2 Water Resources of India

Hardeep Rai Sharma

1. Objectives:

1. To explain different resources of water
2. To understand different types of water resources
3. To describe importance of water resources
4. To understand different threats to water resources

  2.  Concept Map

3. Introduction

Liquid water is essential for the kind of delicate chemistry that makes life possible (Philip Ball)

Natural resources are materials provided by the Earth that humans can use to make more complex products from them. These are useful raw materials that we get from the Earth, which means that human beings cannot create natural resources e.g. land, air, water, minerals etc. Water, an important natural resource, is essential for living being survival, food production, and economic development. There is no substitute of this natural resource and it is considered as a unique gift of nature to the mankind. It is the basis for the renewal, purge, and recovery of life on the planet. Different seasons are the result of global circulation of water. Three quarters of the planet’s surface is covered with water. All this water is in continuous motion between different environmental components. Being an universal solvent, different substances get dissolved and suspended in it during runoff and percolation.

A proper assessment of water resources potential is important for its sustainable development and management point of view. This will be helpful in their proper planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance to provide competing demands during irrigation, drought and flood management, domestic and industrial water supply, of electricity generation, fisheries and navigation. The first Irrigation Commission in 1901‒03 has carried out the first ever attempt of water resources potential assessment of India. The main characteristic of the world’s freshwater resources is their uneven distribution in time and space. Freshwater can be considered green or blue. Green water – the rainfall that is stored in the soil and then evaporates or is incorporated in plants and organisms – is the main source of water for natural ecosystems and for rain-fed agriculture, which produces 60% of the world’s food. Blue water – renewable surface water runoff and groundwater recharge – is the main source for human withdrawals and the traditional focus of water resource management. The blue water total availability is about 40,000 cubic kilometres a year. Of this, an estimated 3,800 cubic kilometres, roughly 10% were withdrawn (diverted or pumped) for human uses in 1995. Of the water withdrawn, about 2,100 cubic kilometres were consumed. The remainder was returned to streams and aquifers, usually with significant reductions in quality (Cosgrove, 2006).

Of the estimated 1.4 × 1018 cubic meters (m3) of water on Earth, more than 97% is present in the oceans. About 35 × 1015 m3 of Earth’s water is fresh water, of which about 0.3% is held in lakes, reservoirs and rivers (Shiklomanov and Rodda 2003). Remaining fresh water is stored in glaciers, permanent snow, and groundwater aquifers. Earth’s atmosphere contains approximately 13 × 1012 m3 of water and is the source of all the precipitation that occurs on Earth (Shiklomanov and Rodda, 2003). Yearly, about 151,000 quads (159,300 exajoules) of solar energy cause 577 × 1012 m3 of water evaporation that moves about from Earth’s surface into the atmosphere. Of this evaporation, 86% is from the oceans (Shiklomanov, 1993) and remaining 14% of the water evaporation is from land. About 20% (115× 1012 m3 per year) of the world’s precipitation falls on land, with the surplus water returning to the oceans through rivers (Shiklomanov, 1993). Thus, each year solar energy transfers a significant portion of water from oceans to land areas. There is uneven distribution of water resources among different regions of India. The water availability differs considerably from the desert areas of the Western India to the hilly regions of the North-East. The national per capita annual availability of water as per the distribution of water resources potential in India is 1545 cu m (as on 1st March 2011 estimation) which is more than scarcity condition of 1000 cu m per capita as considered by international agencies (CWC, 2016). India is blessed with different types of natural water resources which include glaciers, oceans, rivers, lakes, and ground water. However human beings made dams and reservoirs to store and water. Among different types of water resources, glaciers are solid form of water and oceans has saline water therefore making both unfit for direct utilization. Rainfall the important constituent of hydrological cycle is the main driving force for the water supply in these resources. In the present module we will discuss about the main water resources starting from the rainfall.

4.  Precipitation: The environment of India is characteristically monsoonal: half the precipitation takes place within a 15-day period, and more than 90 % of annual river run-off occurs during four monsoon months (June‒September). India receives annual precipitation of about 4000 km3, including snowfall. Out of this, monsoon rainfall is of the order of 3000 km3. Rainfall in India is dependent on the south-west and north-east monsoons, on shallow cyclonic depressions and disturbances and on local storms. Most of it occurs between June and September under the influence of south-west monsoon except in Tamil Nadu, where it is under the influence of north-east monsoon during October and November. There is a high spatial and temporal variability in the rainfall pattern in our country resulting into floods and droughts. The Northern, Central and Eastern parts of India receives annual normal rainfall between 75 and 150 cm. Highest rainfall of about 11,690 mm is recorded from Mousinram near Cherrapunji in the North Eastern State of Meghalaya whereas Jaisalmer in Rajasthan receives about 150  mm of rainfall in a year (Kumar et al. 2005).

5.   Surface water resources: It includes water present on the surface of the earth in different aquatic bodies like oceans, seas, estuaries, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, tanks, ponds etc. In glaciers water is found in it solid state. Oceans, seas, estuaries and salt water lakes water is not fit for drinking due to high salt content but they have significant contribution in water cycle.  According to National Institute of Hydrology, India’s average annual surface run-off generated by rainfall and snowmelt is estimated to be about 1869 billion cubic meter (BCM). Out of this only 690 BCM (37%) of it can actually be mobilized.

5.1 Glaciers: A glacier is a mass of ice consisting of compacted and recrystallized ice on land that flows down under its own weight due to gravity. These are the main source of water for perennial Himalayan Indian Rivers. There are 9575 glaciers in the Indian Himalayas, covering a total area of about 18054 km2 and a volume of about 1291 km3 as per the glacier inventory by the Geological Survey of India (CWC, 2008). The principal glaciers in Himalayas can be divided in four groups i.e. Punjab, Garhwal, Nepal and Assam group of glaciers. Gangotri Glacier is an example of Garhwal group of glaciers while glaciers adjoining Kanchenjunga peak are part of Assam group of glaciers (NIH, 2017). The principal glaciers of the Indian Himalaya, are: Gangotri, 30 km (length); Zemu (Sikkim Himalaya), 28 km; Milam (Nanda Devi area), 19 km; and Kedarnath (Gangotri-Chaukhamba area), 14.5 km. Gangotri Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Himalayas is located in the Uttarkashi District of Uttarakhand State in the Garhwal Himalayan Region. The snout of the Gangotri Glacier is known as ‘Gomukh’ and a proglacial melt water stream, known as Bhagirathi River, emerges out from Gomukh at an elevation of 4,000m. Data on glacial retreat for 1868 glaciers in 11 basins distributed across the Indian Himalaya for the period 1962-2001/2004 (Kulkarni, 2010) show that the overall glacial area has decreased from 6332 km2 to 5329 km2 which amounts to an average loss of ~16%. Figure 1. shows the in Baralacha La glacier in Himachal Pradesh.

5.2 Oceans: About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The average depth of the oceans is 3700 m, and they contain 97% of the Earth’s water. India is surrounded by oceans in three directions by Bay of Bengal (East), Arabian Sea (West) and Indian Ocean (South). The Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, the Mozambique Strait, and the Great Australian Bight are the sub-regions of the Indian Ocean. The third largest Indian Ocean covers about 73,440,000 km2, approximately 20% of the water on the Earth’s surface. Total coast line of India is about 7517 km, with a longest shoreline of about 1600 km in Gujarat state (ISRO, 2011). The Convention of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Seas has established a new international order for the oceans. This extends the economic jurisdiction of coastal states up to an area of 200 miles from the coastline. According to this regime, nearly 2.02 million square kilometers of area, or nearly two-third of the land mass has come under India’s national jurisdiction. In this area, the exclusive right to utilise living and non-living resources vests with the nation. India produces significant quantities of fish and hydrocarbons from the sea.

5.3. Estuaries: An estuary is a channel that has the sea at one end and a river at the other; in an estuary, seawater is appreciably diluted. The complete salinity range from 0‒35 parts per thousand (ppt) is varies from the head (river end) to the mouth (sea end) of an estuary. About 100 channels of varying sizes and shapes arise along the coast of India. Each estuary receives its freshwater from drainage channels of a river basin. The estuarine channels banks form a favoured location for human settlements for fishing and commerce, but nowadays also exploited for dumping sewage and industrial wastes. Estuaries are usually biologically highly productive zones. They also act as a filter for some dissolved constituents in river water which precipitate in the zone where river water meets seawater. More important is the trapping of suspended mud and sand carried by rivers which leads to delta formations around estuaries. Major estuaries occur in the Bay of Bengal while many estuaries have located at some of the major seaports. Most of the India’s major estuaries occur on the east coast. In contrast, the estuaries on the west coast are smaller.

5.4. Rivers: India is gifted with a river system comprising more than 20 major rivers with several tributaries. Many of these rivers are perennial and some of these are seasonal. The Himalayan Rivers like Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus are perennial in nature. While their runoff is significant in the rainy season, the melting of Himalayan snows also provides a sizeable flow in the dry-season. In contrast, the rivers of peninsular India are usually rain-fed and tend to dry up during summer. All the major river basins originating from the Himalayas are international in character. More than three-quarters of India’s geographical area falls within the international river basins. Rivers wholly inside India are also usually shared by more than one Indian state. Average water yield per unit area of the Himalayan Rivers is almost double that of the south peninsular rivers system, indicating the importance of snow and glacier melt contribution from the high mountains. According to Central Water Commission estimated total average annual flow in Indian river basins systems is 1869 km3 (CWC, 2016) whereas the utilizable annual surface and ground water of the country is 690 km3 and 396 km3, respectively (Kumar et al. 2005).

The total land of India can be divided into 20 major river basins (CWC, 2010a), which may be further separated into four groups according to their origin and flow pattern: (i) the Himalayan rivers (Ganges, Brahmaputra, Indus) that originate from the melted high-altitude glacier sand snow, and are perennial throughout the hydrological year (ii) rivers of Indian craton (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery, Narmada and Tapi) are mostly rain-fed and strive on baseflow; (iii) the coastal rivers, mostly non-perennial; and (iv) rivers of the western dessert originate within small fluvio-aeolian basins, and are rain-fed ephemeral and disconnected from the ground water systems (FAO, 2015). Of the major rivers, the river basin Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna is the largest in respect of catchment area of about 11 lakh sq km. The other major rivers with catchment area about one lakh sq km or more are: Indus, Godavari, Krishna, Mahanadi and Narmada (CWC, 2013). The basinwise average flow and utilizable water (in km3/year) of some of the basins is mentioned in Table 1.

Large rivers are usually defined based on one or more of the following criteria of: river length (Lr)=2500 km, drainage area (A)=800000 km², average discharge (Q)=7500 m³/s, and suspended and dissolved load=100 mt/yr (Potter, 1978; Hovius, 1998; Gupta, 2007). Rivers play an important role in the lives of people in India by providing water for drinking, irrigation, transportation, food, electricity generation and respected as “Mothers”. Some of the main rivers, along with their origin and length are mentioned in Table 2 and figure 2 shows River Kali near its origin at Kalapani in Uttarakhand state.

Table 2: Main rivers in India

Sr. No.	River Name	Total Length (km)	Origin
				1	Ganga	2,525	Gangotri Glacier, Uttarakhand
2	Brahmaputra	1,800	Angsi Glacier in Tibet
3	Yamuna	1,376	Yamunotri Glacier, Uttarakhand
4	Indus	3180	Tibetan plateau
5	Sutlej	1500	Rakshastal, Tibet
6	Godavari	1465	Rises at Trimbakeshwar, near Nasik
7	Krishna	1400	Western Ghats near Mahabaleshwar (Maharashtra)
8	Narmada	1315	Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh
9	Chambal	960	Vindhyan cliffs  Mhow, Indore District, Madhya Pradesh
10	Chenab	960	Upper Himalayas, Spiti (Himachal Pradesh)
11	Gomti	900	Gomat Taal, Uttar Pradesh
12	Ghaghara	875	Mapchachungo glaciers, Tibet, Himalayas.
13	Bhima	863	Bhimashankar, Pune district, Maharashtra
14	Mahandai	851	Baster hills of Madhya Pradesh
15	Son	823	Sonbhadra, Maikala ranges, Madhya Pradesh
16	Brahmani	799	Nagri village, Ranchi district, Jharkhand
17	Kaveri/Cauvery	765	Talakaveri in Western Ghats (Karnataka)
18	Jhelum	725 (165 in India)	Chashma Verinag, J & K
19	Tapi	724	Betul district from a place called Multai
20	Kosi	720	Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet
21	Betwa	658	Near Khumra village, Bhopal district, Madhya Pradesh
22	Gandak (Kali Gandaki or Narayani)	630	Nhubine Himal Glacier. Mustang region,Nepal
23	Luni	605	Pushkar valley, Aravalli Range, near Ajmer,Rajasthan
24	Ramganga	596	Lower Himalayas near the Lohba village,Garhwal district, Uttarakhand
25	Damodar	559	Hills of the Chottanagpur Plateau, Bihar
26	Gandak	558	North-east of Dhaulagiri in Nepal
27	Tungabhadra	531	Koodli (near Shimoga), Karnataka
28	Barak	516	Manipur Hills near Mao Songsang
29	Beas	493	Rohtang Pass, Himachal Pradesh
30	Ken	409	North-west slopes of Kaimur hills, Satnadistrict, Madhya Pradesh
31	Subernarekha	395	Nagri village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand
32	Sabarmati	371	Aravalli Range of the Udaipur District
33	Palar	348	Beyond Talagvare village, Kolar district,Karnataka
34	Ghaggar	320	Shivalik Hills, Himachal Pradesh
35	Teesta	330	Tso Lhamo lake, North Sikkim Himalayas
36	Periyar	244	Sivagiri peak, Devikulam, Kerala

[Source: Venkatraman (2015); Rivers in India (2016) and Gangakosh (2018)]

5.5. Lakes and Wetlands: A lake is an immobile water body of considerable size, restricted in a basin, that is surrounded by land apart from a river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Most of the lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams. On the other hand, a wetland is a land area saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, which makes them a distinct ecosystem. Lakes may occur in series, inter-connected by rivers, or as an expansion in water width along the course of a river. Based on their origin the lakes can be divided into glacial, tectonic, fluvial, shoreline, dammed, volcanic, solution (karst) (Meybeck, 1995). However, on the basis of productivity lakes can be oligotrophic (low primary productivity), mesotrophic, eutrophic, hypereutrophic and dystrophic (organic rich lakes). Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario and Lake Superior, form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth and are called as the Great Lakes. These lakes support a variety of ecosystems and play a vital role in the economy of the eight neighboring states and Ontario (Canada). Indian lakes can be divided into urban and non-urban lakes. Wular lake (J & K), five lakes of Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Mysore (Karnataka), Sukhna lake (Chandigarh), lakes of Kumaon hills (Nainital, Bhimtal, Sat-Tal and Naukuchiatal in Uttarakhand), Jalmahal lake (Jaipur), Hyderabad, Bhopal, Mumbai and Bengaluru city lakes are examples of urban lakes. Non-urban lakes can further classified into inland fresh water (Renuka, Keoladeo, Loktak); inland salt water (Lunar and Sambhar); sacred (Mansrover, Pushkar); coastal estuarine (Chilika and Pulicat having brackish water); and ephemeral lakes of the Ganga – Brahmaputra Basins (Kabar and Kolleru) (Reddy and Char, 2004). Lakes, such as, Carambolim (Goa); Chilka (Orissa); Dal lake (Jammu and Kashmir); Deepor Beel (Assam); Khabartal (Bihar); Kolleru (Andhra Pradesh); Loktak (Manipur); Nainital and Bhimtal (Uttarakhand); Sukhna lake (Chandigarh), Nal-sarovar (Gujarat); and Vembanad (Kerala), have long been providing recreational, tourism, fisheries, irrigation and domestic water supply services (Jain et al., 2007a,b). These lakes also contribute to groundwater recharge and support a rich and diverse variety of aquatic flora and fauna.

Lake Manasarovar, a large freshwater lake lies at 4,590 m above mean sea level has a circumference of about 88 km, maximum depth of 90 m and a surface area is 320 km2 (Figure 3). It is connected to nearby Lake Rakshastal by the natural Ganga Chhu channel.

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which is an international treaty signed in 1971 for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and proper use of wetlands and their resources, defines wetlands (Article 1.1) as “areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres” (Ramsar Secretariat,2013). Up to 2014, India has 26 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 689,131 hectares (www.ramsar.org). However, according to Inventory National Wetland Atlas 2011, prepared by Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, identified 201,503 wetlands in India (SAC, 2011). In addition, 555,557 wetlands having area <2.25 ha, which is smaller than minimum measurable unit were identified as point features. Area estimates of various wetland categories have been carried out using GIS layers of wetland boundary, water-spread, and aquatic vegetation. Gujarat has the highest proportion (22.8%) and UT of Chandigarh has nearly negligible part of the total wetland area in the country. Wetlands provides numerous products and services like water for irrigation, domestic needs, fisheries and non-timber forest products, ground-water recharge; flood control and silt capture carbon sequestration, nutrient removal, toxics retention and biodiversity maintenance and recreation. Different types, classification, importance, threats and conservation of wetlands is explained in details in “Wetlands Conservation” module no 34 of WRM.

6.  Mangroves: Mangrove forests are one of the most productive and bio diverse wetlands on the earth. Mangroves are marine tidal forests and are most abundant around the mouths of large rivers and in sheltered bays. They occupy less than one percent of the world’s surface (Saenger, 2002) and are mostly found between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn on all continents covering an estimated 75 % of the tropical coastline worldwide. South and Southeast Asian mangroves form the World’s most extensive and diverse mangrove systems comprising 41.4 % of global mangroves. Indian mangroves make up 3.1 percent of the total global cover and are distributed along all the coastal states, except Lakshadweep (Singh et al. 2012). According to Forest Survey of India (2003), India has mangrove in about 4461 square km area of which about 60 % per cent are found along the east coast (Bay of Bengal), 25 % occurs on the west coast (Arabian Sea) and 15 % are present on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Mangroves live a tough amphibious life in the coastline where the streams and rivers associate with the ocean water. The trees in mangroves adapted themselves to muddy, shifting, and saline conditions. They produce stilt roots, which emerge above the mud and water in order to absorb oxygen. Water remains stagnant within these root nettings. About 30 mangroves are in the Indian Sundarban, others prominent are found in coastal district of Kachchh (Gujarat), Sewri Mangrove Park (Mumbai) and Pichavaram and Muthupet mangroves in Tamilnadu. Mangroves provide fuel, fodder, construction wood, barks for tannin extraction, fruits, vegetables (young shoots), medicines, protection from natural calamities, and act as nurseries for finfish, shellfish, crustaceans and molluscs. During 2004 Tsunami, mangrove populated area in TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh had negligible impact. The potential threats to Indian mangroves are population and economic growth, technological development, and urbanisation. Additional pressures includes subsidence, drought, hurricanes, erosion, over exploitation, encroachment, shrimp culture, agriculture, commercial and residential development.

7.   Manmade Reservoirs: These are artificial water bodies to conserve water especially rainwater for domestic, industrial, agricultural, energy generation purpose and to control floods. These are fed by rainfall, rainwater runoff or from a constant flow of a river. Water loss in these water bodies can occur due to evaporation and percolation whereas sedimentation from rivers or surface runoff can reduce their storage volume. Reservoirs are classified generally as small (<1 000 ha), medium (1 000 to 5 000 ha) and large (> 5 000 ha), especially in the records of the Government of India (Sarma, 1990, Srivastava et al., 1985). About 4700 large reservoirs (capacity of not less than 1 million cubic metre) have been built in India for agricultural, hydropower, municipal, industrial, and recreational water supply and for flood control (CWC, 2009). The total live water storage capacity of completed reservoir projects is about 225 BCM and the area covered by reservoirs is around 2.91 million hectares (m ha) (CWC, 2010b). These reservoirs also support a wide variety of wildlife. Many of the reservoirs such as Govind Sagar Lake formed by diverting river Satluj (Bhakra Dam, Punjab) and Hirakud reservoir (Sambalpur, Orissa) are a major tourist attraction.

8.    Groundwater resources: Water that percolates through rocks and soil and is stored below the ground is called as Ground water. The rocks in which ground water is stored are called aquifers. The hard-rock aquifers of peninsular India represent about 65% of India’s overall aquifer surface area and have poor permeability. Water in these aquifers is non- replenishable and will dry out due to continuous usage in due course of time. The alluvial aquifers of the Indo-Gangetic plains in Northern India have large storage spaces, and hence are a valuable source of fresh water supply. The annual replenishable ground water resources have been assessed as 433 BCM. Keeping an allocation for natural discharge, the net annual ground water availability is 398 BCM. The annual ground water draft (as on 31st March, 2011) is 245 BCM (CGWB, 2014). For given amount of rainfall, more number of rainy days is favourable for ground water recharge. About 68% of country’s annual ground water is contributed through rainfall and remaining 32 % if from other resources, like canal seepage, return flow from irrigation, recharge from tanks, ponds and water conservation structures (Groundwater Year Book, 2013). Apart from the water available in various rivers of the country, groundwater is also an important source of water for drinking, irrigation, industrial uses, etc. About 85 % of rural domestic water requirements, 50 % of urban water requirements and > 50 % of irrigation requirements of India are being met from ground water resources (CGWB, 2014). Due to the increasing population in the country, the national per capita annual availability of water has decreased from 1,816 cubic metre in 2001 to 1,544 cubic metre in 2011 (Water and Related Statistics, 2013). Different aspects of Groundwater are discussed in detail in Groundwater hydrology I‒V (modules numbers 14‒18) of WRM‒V.

8.   Conclusion: Water in most Indian rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands has been heavily degraded, mainly due to agricultural runoff of pesticides and fertilizers, and industrial and municipal wastewater discharges, all of which cause widespread eutrophication (Prasad et al., 2002). Climatic variations are responsible for uneven distribution of precipitation which results into uneven distribution of available water resources thus causing floods and drought affecting the vast areas of India. The floods and droughts can be mitigating through better and scientific structural and non-structural measures. Advance and more accurate mathematical models can forecast the monsoon rainfall accurately, which can be utilized by the decision makers and farmers for adopting appropriate strategies for management of floods and droughts. The availability of water resources can be increased through better management of existing storages and creation of additional storages by constructing proper dams (small, medium and large). Further, the availability of water resources can be further enhanced by rejuvenation of dying tanks, ponds and lakes and increasing the artificial recharge of groundwater. In addition to these measures, inter-basin transfer of water can be one of the options for mitigating the problems of the surplus and deficit basins. The National Water Policy (2012) has made several recommendations for conservation, development and improved management of water resources in the country. Jal Kranti Abhiyan (2015-16 to 2017-18) has been launched in order to strengthen water conservation and management in the country through a holistic and integrated approach involving all stakeholders.

9. Summary

In this module we learnt about:

Different types of water resources in India

Water potential of different resources

Importance of water resources

Threats to water resources

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