Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
The river Brahmaputra carries more water per unit area of the basin than any
other river in the world and is also one of the major sediment transporting
rivers of the world, second only to the Yellow River of China.
The utilizable annual water resources of India are about 1140 km
3
out of
which 690 km
3
is from surface water and 450 km
3
from groundwater sources.
The utilization for the year 2000 and the projected annual demands of water
for the year 2025 are given in Table 1.
Table 1:
Estimates of Annual Water Demand and
Water
Distribution in India (in km
3
)
Sl. No.
Purpose
Year 2000
Year 2025
Annual Water Demand
1.
Domestic use
33
52
2.
Industrial
30
120
3.
Energy
27
71
4.
Irrigation
630
770
5.
Other uses
30
37
Total
750
1050
Annual Water Distribution
Surface water
500
700
Groundwater
250
350
(
Source:
Singh, 1997)
Table 1 indicates that out of total water utilized in the country, 84% is
used for irrigation, about 4.4% for drinking and municipal use, 4% for
industry, 3.6% for energy development and the remaining 4% for other
purposes. Table 2 also shows that nearly the entire utilizable water resources
of the country would be required to be put to use by the year 2025.This is
mainly on account of increased demand of water for irrigation required to
grow more food grain for the increasing population which is estimated to
reach about 1.25 billion by the year 2025. Even at present there are indications
of over-exploitation of groundwater as manifested by the lowering of water
table in several areas. Therefore, there is an urgent need for chalking out
suitable strategies for planning, development, conservation and management
of available water resources in an optimal way.
GROUNDWATER RESOURCES
The assessment of water resources of the country dates back to 1949,
Dr. A.N. Khosla (1949) estimated the total average annual run-off of all the
river systems in India as 1674 km
3
(167.4 million hectare meter [Mham]),
based on empirical formula which included both the surface and groundwaters.
Since then various Working Groups/Committees/Task Force, constituted by
Government of India, have made attempts to estimate the groundwater
