DEPLETION OF RESOURCES-

WATER
 Overview
 Introduction
• Water Depletion: A Silent Killer
• Reasons for Depletion of Water
• What will we drink without water?
• Depletion of water resources more serious than oil reserves
 Newspaper Article
 India’s Groundwater Crisis
• Falling water table (All-India)
• Farmers' response to falling groundwater table
 Negative Effects of Water Depletion
 Conservation of Water Resources
• Government’s Initiative
• Clean Ganga Mission
• Yamuna Action Plan
• Rainwater Harvesting
• Our Initiative to Save Water
 Introduction
• Humans are depleting the earths resources at an
ever-increasing rate.
• It is estimated that humanities’ eco-footprint (a
measure of consumption) is one and a half times
the earth’s ability to sustainably provide the
resources to meet that level of consumption.
• That shortfall is being met through the
depletion (or degradation) of natural capital
things like fresh water, soil, forest land, wetlands
and biodiversity.
 Water Depletion: A Silent Killer
• Depletion of water resources is an
environmental problem which can have
serious consequences in the years to come, it
is seems to be an unimportant and a
thoroughly neglected issue.
• It is important to remember that water is an
indispensable part of our life. Our survival
depends on water heavily.
• Reckless and inappropriate usage of water
shall create an environment in which living
beings would no longer exist.
 Reasons for Depletion of Water
• There has been a tremendous increase in India’s
population and it has now crossed 103 crores.
The demand for water resources has exceeded
population growth by a factor of two or more
over the last hundred years.
• Excess extraction by farmers has led to the
dwindling groundwater supplies. This is so
because access to groundwater is free and
anyone has a right to pump water from their
own land.
• Unrestrained urbanization has contributed in
a big way and despite India being one of the
richest nations in water supply, the
government and citizens have exploited the
water reserves.
• In addition to our using more water than is
returned in rain, we are also polluting the
water we have. Most of the pesticides and
fertilizers used in agriculture, sewer
overflows, and the oil and grease from roads,
eventually run off into the water systems.
 What will we drink without
water?
• Only 2.5% of the world’s total water volume is
fresh water. Of that 2.5%, 70% is frozen.
• The depletion of our water resources is more
serious that the current oil depletion. There are
substitutes for oil but nothing can replace our
drinking water.
Depletion of water resources more
serious than oil reserves
• The food we consume requires 500 times as
much water as we need to drink every day.
• 70% of all water pumped from underground or
diverted from rivers is used for irrigation, 20%
is used by industry and 10% goes to domestic
residence.
• The rising temperatures have also compounded
the problem and altered the precipitation mix,
meaning there is more flooding during the
rainy season and less snowmelt from high
altitudes to feed rivers during the dry season.
 Groundwater is disappearing fast from the
world and India is among the worst hit, shows
data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment (GRACE) satellites.
 Article
• Among the world's largest groundwater
basins, the Indus Basin aquifer of India and
Pakistan, which is a source of fresh water for
millions of people, is the second-most
overstressed with no natural replenishment to
offset usage.
• About a third of the Earth's largest
groundwater basins are being rapidly
depleted by human consumption
Depleting ground water level may be a
real worry if one looks at the future
demand of water in India.
 Article
• The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has
told the ministry of water resources that around
56% of the wells, showed decline in its level in
2013 as compared to the average of preceding
10 years (2003-12) period.
• Ground water levels in various parts of India are
declining as the country could not adequately
recharge aquifers in deficit areas where it has
been used for irrigation, industries and drinking
water needs of the growing population over the
years.
The US security establishment is already
warning of potential conflicts – including
terror attacks – over water
 Article
• In seven years, beginning in 2003, parts of
Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers lost 144 cubic
kilometres of stored freshwater.
• Already a billion people, or one in seven
people on the planet, lack access to safe
drinking water.
• Over the last decade, groundwater was
pumped out 70% faster than in the 1990s.
India’s Groundwater Crisis
 Falling water table (All-India)
70

60

50

40
1993-94
30 2000-01

20

10

0
Below 10m 10-20m 20-40m 40-60m 60m and above

Source: Ministry of water resources

 Farmers' response to falling
groundwater table
80

70

60

50
Deep tube wells
40
Shallow tube wells
30 Dug wells
20

10

0
1986-87 1993-94 2000-01 2006-07
Source: Ministry of water resources
 Negative Effects of Water Depletion:
• Lowering of the Water Table
Excessive pumping can lower the
groundwater table, and cause wells to no
longer be able to reach groundwater.
• Increased Costs
As the water table lowers, the water must be
pumped farther to reach the surface, using
more energy. In extreme cases, using such a
well can be cost prohibitive
• Water Quality Concerns
Excessive pumping in coastal areas can cause
saltwater to move inland and upward,
resulting in saltwater contamination of the
water supply.
• Sinking of Land
Land sinking occurs when there is a loss of
support below ground. This is most often
caused by human activities, mainly from the
overuse of groundwater, when the soil
collapses, compacts, and drops.
Conservation of Water Resources
 Government’s Initiative
• The Narendra Modi government directed the
states of India to ensure that 50% of the work
taken up by MGNREGA, should be for the
improvement of water conservation.
• This includes construction of check dams and
de-silting of water bodies.
• Narendra Modi himself asked farmers across
the country to adopt modern ways of
conserving water.
 Clean Ganga Mission
• A clean Ganga is deemed as Narendra Modi’s
pet project. Hedecided to represent Varanasi
in order to serve ‘Ganga Maa’.
• Prime Minister Modi also placed The Ganga
Action Plan under the direct supervision of
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.
• Modi’s Clean Ganga Plan involves five
ministries working in close co-operation to
see the dream project through.
 Yamuna Action Plan
• Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) to clean the dirtiest
river of the country was formally launched in
1993.
• The YAP has so far completed two phases as
YAP-I and YAP-II. The YAP-I covered Delhi,
eight towns in Uttar Pradesh and six towns in
Haryana.
• Under YAP II, emphasis was on the 22-km
stretch of Yamuna in Delhi.
• In 2013, the YAP-III was initiated and is
supposed to be completed by 2015.
 Rainwater Harvesting
• Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and
deposition of rainwater for reuse on-site,
rather than allowing it to run off.
• The harvested water can also be used
as drinking water, longer-term storage and
for other purposes such as groundwater
recharge.
• It provides water when there is a drought, can
help mitigate flooding of low-lying areas, and
reduces demand on wells which may enable
ground water levels to be sustained.
THANK YOU