Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The consumption levels of individual sectors (water for agriculture, people and nature)
need to be assessed and integrated in order to understand the real impacts of land and
water use and management policies. Consumption management is to be treated as an
integral part of water and land related resources management.
Nature sector water use needs to be accounted-for carefully, as it affects water
availability in the rivers and aquifers and is important for maintaining the terrestrial as
well as the aquatic ecology.
The return flows from
both point and non-point sources constitute a sizeable water
resource. These could be of different qualities, depending on how the water is managed
by each use sector. The return flows out of the withdrawals from surface and
groundwater are available for re-use, subject to proper treatment to ensure the required
water quality standard.
Inter-basin surface water transfer is in some cases an inevitable option to meet the water
needs of the basin for agriculture and for allowing restoration of the groundwater
regime, and also for providing environmental flows required for the riverine ecosystem,
besides improving river water quality through the re-use of effluents from domestic and
industrial needs.
Though watershed development/management enables more equitable use of land and
water, and often involves harvesting of rain water where it occurs, watershed
development upstream of the existing reservoirs could result, in some cases, in a
considerable reduction in water availability, and should therefore be carefully analysed.
Water requirements of the nature sector need to include both the requirements (mostly
consumptive) of the terrestrial ecosystems like forests, grasslands, wetlands etc. and the
water requirements (mostly non-consumptive) of the aquatic ecosystems. Both of these
have to be decided through demand estimation, management, and tradeoffs.
EFRs need to be recognised as a valid requirement. However, the stipulation of a
desirable environment flow requirement for riverine eco-systems in water deficit basins
needs more investigation and proper substantiation. Their estimation methods could be
initially on an ad hoc basis, if rigorous methods are not available from Ecologists, and
perhaps hydrology based. Better methods based on water regimes required by different
species, also based on the tradeoffs between environmental flow and uses, as preferred
by society, need to be evolved.
Brahmani Basin
The Brahmani River (Annex Map - 3) is one of the east-flowing rivers of India. The
basin has a total drainage area of about 39,268 km² lying in different states of the Indian
Union. The river has two main tributaries, namely the Sankh and Koel. The basin has a
sub-humid tropical climate, with an average rainfall of 1305 mm, most of which is
concentrated in the Indian southwest monsoon season of June to October. Rainfed
agriculture is predominant, except in lower deltaic parts, where irrigation plays a major
role. Compared to the national average, the basin has a higher proportion of both land
under forests and cultivable wastelands. In contrast to Sabarmati, the basin is almost
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