Water Resources
Water scarcity
Explain the causes of water scarcity.
A puzzle. Three-fourths of the earth is covered with water, and water is renewable: the hydrological cycle (rain, rivers, groundwater, evaporation, rain again) keeps refilling it. So why do so many places run short? First, only a small part of all that water is fresh water we can use.
Scarcity is mostly made by people. When we hear 'water shortage' we picture the Rajasthan desert. Low rain does matter, but the book says that in most cases scarcity comes from:
- over-exploitation: taking out more than nature puts back;
- excessive use: wasting it;
- unequal access: some groups get plenty, others get little.
Who is using it all?
- More people need more water at home, and more food. Irrigated farming is the biggest user of water. When every farmer digs a private well or tube-well, groundwater levels fall, and that threatens water supply and food for everyone.
- Industries use a lot of water, and they need power too. Much of that power is hydroelectric, which also depends on water.
- Cities keep growing. Many housing societies pump their own groundwater, so the water under several cities is running out.
Plenty of water, none to drink. A place can have enough water and still face scarcity, because the water is bad quality. Waste from homes and factories, chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers can make it unsafe. The book's photo: after a record downpour floods Kolkata, a boy still has to fetch drinking water.
What the government is doing.
- Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): safe piped drinking water for every rural home, at 55 litres per person per day.
- Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal): works in water-stressed gram panchayats of seven states. Its big aim is to change people's habits from 'use it up' to 'save it'.
Why conserve? To stay safe from health hazards, to make sure there is enough food, to keep people's livelihoods and work going, and to stop nature's ecosystems from being damaged.
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