LIC Water Issues
Objective – to learn the problems of water supply in India
Outcome – be able to describe and quantify the two problems surrounding India’s
water supply.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8197287.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8392895.stm
..\..\..\..\A2\newA2\Unit 4\Attwoodoption3'food'\2. Causes\who has been affected\Economic boom fails to reduce India.doc
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8214690.stm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/03/06/stories/2003030602541300.htm
Please complete the writing frame and quantify where appropriate…
‘In India the problem has got so bad that people have been killed by police
during protests. Please quantify where appropriate…
India is densely populated ………
(previous map)
It gets its water from……………………………..
It has high water use, ………………………….. per person
In 2009 the rains didn’t really fall so the drought has caused many
problems………………………………………. (read the article from the
National newspaper.)
Even with the rains they have two major problems
Over-consumption:………………………………
And
Difficulty providing safe drinking water:…………………………….
This causes many problems such as……..
These two problems exist because…………………………………….’
Some efforts are being made to manage the problem of shortage… answer
activity 6 page 147 (30 min’s blue gold)
‘India’s
Water Use Unsustainable’
Parts of India are on track for severe water shortages,
according to results from Nasa's gravity satellites.
The Grace mission discovered that in the country's north-west including Delhi - the water table is falling by about 4cm (1.6 inches)
per year.
Writing in the journal Nature, they say rainfall has not changed, and
water use is too high, mainly for farming.
The finding is published two days after an Indian government report
warning of a potential water crisis.
That report noted that access to water was one of the main factors
governing the pace of development in the world's second most
populous nation.
About a quarter of India is
experiencing drought conditions,
The situation has to stop today
or tomorrow
as the monsoon rains have been
weaker and later than usual.
Dr Raj Gupta
But weather and climatic factors
CIMMYT
are not responsible for water
depletion in the northwestern
New crops needed to avoid famines
states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab, according to the Nasa
study.
"We looked at the rainfall record and during this decade, it's
relatively steady - there have been some up and down years but
generally there's no drought situation, there's no major trend in
rainfall," said Matt Rodell, a hydrologist at Nasa's Goddard Space
Flight Center near Washington DC.
"So naturally we would expect the groundwater level to stay where it
is unless there is an excessive stress due to people pumping too
much water, which is what we believe is happening."
State of Grace
The Grace (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) mission uses
two satellites flying along the same orbit, one just in front of the
other.
Minute differences in the Earth's gravitational pull cause the two
craft to shift slightly in their positions relative to one another.
The mission can measure
groundwater depletion because
the amount of water in aquifers
has a small gravitational
attraction for the satellites.
Three years ago, Grace scientists
noted a loss of water in parts of
Africa - but the Indian result is
more striking.
"Over the six-year timeframe of
this study, about 109 cubic
kilometres of water were depleted
The Grace satellites provide a twin eye
on Earth gravity
Grace twins measure 'potato' Earth
from this region - more than double the capacity of India's largest
reservoir is gone between 2002 and 2008," Dr Rodell told the BBC.
The northwest of India is heavily irrigated; and the Indian
government's State of the Environment report, published on
Tuesday, noted that irrigation increased rice yields seven-fold in
some regions compared to rain-fed fields.
Mumbai protest over water cuts leads to violent clas
Police in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) have used sticks to
beat back thousands of demonstrators protesting against cuts in the
water supply.
One man died during the clashes, with protesters alleging that he was beaten
to death by the police, who denied the charge.
At least 15 people were injured during the protest and taken to hospital.
Mumbai has been in the grip of a severe water shortage and supply cuts of
15% to 30% have been imposed in many areas.
Officials say the shortage is because of insufficient rainfall this monsoon and
Officials say the police were fo
use sticks to beat back protes
that the supply cuts will continue until the next monsoon.
'Water thefts'
More than 5,000 protesters had assembled outside the headquarters of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpor
(BMC) - the main civic body responsible for the city's water supply, the BBC's Prachi Pinglay reports from
Mumbai.
The demonstration was led by Nitesh Rane, president of an NGO called Swabhimaan (Self-respect).
Mr Rane and a few others have been detained by the police. It is not clear if they have been formally ar
Mr Rane is son of Narayan Rane, a Congress party politician who was formerly with the Hindu hardline S
Sena party.
Swabhimaan members alleged that civic officials were "doing little to snap unauthorised water connectio
result in massive thefts and leakages across Mumbai".
One member said, "The beating by police resulted in the death of a protester, 43-year-old Viral Dholaki
About 15 people have been injured, including a few women who have been badly wounded in the rally."
Municipal officials said the cause of Mr Dholakia's death was not known.
They said the police were forced to use sticks as the mob went out of control.
Mumbai has been in the grip of a major water crisis for the past few months.
This year's less-than-average monsoon rains amplified the water shortages and highlighted the city's ag
infrastructure system that is in need of heavy investment.
India to import food amid drought
India will import food to make
up for shortages caused by a
drought thought to be
affecting 700 million people,
the finance minister has said.
The minister, Pranab Mukherjee,
did not specify what would be
imported and when, saying he
wanted to avoid speculation on
This monsoon season has brought 29%
less rainfall than normal
prices.
The drought is affecting almost half of India's districts.
Food prices have risen by 10% after poor monsoon rains hit sowing.
Monsoon rains are critical to India's farmers.
'Grim situation'
Mr Mukherjee said any commodity that was in short supply would be
imported to boost domestic stocks.
He said details of the imports were not being revealed, though
reports said lentils, edible oils and other staples might be among the
foods to be brought in.
The summer rains are crucial to crops such as rice, soybean,
sugarcane and cotton.
Concern is also growing in India that international prices of many
items such as sugar are increasing in anticipation of its need to
import, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports from the capital, Delhi.
The farm minister, Sharad Pawar, said the government would take
action to ensure prices remained stable.
He added: "[The] situation is grim, not just for the crop sowing and
the crop health but also for sustaining animal health, providing
drinking water, livelihood and food, particularly for the small and
marginal farmers and landless labourers."
Up to 70% of Indians are dependent on farm incomes, and about
60% of India's farms depend on rains.
Irrigation networks are dismissed by critics as inadequate.
Quality of water in India among the worst'
New Delhi March 5. A world water development report of the United Nations has
categorised India among the worst countries for poor quality of water, as well as
their ability and commitment to improve the situation.
The Asian rivers are the most polluted in the world, with three times as many
bacteria from human waste as the global average. These rivers also have 20 times
more lead than those of the industrialised countries, says the report.
The report ranks 122 countries according to the quality of their water as well as their
ability and commitment to improve the situation. Belgium is considered the worst
basically because of the low quantity and quality of its groundwater combined with
heavy industrial pollution and poor treatment of waste water. It is followed by
Morocco, India, Jordan, Sudan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African
Republic and Rwanda.
Attributing this to "inertia at leadership level", the report entitled "Water for People,
Water for Life" observes that "the global water crisis will reach unprecedented levels
in future with growing per capita scarcity of water in many parts of the developing
world".
The report has been compiled on the eve of the Third World Water Forum to be held
at Kyoto, Japan, from March 16 by 23 UN partners constituting the World Water
Assessment Programme (WWAP) under the UNESCO. It further observes that water
resources will steadily decline because of population growth, pollution and expected
climate change.
"Globally the challenge lies in raising the political will to implement water-related
commitments," says the report.
"Water professionals need a better understanding of the broader social, economic
and political context, while politicians need to be better informed about water
resource issues. Otherwise, water will continue to be an area for political rhetoric and
lofty promises instead of sorely needed actions."
The list of the countries with best quality is headed by Finland, followed by Canada,
New Zealand, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Russian Federation, Republic of
Korea, Sweden and France. It ranks over 180 countries and territories in terms of
the amount of renewable water resources available per capita, meaning all of the
water circulating on the surface and in the soil or deeper underground. The top 10
water rich countries are French Guyana, Iceland, Guyana, Suriname, Congo, Ppua
New Guinea, Gabon, Solomon Islands, Canada and New Zealand. The poorest
countries in terms of water availability are Kuwait followed by Gaza Strip, United
Arab Emirates, Bahamas, Qatar, Maldives, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Saudi Arabia,
Malta and Singapore. The report adds that by the middle of this century at worst
seven billion people in 60 countries will be faced with water scarcity, at best 2 billion
in 48 countries, depending on factors such as population growth and policy-making.
Climate change will account for an estimated 20 per cent of this increase in global
water scarcity.