The drinking water crisis in many Indian cities is reaching alarming proportions. Urban population is suffering from irregular water supply, sometimes leading to clashes among them.

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QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF
WATER LEVEL DEPLETION
IN WATER SYSTEMS
E X P L O R AT O RY P R O J E C T

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INTRODUCTION
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The drinking water crisis in many Indian cities is
reaching alarming proportions. Urban population is
suffering from irregular water supply, sometimes
leading to clashes among them.
A recent joint study conducted by United Nations
International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and the
World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature revealed the
alarming situation of fresh water depletion in the
country. They opined that the fall in the quality and
quantity of available water resources is due to the
following reasons:
• Pollution of water sources
• Improper water resources management
• Shortcomings in the design and implementation of

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• The World Economic Forum ranks water crises the
world’s third greatest risk by impact, and extreme
weather the top risk by likelihood.
• According to a 2016 study, aquifer depletion in
agricultural regions could threaten nearly half the
world’s food sources and deny 1.8 billion people
reliable access to water by 2050.
• The same study projects that aquifers in India’s Upper
Ganges basin may be depleted within 25 years.
• India extracts more groundwater than any other
country in the world. India accounts for 25 percent of
the world’s extracted groundwater, more than the

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WATER RESOURCES
AVAILABILITY & CONSUMPTION

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• The total amount of water available on earth has
been estimated at 1.4 billion cubic kilometers,
enough to cover the planet with a layer of about 3-
km deep.
• About 95% of the earth’s water is in the oceans,
which is unfit for human consumption and other use
because of its high salt content; about 4% is locked
in the polar ice caps; and the remaining 1%
constitutes all the fresh water in hydrological cycle
including ground water reserves.
• Only 0.1% is available in as fresh water in rivers,
lakes, and streams, which is suitable for human
consumption. This highlights the significance of the

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• The Annual precipitation of rainfall over India is
400 million-hectare meters. The surface water
resources carry 17,68,000 million cubic meters out
of which only 50% can be put to beneficial uses.
• In addition, the ground water potential of 4,22,900
million cubic meters is available for utilization and
about 1,00,000 million cubic meters is being
exploited at present.
• The UNICEF & WWF study identified the prevalence
of fluoride and iron deposits or ingress of salt water
as the other sources affecting water quality of both
surface and ground water. The projected demands
for the annual requirement of fresh water (both

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Indian rivers have been classified into fourteen major,
forty-four medium, and fifty-five minor & desert river
basins.
• The major river basins cover 83% of the total drainage
basin and contribute to 85% of the total surface flow
whereas medium and minor river basins share 8% and
8% respectively of the total surface flow.
• But, the major problem is the quality of surface water
in majority of the locations, which is affected by
pollutants from various sources such as domestic
waste discharges, industrial waste disposal, and other
human activities like bathing, washing and swimming
etc.

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Q U A L I TAT I V E A N D Q U A N T I TAT I V E
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PRESENT DAY PROBLEMS

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Access to and adequacy of safe water
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• The per capita water availability at national level has declined over the
years. Deteriorating water quality, pollution problems and seasonal water
shortages are increasingly making water unsuitable and inadequate for basic
human needs. Key challenge is providing safe and adequate water to all.
• Bangalore depends for water from the Cauvery IV project, while Delhi is
dependent on its neighboring states for more water. Therefore, ensuring
access to safe drinking water to all has not been among the successes of our
water planning.
• In Noida, Ghaziabad, and Delhi, water rights were bought from Uttar Pradesh
(UP) by financing the lining of canals in UP. In Chennai water rights were
leased from the state’s farmers or tank systems.

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Institutional challenges
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• By far the most serious challenges are those of management of the
existing infrastructure and of the water resource itself. Over the past few
years several high-level commissions have been appointed to deal with
water management issues and also new national/state policies have been
promulgated.
• However, not much of it has been implemented effectively. This divide
between the problem and practice has led to extensive loss of credibility
of the state apparatus for water development and management.
• Problem is balancing between service providers and users of all kind. For
example, well-functioning water systems often separate the providers of
services from the overall water resources management authority.

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Service Provision
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• The provision of formal irrigation and water supply services in India is the
virtual exclusive monopoly of government agencies, which often do not
provide services to many (especially the poor) or provide poor quality
services to those who do have access.
• On the contrary, market competition could correctly be argued to improve
efficiency. Absence of clear, enforceable water entitlements at all levels is
also at the root of service shortcomings such as, water use inefficiency,
corruption, financial problems and conflicts which plague the water sector in
India currently.

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Over-extraction of Groundwater
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• Problems related to groundwater governance include high extraction rates,
fluctuating water tables, groundwater pollution, and reduced agricultural
production and equity issues.
• Complexities such as the existence 13 of millions of wells across the country,
unhindered public access to groundwater and often poorly understood
character of the system dependent on groundwater, pose a serious challenge
to the groundwater managers.
• Much of the problems related to groundwater management is owing to
undefined property rights, which is conducive neither to equity nor to
sustainability. Private landowners in India have absolute ownership of
groundwater beneath their land and they can extract any amount of

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KOSI RIVER
A CA SE STUDY
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PRESENT SCENARIO
• The Kosi river in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon region is
dying, and experts suggest that if immediate
measures are not taken to rejuvenate the river, it
could spell doom for the region. Data from the last
25 years shows that the lean flow capacity of the
river during summers has witnessed a massive,
over 700%, drop.
• Equally worrying is the fact that the constant
neglect and lack of foresight by successive
governments has resulted in a shortening of the
river’s total length from 225 kilometers to just 41
in the last 40 years.
• This has worried experts, who believe that if 15

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• Professor JS Rawat, who teaches Geography
at Kumaon University in Almora, has been
studying the river for the last 25 years, and
his research shows that the flow discharge in
the river has been in a state of constant
decline.

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• From a high of 790 liters/second in 1992, the
Kosi’s discharge fell to a paltry 50
liters/second in 2016. “This is a disaster
waiting to happen considering that people of
more than 350 villages and towns live on its
banks and use its water for multiple
purposes,” Rawat warns.
• “Recent hydrological surveys in the non-
glacial fed river system, viz., the Kosi river
have shown that there are two sharp
hydrologic indicators which warrant that if no
immediate mechanical and biological
measures of river regenerative measures
were taken in the recharge zones, the
perennial river systems of the Kosi watershed

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CAUSES FOR DEPLETION

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• High demand for water
Coupled with population explosion, the rapid industrialization and
technological development require large quantity of water for their
maintenance.
• Poor storage facility and careless attitude towards conservation:
Due to poor storage facility and careless attitude, a lot of rain water is
carried to the seas and oceans.
• Poor ground water resources:
The ground water resources are declining due to overgrazing and
deforestation which cause soil erosion and make the soil unable to
permit water infiltration.
• Over-exploitation of ground water:
In order to meet the demand of increased population, the ground water

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• Bad water management:
Due to bad water management and ignorance, a lot of water is lost.
• Evaporational loss:
The water stored in large reservoirs undergo evaporation and due to
such process, a lot of water is lost.
• Loss by seepage:
During the passage of water in long canals a part is lost due to seepage.
• Dumping of pollutants:
The usability of the available water decreases with dumping of different
pollutants in water bodies.
• Siltation of bodies of water:
The degradation of vegetational cover in the hills and catchment areas,
there is siltation of water bodies.

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Pollution
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Consumption of any item is likely to be followed by disposal of the same
either in the same phase or in some other phase. It was estimated that,
approximately 13.443 Million Liters per Day (MLD) of wastewater being
generated from the 453 cities for consuming 16,814 MLD of water. The
disposal of this domestic wastewater needs to be considered seriously.
When instances of industrial pollution reach the notice of the Supreme
Court, it initially relies on the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) to
provide scientific data. The SPCBs are given wide range of powers under the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to impose strict directives to the erring
industries causing pollution. But, if the SPCBs are found to have failed in
their duty, the court will not hesitate to pass strictures against them. In
fact, the Indian Apex court has even issued notices to SPCBs in selected
cases.

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PRESENT PROJECTS

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CONCLUSION

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In order to address the problems discussed
above, an attempt is made in the present
study to suggest a few approaches and
methodologies as follows:
• Identification and isolation of contaminant sources
This calls for the need for zonal demarcation of ‘Pollution zones” from non-
pollution zones and working on them to reduce the ambient levels of
environmental pollution. Even latest information systems such as
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based on Remote Sensing can be
utilized is studying the local resources at a given location.
A well-planned development of industrial zones can help the Nation in its
march towards progress. Otherwise, cases such as Bichri (in Rajasthan);
environmental damages done by the greedy aquaculture farmers in the
coastal regions of the country including few fresh water lakes etc. will
prevail. The isolation and identification of zonal demarcation is expected to

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• Adoption of latest technologies
This aims for adoption of waste minimization
techniques in minimizing the
waste generation both from the domestic and industrial
sources. It comprises of mainly two main streams –
source reduction and recycling. Source reduction
comprises of the changes in product/material through
substitution, changes in product/material composition,
changes in technology and good operating practices
etc. Recycling constitutes the adoption of use and
reuse, reclamation etc. Any promising technology to be
adopted for the treatment of the waste effluents
should give a close look at the following aspects:
1. Cost
2. Availability

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• Basin management
Water resource development is to be planned in an
integrated manner at the river basin level and effective
basin-wise programs have to be evolved considering the
inter-relationships of soil conservation, afforestation,
land development, controlled grazing etc. careful
selection of crops to be planned in water short basins.
The development of forests in upland of the water
basin where the slopes are high will help in minimizing
the landslides, leading to lesser sediment transport.
Environmental monitoring of the catchment area on
continuous basis and soil conservation measures such as
contour bundling, check dams, afforestation etc. to be
practiced.

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• Enhanced co-ordination among Agencies
The last, but not the least, of the strategies is the
enhanced co-ordination among various Agencies
such as SPCB, Industrial Development Corporation,
State Finance Corporation, Irrigation Department,
Panchayat raj Department, Ground Water
Department, and some other non-Governmental
Agencies etc. to name a few. In fact, this is also one
of the major aspects pointed out by the UNICEF-
WWF study.
Even though the regulations are very strong, the lack of co-ordination
among the concerned Agencies will not produce the result (at a faster
rate) with the same effect. As a result, the estimates of the
developmental project cause rise so steeply that no more
economically viable. In fact, there are a few instances reported,
where the absence of the co-ordination of among above-mentioned
Agencies led to alarming and severe economic problems. Therefore,
the concerned Agencies should co-ordinate among themselves to see
that the developmental projects/programs reach the public in time.

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Thank
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