ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS

By CHETNA SINGHAL

Q). Explain the conflict over water and major water

disputes in India.

Ans). India covering 66700.km.sq which makes it 2nd in

world list for its irrigated land area .There are nine
important rivers of India and they are: The Ganges,
Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Narmada, Godavari,
Tapi, Krishna and Kaveri. Part of Indus River also flow
over Indian soil. India is surround by 3 water bodies :
Arabian sea ,Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean.

Around 1 billion people do not have access to safe water

– a problem that will likely increase as the world
population grows from 6.8billion to 9 billion people by
2050. This problem likely will become especially severe in
countries with high population growth rates that share
major source of fresh water with other countries.

Conflicts over water, both within countries and between

countries, are sharply increasing. However, few of these
conflict over water and major water disputes in India are:

1. High population growth and rapid urbanization.

India been listed 2nd most populated country, its water
consumption is also very high. Urbanization at an
uncontrolled rate as in India, limited amount of water
available per person, because an increase in per capital
water consumption driven by development will intensify
water demand, straining the local water supply. Water is
required for all basic day to day needs, which becomes
hard to fill everyone demand.
2. Low rainfall, inadequate water supply and dependency
on one major water source.
When little or no rain falls, soils can dry out and plants
can die. When rainfall is less than normal for several
week, months, or years, the flow of streams and rivers
declines, water levels in lakes and reservoirs fall, and the
depth to water in well increases.

3. Industrialization
Industrial growth, urbanization and the increasing use of
synthetic organic substances have serious and adverse
impacts on freshwater. It is a generally accepted that
many countries suffer from problems of chemical
discharge and agricultural run-off into the water sources
mainly groundwater.

4. Poor relations between countries and states

There are countries and states that share common water
body. If they are conflict among them which can be a
reason for having dispute over water.

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Every year India face major water scarcity mostly during
summer period. Recently seen last year (2019) in Tamil Nadu,
lack of rainwater and groundwater left four of the reservoirs that
supply the city completely dry. The inability to meet demand for
water has forced hotels and restaurants to close.

One can avoid these problems by reducing water consumption,

avoid water wastage, rainwater harvesting, proper irrigation
system etc.