow the economy, take pressure off land, and formalize the water sector.
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References.

Seckler, D. 1996. The new era of water resources management. Research Report 1. Colombo,Sri Lanka: Internastional Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI). http://www.jica.go.jp/syria/english/activities/02.html www.inbo-news.org | www.gwpforum.org

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