Water Conservation & Key Elements of Water Management Framework (Critical Anaysis)

India is the world’s 13th most water-stressed country. Both surface water and groundwater in India are highly exploited. 600 million people face high-to-extreme water stress. 70% of our water is contaminated and India is currently ranked 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index.

Given the possibilities of acute shortage in future and widening of the gap between supply and demand, conservation of water becomes really important:-

• Conserving would ensure availability of water for future generations for their sustenance activities like drinking, cooking, producing electricity, farming, industrial uses etc. 
• Conserving water minimizes the effects of water shortages and helps build better drought resilience, the frequency of which may increase as a result of climate change. 
• It would also help meet the rising demand for water owing to rapid urbanization, industrialization and increasing population. 
• Utilizing our water usages efficiently also reduces the energy required to process and deliver it to homes, businesses, farms etc. which, in turn, helps to reduce pollution and conserve fuel resources. 
• The oceans, streams and lakes are the lifeblood of so many local ecosystems, therefore conserving them would protect these ecosystems and be key for the survival of some endangered species.  

In light of this, there is a need to work upon a comprehensive water management framework, key elements of which include: 

• Prevention of water pollution: Legislative provisions such as the Water Act, and Environment Protection Act must be implemented effectively and people should be made aware of the impact of pollutants from agricultural activities, domestic and industrial discharges.  
• Recycle and Reuse of Water: Used water such as reclaimed waste-water could be an attractive option for recycling activities like gardening in houses, cooling in industries and fire-fighting to reduce their water cost.  
• Water efficiency: Agriculture and industries need to move towards achieving “water positive status” by adopting methods, which utilizes less water than the existing methods. For example, drip and sprinkler irrigation in agriculture etc. 
• Watershed Management: Surface and groundwater resources could be effectively conserved and managed by preventing runoff; storage and recharge of groundwater through various methods like percolation tanks, recharge wells, etc. 
• Promoting Rainwater Harvesting: It is a low cost and eco-friendly technique for preserving water. Besides increasing water availability, it would also check the declining groundwater table, improve the quality of groundwater etc. In this context traditional rainwater harvesting systems should also be popularized such as Kunds, Tankas etc. 
• Partnering with other key stakeholders: Private sector and people should also shoulder a part of the water management responsibility.  
• Each corporate must give equal importance to water management as part of its sustainability plan.  
• Civil society organizations, NGOs should also be included while drafting and implementing water conservation plans.

 

In this context, the government needs to take various steps such as offering incentives to farmers for choosing water efficient crops, charging commercial rates for electricity to prevent misuse of water, tax incentives to large residential blocks, commercial complexes etc. for innovation in improving water usage efficiency etc.