Lecture - 9 10 11 12

BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus
BITS F225 – ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Topic: Need and importance of water
resources
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Need and importance of water resources:
Objective:
To understand the need and importance of water resources in India in terms of its
requirements and usage using sustainable practices.
Topics:
 Water Cycle
 Water Requirements, Water Stress, Water Scarcity
 Water resources, utilization and its management
 Smart cities and water requirements
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BITSPilani, Pilani Campus
Environmental studies:
 Environmental studies is the field that examines this relationship between people
and the environment.
 Environmental studies is an interdisciplinary subject examining the interplay

between the social, legal, management, and scientific aspects
of environmental issues.
 The need for sustainable development is a key to the future of mankind.
 Its components include biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering,

sociology, health, anthropology (human behavior), economics, statistics, computers
and philosophy.
 The environment is the surroundings in which we live in and share with animals
and plants.
 Living things adapt to their environment and have done over millennia, but the 20th
Century saw rapid changes that our environment is struggling to adapt to.
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Environment and associated problems:
 Environmental problems also include pollution, global warming, climate change,
ozone layer depletion, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and overpopulation to
name a few.
 Renewable energy, recycling and emission reduction could help to save our
environment.
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Inter-disciplinary issues to deal with ?
It is important that water sources are protected both for human uses and
ecosystem health.
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Facts -
 It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total area of 3,287,263 square
kilometres.
 India is a developing country with the largest population of global poor (30%), and
has an agrarian economy.
 An agrarian economy is rural rather than urban-based. It is centered upon the
production, consumption, trade, and sale of agricultural commodities, including
plants and livestock.
 There has been a significant change in precipitation and temperature during
2000–2015 in India in comparison to the last 100 years.
 India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, has experienced tremendous
economic growth in the last two decades with only 4% of the world’s water
resources and about 9% of the world’s arable land.
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Facts -
 Arable lands [1.8×106 km2 (180 Mha)] span temperate, tropical, and subtropical
climates. Rice, wheat, and maize are the main crops, together accounting for
42.2% of the gross cropped area.
 India accounts for about 2.45 per cent of world’s surface area, and about 16 per
cent of world’s population.
 According to UN-endorsed projections, global demand for fresh water will exceed
supply by 40% in 2030, thanks to a combination of climate change, human action
and population growth.
 The World Bank classifies water scarcity as when people in a determined location
receive less than 1,000 cubic metres of fresh water per person a year.
 The Per capita annual water availability has declined to 1,508 cubic meter in 2014
from 5,177 cubic meter in 1951.
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Facts -
 Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water,
is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh.
 Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern
era to face the threat of running out of drinking water.
 Bangalore: An in-depth inventory of the city's lakes found that 85% had water that
could only be used for irrigation and industrial cooling. Not a single lake had
suitable water for drinking or bathing.
 To make things worse, aquifers are not being replenished despite heavy rain
because the prevalence of concrete and asphalt means that open fields cannot
absorb rainfall.
 As per ICAR, the per capita availability of water is estimated to decline further to
1,465 cubic meter by 2025 and 1,235 cubic meter by 2050. If it declines further to
around 1,000-1,100 cubic meter, then India could be declared as water-stressed
country
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The Water Cycle:
• The water cycle describes how water evaporates from the surface of the earth,
rises into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow in clouds, and
falls again to the surface as precipitation.
• The water falling on land collects in rivers and lakes, soil, and porous layers of
rock, and much of it flows back into the oceans, where it will once more
evaporate.
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Is water essential for life ?
 Water is essential to life on Earth. In its three phases (solid, liquid, and gas), water
ties together the major parts of the Earth’s climate system — air, clouds, the ocean,
lakes, vegetation, snowpack, and glaciers.
 The water cycle shows the continuous movement of water within the Earth and
atmosphere.
 The cycling of water in and out of the atmosphere is a significant aspect of the
weather patterns on Earth.
 Though about 70% of the surface of the earth is covered with water in the form of
oceans, life on the land depends on precipitation as rain and snow.
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Water Cycle:
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Hydrology
 The scientific discipline in the field of physical geography that deals with the water
cycle is called hydrology.
 It is concerned with the origin, distribution, and properties of water on the globe.
 Consequently, the water cycle is also called the hydrologic cycle in many scientific
textbooks and educational materials.
 Hydrologists are interested in obtaining measurable information and knowledge

about the water cycle.
 Also important is the measurement of the amount of water involved in the

transitional stages that occur as the water moves from one process within the cycle
to other processes.
 Hydrology, therefore, is a broad science that utilizes information from a wide range
of other sciences and integrates them to quantify the movement of water.
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Hydrology
Natural groundwater recharge occurs as precipitation falls on the land surface,

infiltrates into soils, and moves through pore spaces down to the water table.
Natural recharge also can occur as surface-water leakage from rivers, streams,
lakes, and wetlands.
Artificial recharge can be done through injection of water through wells.
This method often is applied to recharge deep aquifers where application of water
to the land surface are not effective at recharging these aquifers.
Recharge has been defined as the process of addition of water to the saturated
zone
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Water Cycle:
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Precipitation:
 Precipitation is the result when the tiny condensation particles grow too large,
through collision and coalescence, for the rising air to support, and thus fall to the
earth.
 Precipitation can be in the form of rain, hail, snow or sleet.
 Precipitation is the primary way we receive fresh water on earth.
 On average, the world receives about 38½" (980 mm) each year over both the
oceans and land masses.
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Rainfall Quantification
 India Meteorological Department (IMD) - the government’s principal agency for
weather forecasting and rainfall monitoring.
 IMD brands the monsoon as ‘normal’ or ‘deficient’ based on how it fares against its
benchmark Long Period Average (LPA).
 LPA is the average rainfall received by the country as a whole during the south-
west monsoon, for a 50-year period.
 The current LPA is 89 cm, based on the average rainfall over years 1951 and
2000. This acts as a benchmark against which the rainfall in any monsoon season
is measured.
 The country is said to have received deficient rainfall if the actual rainfall falls
below 90 per cent of LPA.
 Similarly, the country is said to have received excess rainfall if the rainfall is greater
than 110 per cent of LPA. It is deemed ‘normal’ when the actual rainfall received
falls between 96 and 104 per cent of LPA.
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Rainfall Nomenclature
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Runoff
 Runoff occurs when there is excessive precipitation and the ground is saturated
(cannot absorb any more water). Rivers and lakes are results of runoff.
 There is some evaporation from runoff into the atmosphere but for the most part
water in rivers and lakes returns to the oceans.
 If runoff water flows into the lake only (with no outlet for water to flow out of the
lake), then evaporation is the only means for water to return to the atmosphere.
 As water evaporates, impurities or salts are left behind.
 The result is the lake becomes salty as in the case of the Great Salt Lake in Utah
or Dead Sea in Israel.
 Evaporation of this runoff into the atmosphere begins the hydrologic cycle over
again.
 Some of the water percolates into the soil and into the ground water only to be
drawn into plants again for transpiration to take place.
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Transpiration:
 Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plants through stomata.
 Stomata are small openings found on the underside of leaves that are connected to
vascular plant tissues.
 In most plants, transpiration is a passive process largely controlled by the humidity

of the atmosphere and the moisture content of the soil.
 Of the transpired water passing through a plant only 1% is used in the growth
process of the plant. The remaining 99% is passed into the atmosphere.
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Evaporation:
 Evaporation is the change of state in a substance from a liquid to a gas.
 In meteorology, the substance we are concerned about the most is water.
 For evaporation to take place, energy is required. The energy can come from any
source: the sun, the atmosphere, the earth, or objects on the earth.
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Phases of water:
 It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water

evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, and precipitates back to
earth in the form of rain and snow.
 Water in different phases moves through the atmosphere (transportation). Liquid

water flows across land (runoff), into the ground (infiltration and percolation), and
through the ground (groundwater).
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Transpiration, Sublimation, Deposition
 Groundwater moves into plants (plant uptake) and evaporates from plants into the
atmosphere (transpiration).
 Solid ice and snow can turn directly into gas (sublimation). The opposite can also
take place when water vapor becomes solid (deposition).
 Water influences the intensity of climate variability and change. It is the key part of
extreme events such as droughts and floods.
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Utilization of water – Quantity and Timely Delivery
 Humans use water for drinking, industrial applications, irrigating agriculture,

hydropower, waste disposal, and recreation.
 In many areas, water supplies are being depleted because of population growth,
pollution, and development. These stresses have been made worse by climate
variations and changes that affect the hydrologic cycle.
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Global Climate change & Water Cycle
Global climate change will affect the water cycle, likely

creating perennial droughts in some areas and frequent
floods in others.
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The Water Cycle and Climate Change:
 Among the most serious Earth science and environmental policy

issues confronting society are the potential changes in the Earth’s
water cycle due to climate change.
 The science community now generally agrees that the Earth’s

climate is undergoing changes in response to natural variability,
including solar variability, and increasing concentrations of
greenhouse gases and aerosols.
 Furthermore, agreement is widespread that these changes may

profoundly affect atmospheric water vapor concentrations, clouds,
precipitation patterns, and runoff and stream flow patterns.
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Warmer temperatures
 For example, as the lower atmosphere becomes warmer,

evaporation rates will increase, resulting in an increase in the
amount of moisture circulating throughout the troposphere
(lower atmosphere).
 An observed consequence of higher water vapor

concentrations is the increased frequency of intense
precipitation events, mainly over land areas.
 Furthermore, because of warmer temperatures, more

precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow.
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Climate warning over ‘half a degree’ change
Half a degree might not sound like much. But when it

comes to the Earth’s climate, this small difference could
have a big impact on the planet –
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IPCC –PARIS AGREEMENT
 The report says that the impact of a 1.5°C increase in global

temperatures will "disproportionately affect disadvantaged and
vulnerable populations through food insecurity, higher food
prices, income losses, lost livelihood opportunities, adverse
health impacts, and population displacements".
 India stands to be one of the nations most significantly

affected, given its huge population and levels of inequality and
poverty.
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IPCC –PARIS AGREEMENT
 The researchers, based in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and

the Netherlands, used climate models to predict the effects of
a global warming of 1.5°C or 2.0°C by 2100.
 These are the two temperature limits mentioned in the Paris

Agreement, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and limit the effects of climate change.
 A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC) has warned of disastrous consequences if current
trends of global warming are not reversed immediately.
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Climate change declared ’emergency’ by 11,000
scientists
More than 11,000 scientists around the world have

declared a climate emergency, warning of “untold
suffering” without urgent action.
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THANK YOU FOR THE KIND
ATTENTION
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Climate Change and Warmer weather
 There is strong evidence that the Earth is warming.
 Increases in atmospheric and ocean temperatures, increases in extreme

precipitation and intensity in many areas, and global sea-level rise have already
been observed.
 These trends are projected to continue into the future.
 While there is considerable evidence that climate is changing, understanding the

significance of climate change at temporal and spatial scales relevant to
engineering practice is more difficult.
 Global climate models (GCMs) are the primary tools that climate scientists use to
make quantitative projections of future global and regional climate.
 Climate models project systematic changes in climate and weather conditions.

Climate projections introduce additional climatic uncertainties beyond those that
can be estimated from observations of the past.
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Climate Change and Warmer weather
 For example, there is significant uncertainty regarding the magnitude and rate of
climate change over the design life of the systems and elements of our built
environment.
 Engineering design is primarily concerned with climate and weather extremes, but
the projection of future extreme events and their frequency of occurrence have
even greater uncertainty than changes in mean conditions.
 Weather and climate are a factor in civil engineering design and practice. Weather
is defined as “the state of the atmosphere with respect to wind, temperature,
cloudiness, moisture, pressure, etc.” (NWS, 2013).
 Weather generally refers to short-term variations on the order of minutes to about

15 days (NSIDC, 2012).
 Climate, on the other hand, “is usually defined as the average weather, or more
rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of
relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or
millions of years” (IPCC, 2007a).
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 There are two major classes of climate models, Earth System Models (ESMs) and
Global Climate Models (GCMs).
 ESMs include all the features of GCMs and also simulate the carbon cycle and
other chemical and biological cycles that are important for determining the future
concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
 Because these models are much newer and their outputs have yet to be
evaluated as thoroughly by climate and applications researchers, they are not
typically used for climate impacts applications.
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Limitations of GCMs:
 Engineers are primarily concerned with planning and designing at the local and
regional scale.
 GCMs have more skill at larger spatial and longer temporal scales. Downscaling
techniques are used to obtain higher-resolution regional and local projections from
large-scale GCM projections.
 Statistical downscaling estimates local climate changes, assuming a relationship to

large-scale changes, and then adjusts regional projections by matching global,
historical simulated and observed climate.
 Engineering design is primarily concerned with the extremes. The IPCC (2007a)
defines an extreme weather event as “an event that is rare at a particular place and
time of year.”
 Extreme weather varies from region to region. An extreme climate event would be
a pattern of extreme weather, such as drought or heavy rainfall, that persists for
some time, such as a season (IPCC, 2007a).
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Sea Level Rise and Severe Weather
 Sea level rise will have a disastrous impact on the country, given its large coastline,
and the number of people who live close to and depend on the sea for their
livelihoods.
 Sea level rise and severe weather are two examples of impact of climate change.
 According to the researchers, the sea level rise is caused by two phenomena — the
thermal expansion of water and the melting of glaciers, including glaciers in
Greenland and Antarctica.
 Climate change is the biggest threat that humanity has ever faced.
 One expected effect of climate change will be an increase in precipitation intensity:

a larger proportion of rain will fall in a shorter amount of time than it has
historically.
 Warmer temperatures have led to increased drying of the land surface in some
areas, with the effect of an increased incidence and severity of drought.
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Snow  Positive effect on wildfire risk
 Snow is precipitation that forms when water vapor freezes.
 Because snow is so reflective, it plays an important role in regulating climate: it

reflects incoming sunlight back into space, cooling the planet.
 Snow also supports life. Melting of seasonal snow (as well as glaciers) provides
water for drinking and irrigating crops in many parts of the world.
 Snowmelt moisturizes soil and reduces the risk of wildfire.
 Too much snow, however, can lead to springtime floods when the snowpack melts.
One of the determining factors in the shape of
individual snowflakes is the air temperature around
it. The study of flakes has identified that long, thin
needle-like ice crystals form at around -2 C (28 F),
while a lower temperature of -5 C (23 F) will lead to
very flat plate-like crystals.
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Land Surface temperature Vs air temperature
 Land surface temperature is a measurement of how hot the land is to the touch.
 It differs from air temperature (the temperature given in weather reports) because
land heats and cools more quickly than air.
 The snow cover map shows the fraction of an area covered by snow on a monthly
basis.
 Measurements were made by the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite.
 Snow cover and land surface temperature influence each other.
 Snow influences how hot or cold the land feels to the touch, and it can chill the air
that sits next to the surface. Land surface temperature influences whether or not
snow remains on the ground or melts away.
 As air temperatures warm, snow begins to melt, and the exposed darker ground
can cause a positive feedback to the melting process by absorbing more of the
Sun's warmth.
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Introduction to the Oceans
 One cannot learn about the weather we experience without considering the ocean
and its effect on our weather...and the weather's effect on it.
 We must consider the ocean because nearly 71% of the earth's surface is covered
by it and more than 97% of all our water is contained in it.
 We must consider the ocean and its impact as more than one-half of the world's
population lives within 60 miles (100 km) of the ocean.
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In fact, just the top 10 feet of the ocean surface contains more heat than our entire
atmosphere.
Ocean Surface Area (miles2) Surface Area (kilometers2) Of all oceans
Pacific 64,000,000 166,000,000 45.0%

Atlantic 31,600,000 82,000,000 22.2%
Indian 28,400,000 73,600,000 20.0%
Southern (Antarctic) 13,523,000 35,000,000 9.5%
Arctic 4,700,000 12,173,000 3.3%
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Efficient water utilization the biggest challenge
Country’s water utilization efficiency is at 38% while it is between 70 and 80% in the
countries like the USA.
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Ground water – A growing concern
 Groundwater plays an important role in our lives and India’s economy, but it is
disappearing fast.
 There is mounting evidence that we are extracting more than can be naturally
replenished. In the hard-rock aquifers of peninsular India, drilling 800 ft or deeper is
becoming the norm.
 Groundwater-dependent towns and villages spend an increasing fraction of their

budgets chasing the water table.
 Most of the world's freshwater — about 69 percent — is locked away in glaciers

and ice caps.
 Stories abound of farmers spending their life savings or taking loans to drill a
borewell, but failing to find water.
 If we “run out” of groundwater, millions of people will be left without any means to
sustain themselves.
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Hydrological Cycle
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Ground Water -
 The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122–199
billion metre cube every year.
 The Indo-Gangetic Plain, northwestern, central and western parts of India account
for most intensive groundwater-based irrigation.
 And among these regions, western India and the Indo-Gangetic Plain have more
than 90% of the area irrigated using groundwater.
 India’s groundwater use went from about 7km³ in 1940 to about 270 km³ over the
past decade.
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Soil Moisture conditions - Tensiometer
The tensiometer gives visual

information about the availability of
soil moisture conditions.
Irrigating the field based on this

information will help conserve
groundwater.
It costs just Rs.300 per piece.
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Soil Moisture Measuring device -
Tensiometer
 The tensiometer is 2–3 feet long and has a ceramic cup containing numerous tiny
pores at the bottom. It is inserted up to 8 inches into the soil, which is beyond the
root zone of rice.
 The water inside the tensiometer reaches equilibrium with soil moisture, and rises
or falls depending on the amount of moisture in the soil.
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Bore wells – Ground water extraction
 Bore well extracts groundwater. Increased cultivation of the water-guzzling rice

crop, augmented by free power supply, has caused depletion in water reserves.
 The first electric motor in India was manufactured in Coimbatore in 1930 and
thereafter the motor pump industry expanded rapidly there.
 Today 60% of India's requirements of domestic and agricultural pump sets are
made in Coimbatore.
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Farm Ponds
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Farm Ponds
 Farm ponds can be cost-effective structures that transform rural livelihoods.
 They can help enhance water control, contribute to agriculture intensification and
boost farm incomes.
 However, this is possible only if they act as rainwater harvesting structures and
not as intermediate storage points for an increased extraction of groundwater
or diversion of canal water.
 The latter will cause greater groundwater depletion and inequitable water
distribution.
 Farm ponds retained water for 8-10 months of the year; thus farmers could
enhance cropping intensity and crop diversification within and across seasons.
 The area used to cultivate vegetables and other commercial crops also
increased.
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Ponds – Ineffective
 India is the highest user of groundwater, but with only 8% of rainwater being
captured.
 In villages, till a few years back, ponds were vital water resources that were very
efficient, as the same water was used time and again.
 Unfortunately, these have now dried up or have been converted into wastewater
collection pits, rendering them not only useless but also as a breeding ground
for diseases.
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Suitability of ponds -
 Suitability of a pond site depends on the ability of the soils in the reservoir area to
hold water.
 The soil should contain a layer of material that is impervious and thick enough to
prevent excessive seepage.
 Clays and silty clays are excellent for this purpose; sandy clays are usually
satisfactory.
 Coarse-textured sands and sand-gravel mixtures are highly pervious and

therefore usually unsuitable.
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Fire Protection:
 A dependable water supply is needed for fighting fire.
 If your pond is located close to your house or other buildings, provide a centrifugal
pump with a power unit and a hose long enough to reach all sides of all the
buildings.
 Although water-storage requirements for fire protection are not large, the
withdrawal rate for firefighting is high.
 A satisfactory fire stream should be not less than 250 gallons per minute (gpm)
with pressure at the nozzle of no less than 50 pounds per square inch (psi).
 Fire nozzles usually are 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Use good quality
rubber-lined firehoses, 2-1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.
 Preferably, the hose should be no more than 600 feet long.
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Saline and brackish water
 Water is called saline if the total concentration of dissolved solids (TDS) exceeds
10,000 milligram per litre and brackish if its TDS is between 1,000 and 10,000
milligram per litre.
 While groundwater at a great depth is mostly saline, it is usually fresh in the upper
part of the subsurface.
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Aquifer – Water carrier
 An aquifer – literally, ‘water-carrier’ – is both a reservoir and a transport channel.
 Groundwater flow in an aquifer is governed by the aquifer’s intrinsic characteristics

(size, permeability, etc.) but also by its recharge, which – on a global level – is
mainly produced by infiltration of precipitation.
 Most of the groundwater flow eventually ends up in springs and streams.
 In India, over 90 per cent of the rural water supply, over 50 per cent of the urban
water supply, and over 70 per cent of the agricultural water supply are sourced
from aquifers.
 In layman’s terms, aquifers are porous and permeable layers of the earth that are
capable of storing and transporting water.
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Arid and Semi Arid regions – Scarce
rainfall
 In coastal areas, however, there may be significant subsurface outflow into the
sea, while abstraction by wells has become a dominant discharge mechanism in
some intensely exploited areas in dry climates.
 In arid and semi-arid regions, which cover around 30% of the Earth’s land surface
the renewal of groundwater – like that of surface water – suffers from low and
scarce rainfall.
 The effective contribution of rainfall to recharge is generally less than 10 mm/year,

on average.
 It may even reach zero in some years, and water shortages are aggravated by
large variations from one year to another.
 Groundwater renewal (recharge) is also much less widespread in arid and semi-
arid regions than elsewhere and often very localized.
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Abstraction of ground water
What is abstraction?
Abstraction is the removal of water, permanently or temporarily, from water bodies
such as rivers, lakes, canals, reservoirs or from groundwater
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Water intensive crops – water sources
 In the absence of these resources, water supply crunches are inevitable.
 Since the groundwater in villages have also become contaminated over time,
villagers are left dependent on water sources away from the village.
 Water-intensive crops have always been preferred by farmers, as they are more
remunerative.
 This is despite dependency on water resources or rain, low productivity of the land,
and other vulnerabilities.
 India is an exporter of water-intensive crops/produce, while it imports pulses

(among others).
 This means we are basically "exporting" water on one hand, while struggling with
water scarcity on the other.
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Hydrogeology
Hydrogeology (hydro- meaning water, and -geology meaning the study of the
Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of
groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquifers)
 As we keep exploiting water resources, the need for a proportional recharge of the
aquifer stands. If this does not happen, the dry zone created above the water table
deepens.
 The earth’s crust comprises of layers of soil. When it rains, the top layers are
saturated with water, expelling air from the voids between the particles.
 If the supply of water sustains, it will be transmitted to the underlying layers,

saturating them too.
 However, if it is short-duration, the sun will dry the upper layers and the water from
the lower layers will travel back to the upper layers via capillary action; and the
aquifer remains depleted.
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Micro-plastics - Contamination
 Micro-plastics are already known to contaminate the world’s surface waters, yet
scientists have only just begun to explore their presence in groundwater systems.
 Fractured limestone aquifers are a groundwater source that accounts for 25% of the
global drinking water supply.
 As the plastics break down, they act like sponges that soak up contaminants and
microbes and can ultimately work their way into our food supply.
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Water requirements
 The requirements of water vary tremendously. A normal figure in India's

metropolitan cities estimates between 150-200 liters per person per day.
 The industrial use of water is also not the same everywhere and it varies
according to the industrial base of a city.
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Water requirements
CODE OF BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR WATER SUPPLY,

DRAINAGE AND SANITATION – BIS 1172 - 1993
A minimum of 70 to 100 litres per head per day may be

considered adequate for domestic needs of urban
communities, apart from non domestic needs as flushing
requirements.
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Per capita per day may be considered minimum for
domestic and non domestic needs:
For communities with population up to

20 000 and without flushing system
Water supply through stand post 40 lphd ( Min )
Water supply through house service 70 to 100 lphd
connection
For communities with population 20,000 100 to 150 lphd
to 100,000 together with full flushing
system
For communities with population above 150 to 200
100,000 lphd together with full flushing
system
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 The value of water supply given as 150 to 200 litres per head per day may be
reduced to 135 litres per head per day for;
• Houses for Lower Income Groups ( LIG )

• Economically Weaker Section of Society ( EWS ), depending upon prevailing
conditions.
 Out of the 150 to 200 litres per head per day, 45 litres per head per day may be
taken for flushing requirements and the remaining quantity for other domestic
purposes.
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ATTENTION
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Access to safe water -
 Water borne disease – Every 90 seconds, a child loses life
 Average walking distance – 3.7 miles in Africa and Asia.
 The available raw waters must be treated and purified before they can be supplied
to the public for their domestic, industrial or any other uses.
 The extent of treatment required to be given to the particular water depends upon
the characteristics and quality of the available water, and also upon the quality
requirements for the intended use.
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Depending upon the magnitude of treatment required, proper unit
operations are selected and arranged in the proper sequential order for the
purpose of modifying the quality of raw water.
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Water Pollution – Source Types:
 Water Pollution – Point or non-point sources

 Water pollution- point sources: contaminants that enter a waterway from a single,
identifiable source, such as a pipe or ditch.
 Traced to a specific source
 Leaking chemical tank, effluents coming from a waste treatment or industrial plant.
Examples
Discharges from a sewage treatment plant; a factory; a city storm drain; municipal
storm sewer systems; industrial storm water, such as from construction sites
9/14/2020 69
Water Pollution - Source Types
 Water pollution- non point sources

 Non–point source pollution (NPS)- contamination that does not originate from a
single discrete source.
 NPS pollution is the cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered
from a large area.
 Pollutants will come from wide spread area
Examples: Soil erosion, chemical runoff.
– leaching out of fertilizers/ nutrients agricultural lands.

– Nutrient runoff in storm water- agricultural field/ forest.
– Contaminated storm water washed off of parking lots, roads and highways called
urban runoff.
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Central Water Commission
 It is a premier Technical Organization of India in the field of Water Resources and is
presently functioning as an attached office of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department
of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of
India.
 The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating,

coordinating and furthering in consultation of the State Governments concerned,
schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout the
country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking Water
Supply and Water Power Development.
9/14/2020 71
Composite Water Management Index (CWMI)
 The CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of States/
Union Territories in efficient management of water resources.
 This has been done through a first of its kind water data collection exercise in
partnership with Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Rural Development and all the
States/ Union Territories.
 The index would provide useful information for the States and also for the
concerned Central Ministries/Departments enabling them to formulate and
implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.
9/14/2020 72
Composite Water Management Index (CWMI)
 Scientific management of water is increasingly recognized as being vital to India’s

growth and ecosystem sustainability. Government is being proactive about water
management and has created the Ministry of Jal Shakti to consolidate
interrelated functions pertaining to water management.
 Gujarat continues to be the top performer in water management even as Andhra

Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have further increased their
scores over the last three years, according to a report by NITI Aayog.
 The Government of India has launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and
Urban Transformation (AMRUT) with the aim of providing basic civic amenities
like water supply, sewerage, urban transport, parks as to improve the quality of
life for all especially the poor and the disadvantaged.
9/14/2020 73
Indus Water Treaty
For 60 years, both India and Pakistan are peacefully

sharing the water of Indus and its tributaries, thanks to The
Indus Water Treaty.
9/14/2020 74
Indus Water Treaty (IWT): Water-Sharing
Agreement
 Water is a vital resource to all aspects of a human’s survival, from its inhabitant
biology to their economy.
 Water promises to be the 21st century what oil was to 20th century” the precious
commodity that determines the wealth of nations”.
 The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is about sharing of water of six rivers — Indus,
Chenab, Jhelum, Beas, Ravi and Sutlej — between India and Pakistan.
 The Indus Water Treaty is the treaty between the Government of India and the
Government of Pakistan for the optimum utilization of the waters of the Indus
system of rivers.
 It was signed under the arbitration of the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (now World Bank) in Karachi (Pakistan) on September 19, 1960.
9/14/2020 75
River in India
 Rivers in India have been a lifeline of several civilizations since ages.
 If we talk about geography, based on their source, Indian rivers are classified as -
Himalayan Rivers and Peninsular Rivers.
 The major Himalayan rivers are the Indus river, Ganga river, Yamuna, and the
Brahmaputra.
 The major Peninsular rivers are Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery.
9/14/2020 76
Himalayan Rivers:
 Himalayan Rivers are described as the rivers that arise

from Himalayan mountain ranges, which receive water from both rain and melted
snow from glaciers.
 The Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra are the three important Himalayan
Rivers
A river basin is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries. River basins
have typical features, these include:
 Tributaries - smaller rivers flowing into a larger river.

 A Watershed - an area of highland surrounding the river basin.
A confluence - where a river joins another river.

Source - the start of a river.
Mouth - Where a river meets a lake, the sea or an ocean.
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Ganga River
 The Ganga is India's most important and iconic river.
 It flows down from its glacial source in the high Himalayas to course through five
states in the northern plains before draining into the swirling waters of the Bay of
Bengal through the Sunderbans delta, the largest mangrove system in the world.
 Along its 2,500 km journey, the river enriches huge swathes of agricultural land
and sustains a long procession of towns and cities.
9/14/2020 78
Ganga River
 The sprawling Ganga basin, an area of 860,000 sq. km spread across 11 states, is
the world’s most populous river basin.
 It is home to more than 600 million Indians, close to half the country’s population;
and over 40 percent of the country’s GDP is generated in this region.
 The basin provides more than one-third of India’s surface water, 90 percent of
which is used for irrigation.
9/14/2020 79
Ganga River
 Paradoxically, this fertile region is also home to some of the poorest sections of
India’s population, with more than 200 million people living below the national
poverty line.
 The World Bank is supporting the Government of India in its effort to rejuvenate the
Ganga River.
 The $1 billion National Ganga River Basin Project is helping the National Ganga
River Basin Authority (NGRBA) build institutional capacity for rejuvenating the river.
 It is also financing key infrastructure investments in the five mainstream states -

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
9/14/2020 80
Ganga River
 The Ganga river basin is the most populated river basin in the world and is home
to half the population of India including two-thirds of the nation’s poor people.
 The basin provides over one-third of the available surface water in India and
contributes to more than half the national water use of which 90 percent is diverted
to irrigation.
 The ecological health of the Ganga river and some if its tributaries has deteriorated
significantly as a result of high pollution loads; high levels of water abstraction for
irrigation as well as for municipal and industrial uses; and flow regime and river
modifications caused by water resources infrastructure.
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Population of Ganga Basin
Recently the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has developed
the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) to enable effective water
management in Indian states (NITI Aayog, 2018). The warning is clear: by 2030, the
country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply.
9/14/2020 82
Tributaries of Indus river:
The Sutlej River is one of the five main tributaries of the Indus river that traverse the
Punjab region of northern India and Pakistan, whose name translates as “the land of
five rivers”.
9/14/2020 83
River details:
- Length of the river (km.)

- Area of the river (sq. km)
- Originating state
- Inflow of the river
- Outflow regions (Allocating of water)
9/14/2020 84
What is Smart City ?
 The first question is what is meant by a ‘smart city’. The answer is, there is no
universally accepted definition of a smart city. It means different things to
different people.
 The conceptualization of Smart City, therefore, varies from city to city and
country to country, depending on the level of development, willingness to change
and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents.
 A smart city would have a different connotation in India than, say, Europe. Even in
India, there is no one way of defining a smart city.
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Deforestation
1. It is no secret that development and infrastructure, most of the times come at the
expense of the environment.
2. Development vs environment has and always will be divisive topic.
3. But there is no doubt that the rapid pace at which the forest is being diverted for
various projects is indeed a matter of concern.
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Forest (Conservation) Act - 1980
1. Between 2015-18, a whopping 20,000 hectares of forest land, almost the size of
Kolkata has been used for developmental activities such as mining, thermal
power plants, dams, road, railways and irrigation projects.
2. Under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, forest areas can be diverted by the
environment ministry for non-forestry purposes like mining.
3. In lieu of the land, money is collected by the government which is then used by the
authorities for afforestation.
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Tree cover – Global Forest Watch
 Environmentalists argue that they are not against country's development but against
the procedures and poor monitoring of the conditions on the basis of which such
projects are cleared.
 India’s greenest region, the north-east has been consistently losing tree cover
over the last 18 years.
 The loss has been doubled in the last five years, according to the data mapped by
Global Forest Watch, a repository of forest data worldwide.
 India has seen rapid deforestation in recent years, primarily due to its focus on
economic development.
 According to government data, 14,000 sq km of forests were cleared to

accommodate 23,716 industrial projects across India over the last 30 years.
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ATTENTION
9/14/2020 89
SIZES OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER
PLANTS
Small Hydropower
Although definitions vary, DOE defines small hydropower as projects that generate
10 MW or less of power.
Micro Hydropower
A micro hydropower plant has a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts. A small or micro-
hydroelectric power system can produce enough electricity for a home, farm, ranch,
or village.
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Hydropower Facilities
There are three types of hydropower facilities:

 Impoundment
 Diversion
 Pumped storage
Some hydropower plants use dams and some do not.
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IMPOUNDMENT
 The most common type of hydroelectric power plant is an impoundment facility.
 An impoundment facility, typically a large hydropower system, uses a dam to store

river water in a reservoir.
 Water released from the reservoir flows through a turbine, spinning it, which in turn
activates a generator to produce electricity.
 The water may be released either to meet changing electricity needs or to maintain
a constant reservoir level.
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DIVERSION
A diversion, sometimes called run-of-river facility channels a portion of a river through
a canal or penstock. It may not require the use of a dam.
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PUMPED STORAGE
 Another type of hydropower called pumped storage works like a battery, storing
the electricity generated by other power sources like solar, wind, and nuclear for
later use.
 It stores energy by pumping water uphill to a reservoir at higher elevation from a

second reservoir at a lower elevation.
 When the demand for electricity is low, a pumped storage facility stores energy by
pumping water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir.
 During periods of high electrical demand, the water is released back to the lower
reservoir and turns a turbine, generating electricity.
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SIZES OF HYDROELECTRIC POWER
PLANTS
Facilities range in size from large power plants that supply many consumers with
electricity to small and micro plants that individuals operate for their own energy needs
or to sell power to utilities.
Large Hydropower
Although definitions vary, DOE defines large hydropower as facilities that have a
capacity of more than 30 megawatts (MW).
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Dam Safety Bill
 The Dam Safety Bill, which was recently passed in the Lok Sabha, provides
for surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of dams to prevent
disasters, and institutional mechanisms to ensure safety
 There are 5,344 large dams in India, of which around 293 are more than 100
years old and 1,041 are 50 to 100 years old.
 Nearly 92% of these dams are on inter-State rivers, and accidents at many of
them have spurred concerns as to the frequency and efficiency of their
maintenance.
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Functions of Dams
 The first is to store water to compensate for fluctuations in river flow or in demand
for water and energy.
 The second to raise the level of the water upstream to enable water to be
diverted into a canal or to increase ’hydraulic head’ –– the difference in height
between the surface of a reservoir and the river downstream.
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Hydropower Generation
The creation of storage and head allow dams to generate electricity (hydropower
provides nearly a fifth of the world’s electricity); to supply water for agriculture,
industries and households;
Hydropower generation capacity is a function of the amount of flow and hydraulic

head.
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Basic shape of concrete dam
The basic shape of a concrete gravity dam is triangular in

section, with the top crest often widened to provide a roadway.
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 The flood water glides over the crest and downstream face of the spillway and
meets an energy dissipating structure that helps to kill the energy of the flowing
water, which otherwise would have caused erosion of the river bed on the
downstream.
 The type of energy dissipating structure is called the stilling basin which
dissipates energy of the fast flowing water by formation of hydraulic jump at basin
location.
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Upstream faces of overflow and non-overflow
blocks
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Upstream inclined face for concrete gravity dams:
(a) Full face inclined; (b) Partly inclined
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Types of dams: Storage dams:
 They are constructed to store water during the rainy season
when there is a large flow in the river.
 Many small dams impound the spring runoff for later use in
dry summers.
 Storage dams may also provide a water supply, or improved

habitat for fish and wildlife.
 They may store water for hydroelectric power generation,

irrigation or for a flood control project. Storage dams are the
most common type of dams and in general the dam means
a storage dam unless qualified otherwise.
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Dam overview
9/14/2020 104
Types of dams: Storage dams:
9/14/2020 105
Diversion dams:
 A diversion dam is constructed for the purpose of diverting water of the river into an
off-taking canal (or a conduit).
 They provide sufficient pressure for pushing water into ditches, canals, or other
conveyance systems.
 Such shorter dams are used for irrigation, and for diversion from a stream to a
distant storage reservoir.
 It is usually of low height and has a small storage reservoir on its upstream. The
diversion dam is a sort of storage weir which also diverts water and has a small
storage. Sometimes, the terms weirs and diversion dams are used synonymously.
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Detention dams:
 Detention dams are constructed for flood control.
 A detention dam retards the flow in the river on its downstream during floods by
storing some flood water.
 Thus the effect of sudden floods is reduced to some extent.
 The water retained in the reservoir is later released gradually at a controlled rate
according to the carrying capacity of the channel downstream of the detention
dam.
 Thus the area downstream of the dam is protected against flood.
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Debris dams:
 A debris dam is constructed to retain debris such as sand, gravel, and drift wood
flowing in the river with water.
 The water after passing over a debris dam is relatively clear.
9/14/2020 108
Cofferdam:
 A cofferdam is a (usually temporary) barrier constructed to exclude water from an

area that is normally submerged.
 Made commonly of wood, concrete or steel sheet piling, cofferdams are used to
allow construction on the foundation of permanent dams, bridges, and similar
structures.
 When the project is completed, the cofferdam may be demolished or removed.
9/14/2020 109
Gravity Dams:
 A gravity dam is a massive sized dam fabricated from concrete or stone

masonry. They are designed to hold back large volumes of water.
 By using concrete, the weight of the dam is actually able to resist the
horizontal thrust of water pushing against it.
 This is why it is called a gravity dam.
 Gravity essentially holds the dam down to the ground, stopping water from
toppling it over.
9/14/2020 110
Gravity Dams:
 Gravity dams are well suited for blocking rivers in wide valleys or narrow gorge
ways.
 Since gravity dams must rely on their own weight to hold back water, it is
necessary that they are built on a solid foundation of bedrock.
9/14/2020 111
Gravity Dams:
The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam (KRS Dam) was built across river Kaveri, the life
giving river for the Mysore and Mandya districts, in 1924.
Apart from irrigation in the most fertile Mysore and Mandya, the reservoir is the
main source of drinking water for all of Mysore city and almost the whole of
Bangalore.
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Earth Dams:
 An earth dam is made of earth (or soil) built up by compacting successive layers of
earth, using the most impervious materials to form a core and placing more
permeable substances on the upstream and downstream sides.
 A facing of crushed stone prevents erosion by wind or rain, and an ample spillway,
usually of concrete, protects against catastrophic washout should the water
overtop the dam.
 Earth dam resists the forces exerted upon it mainly due to shear strength of the
soil.
9/14/2020 116
Earth Dams:
 Although the weight of the this structure also helps in resisting the forces, the
structural behavior of an earth dam is entirely different from that of a gravity dam.
 The foundation requirements are less stringent than those of gravity dams, and
hence they can be built at the sites where the foundations are less strong.
 However, the height of the dam will depend upon the strength of the foundation
material.
9/14/2020 117
Rock fill Dams:
 A rock fill dam is built of rock fragments and boulders of large size.
 An impervious membrane is placed on the rock fill on the upstream side to

reduce the seepage through the dam.
 The membrane is usually made of cement concrete or asphaltic concrete.
9/14/2020 118
Rock fill Dams:
 The Tehri dam, in the north of India, was commissioned in 2006 to provide water
for electricity generation, irrigation and drinking water.
 It has a sediment trap efficiency of 95 per cent and was designed to offset 150
years of sedimentation. Watershed management is the principle measure in
use for reducing the sediment inflow into the Tehri reservoir.
9/14/2020 119
Tehri Dam:
 According to the results from the bathymetric surveys, the dam could offset up to
185 years of sedimentation without implementing any sediment management
strategic under the current climate and land conditions."
9/14/2020 120
Live storage and Dead storage:
 Live storage in a dam is the water that can be released through the dam’s gates
and can be used for purposes of flood control or to generate electricity.
 Dead storage refers to water that is stored in the dam but cannot be released
through the gates, and needs to be pumped out.
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Arch Dams:
 The section of an arch dam is approximately triangular like a gravity dam but the
section is comparatively thinner.
 The arch dam may have a single curvature or double curvature in the vertical
plane.
 Generally, the arch dams of double curvature are more economical and are used in
practice
9/14/2020 122
Arch Dams - Hoover dam, USA
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Idukki Dam - Kerala
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Free overfall (ogee crest) spillway – Integrated
with concrete dam
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9/14/2020 130
Goals of NWM
 Comprehensive water data base in public domain and assessment of impact of

climate change on water resources.
 Promotion of citizen and State action for water conservation, augmentation and
preservation.
 Focused attention to vulnerable areas including overexploited areas
9/14/2020 131
Goals of NWM
 Increasing water use efficiency by 20%.
 Promotion of basin level integrated water resources management.
9/14/2020 132
New Initiatives of NWM - 1. State Specific
Action Plan (SSAP) –
1. State Specific Action Plan (SSAP) – National Water Mission envisaged developing
State Specific Action Plans for Water Sector covering Irrigation, Industry, domestic
and waste water of a State/UT. The State specific Action Plans for water sector
would essentially consist of:
(a) Present situation of water resources development and management, water

governance, Institutional arrangements, water related policies, cross-boundary
issues, agreements etc.
(b) Identifying a set of probable solutions to address the key issues/problem areas
giving pros and cons of the solutions.
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(c) Preparation of detailed Action Plan for each of the Strategy/activity identified in
the NWM to be implemented by the State/Union Territory.
NWM shall be providing financial assistance of Rs. 50 Lakh to major states and Rs.
30 Lakh to small states/UTs as a grant for formulation of SSAPs for water sector.
9/14/2020 134
North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land
Management (NERIWALM), Tezpur
 NERIWALM shall act as the Nodal Agency to get the State Specific action plan for
water sector for twelve states in first phase – Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,
Telangana, Odisha, Uttarakhand, and Chhattisgarh.
 Subsequently a MoU has been signed between NERIWALM, Tezpur and NWM.
9/14/2020 135
Water Regulatory Authority (WRA)
 Water is the state subject
 Pricing of water
 Water Users Associations (WUAs) should be given statutory powers
 Environment Ministry rejected forest clearance to Kalu dam in Thane district
9/14/2020 136
Tehri Dam
 The Tehri dam, in the north of India, was commissioned in 2006 to provide water
for electricity generation, irrigation and drinking water.
 It has a sediment trap efficiency of 95 per cent and was designed to offset 150
years of sedimentation.
 Watershed management is the principle measure in use for reducing the sediment
inflow into the Tehri reservoir.
 Sediment management strategies: Following the impact assessment studies,

watershed management was the mitigation measure taken to reduce soil erosion
and therefore reduce sediment inflow into the reservoir.
 The Catchment Area Treatment (CAT) plan was applied in areas of high to very
high erosion, in total covering 52,204 hectares, including 44,157 hectares of forest
land and the 8,047 hectares of agricultural land. The CAT works comprised
afforestation, soil conservation, treatment of agriculture land, farm forestry and
horticulture.
9/14/2020 137
 The Tehri dam, a 260.5 m-high earth and rockfill dam, impounds water 44 km along
Bhagirathi River and 25 km along Bhilangana River, creating a dead storage of 925
Mm3 and live storage of 2,615 Mm3, making a total storage capacity of 3,540 Mm3.
9/14/2020 138
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Dam Safety Review Panel (DSRP)
The core personnel shall be identified based on their comprehensive dam safety
expertise such as,
•Dam Safety Specialist

•Design Expert
•Construction Supervision Expert
•Geologist
•Hydrologist
•Hydro – Mechanical Expert
•Instrumentation Expert
•Seismic Expert
9/14/2020 141
Age of Dam at Failure No of Failure % Failure
0 - 5 Years 16 44.44
5 - 10 Years 7 19.44
10 - 15 Years 1 2.77
15 - 20 Years 1 2.77
50 - 100 Years 6 16.67
> 100 Years 2 5.56
> Age not defined 3 8.33
Total 36
Majority of Indian dams have failed immediately after construction or at the time of
first full-load, which can be clearly attributed to factors of either inadequate design or
poor quality of construction.
First failure recorded in Madhya Pradesh during 1917 when the Tigra Dam failed due
to overtopping. The worst dam disaster was the failure of Machu dam (Gujarat) in
1979 in which about 2000 people have died.
9/14/2020 142
ATTENTION
9/14/2020 143

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BITS Pilani

BITS F225 – ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

 Environmental studies is an interdisciplinary subject examining the interplay

 The need for sustainable development is a key to the future of mankind.

 Its components include biology, geology, chemistry, physics, engineering,

 Hydrologists are interested in obtaining measurable information and knowledge

 Also important is the measurement of the amount of water involved in the

Natural groundwater recharge occurs as precipitation falls on the land surface,

Artificial recharge can be done through injection of water through wells.

 Precipitation can be in the form of rain, hail, snow or sleet.

 Precipitation is the primary way we receive fresh water on earth.

 As water evaporates, impurities or salts are left behind.

 In most plants, transpiration is a passive process largely controlled by the humidity

 Evaporation is the change of state in a substance from a liquid to a gas.

 In meteorology, the substance we are concerned about the most is water.

 It is a complex system that includes many different processes. Liquid water

 Water in different phases moves through the atmosphere (transportation). Liquid

 Humans use water for drinking, industrial applications, irrigating agriculture,

Global climate change will affect the water cycle, likely

 Among the most serious Earth science and environmental policy

 The science community now generally agrees that the Earth’s

 Furthermore, agreement is widespread that these changes may

 For example, as the lower atmosphere becomes warmer,

 An observed consequence of higher water vapor

 Furthermore, because of warmer temperatures, more

Half a degree might not sound like much. But when it

 The report says that the impact of a 1.5°C increase in global

 India stands to be one of the nations most significantly

 The researchers, based in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and

 These are the two temperature limits mentioned in the Paris

 A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

More than 11,000 scientists around the world have

 There is strong evidence that the Earth is warming.

 Increases in atmospheric and ocean temperatures, increases in extreme

 These trends are projected to continue into the future.

 While there is considerable evidence that climate is changing, understanding the

 Climate models project systematic changes in climate and weather conditions.

 Weather generally refers to short-term variations on the order of minutes to about

 Statistical downscaling estimates local climate changes, assuming a relationship to

 One expected effect of climate change will be an increase in precipitation intensity:

 Because snow is so reflective, it plays an important role in regulating climate: it

 Snowmelt moisturizes soil and reduces the risk of wildfire.

 Measurements were made by the MODIS sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite.

 Snow cover and land surface temperature influence each other.

Ocean Surface Area (miles2) Surface Area (kilometers2) Of all oceans

Pacific 64,000,000 166,000,000 45.0%

Southern (Antarctic) 13,523,000 35,000,000 9.5%

Arctic 4,700,000 12,173,000 3.3%

 Groundwater-dependent towns and villages spend an increasing fraction of their

 Most of the world's freshwater — about 69 percent — is locked away in glaciers

The tensiometer gives visual

Irrigating the field based on this

It costs just Rs.300 per piece.

 Bore well extracts groundwater. Increased cultivation of the water-guzzling rice

 Coarse-textured sands and sand-gravel mixtures are highly pervious and

 Preferably, the hose should be no more than 600 feet long.

 Groundwater flow in an aquifer is governed by the aquifer’s intrinsic characteristics

 Most of the groundwater flow eventually ends up in springs and streams.

 The effective contribution of rainfall to recharge is generally less than 10 mm/year,

 In the absence of these resources, water supply crunches are inevitable.

 India is an exporter of water-intensive crops/produce, while it imports pulses

 If the supply of water sustains, it will be transmitted to the underlying layers,