Better water management through GIS/Other strategies
V. R. Desai
Assistant Professor, Water Resources
Section Civil Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302, West Bengal
Abstract
Consumer oriented technological advancement/economic development is exerting a new kind of stress on the quality and availability of air and water in particular. As a result of this, the management of these natural resources has become absolutely necessary. In this paper, various strategies for better water management are discussed. Time-tested and decentralized practices of conserving water resources on a small scale as well as modern and centralized planning for big water resources projects undertaken in various parts of the world are also described. In the light of this, a few feasible short-, medium- as well as long- term strategies are suggested to improve the quality and availability of water resources for the entire human population. Through these strategies, wherein the small will complement the big; the old will complement the new, an improved water management scenario is presented over an extended space as well as time.
Introduction
In terms of human necessities, water is considered most important next only to air. Food, clothing, shelter and energy are considered as next in the order of human necessities. The various ancient river valley civilizations in India, China, Israel and elsewhere prove this fact very much. It has been historically established that only these three nations and their civilizations have survived the test of time. Israel is the smallest among the three in terms of area and population, and has managed its water resources in a quite satisfactory way despite its very low rainfall. On the other hand, China is the biggest in terms of area and population and has managed its water resources to a relatively more satisfactory level despite various adverse factors. As compared to both these nations with ancient civilizations, India’s progress in water management is either satisfactory only in some sporadic pockets of geographical areas or is far from satisfactory elsewhere. The following paragraphs elaborate these observations to some extent.
Israel's Water Management Strategies
Israel [about 20,750 sq. km. Area and an estimated population of 5.8 million in 1996]Area is a nation in the Middle East which is very important not only in terms of its history and geography but also in terms of its socio-religious composition and effective water management in spite of its limited rainfall. The average annual rainfall varies from about 150 mm in the Southern deserts to about 600 mm in the Northern hilly region. Both these values are less as compared to both the extreme values of annual rainfall in the Indian State of Rajasthan. Yet, Israel has enacted laws and implemented programmes for better water conservation and management which ensure minimization of wastage and thereby an improvement in the water use efficiency. Some of the techniques used are rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation. As a result of such practices, Israel has been able to ensure quality and availability of water for drinking and other purposes for its citizens as well as to export citrus fruits, fruit juices, wines etc., in spite of its hostile terrain with scanty rainfall [Grolier, 1997].
Chinese Water Management Practice
China is the world’s largest country in terms of population [i. e., more than 1.2 billion as per 1996 estimate] and one among the top four countries in terms of area [about 9.6 million sq. km]. The annual rainfall varies all the way from less than 250 mm in the north-west to about 2000 mm in the south and south-west. This region has more than 80% of national water resources for a national area of little more than 35% supporting nearly 55% of the nation’s population. The strong point of china is its retention of the traditional wisdom as well as adoption to modern techniques. The 1-2-1 Programme of ‘Rainwater Catchment and Utilisation’ (RWCU) provides for ‘one’ catchment area feeding ‘two’ underground storage tanks to support cash and fruit crops on ‘one’ piece of land. This as well as similar programmes have been successfully implemented in the north-western Gansu Province, and neighbouring Autonomous Regions of Ningxia Hui and Inner Mongolia. As a result of such programmes, an additional area of more than 10,000 hectares has been irrigated and an increase in agricultural yield ranging from about 20 to 100% has been achieved [Kumar, 1998].