Lecture-6

Introduction and natural resources

(Water: Use and over-exploitation of
surface and ground water, floods,
droughts, conflicts over water)

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 Learning outcomes

After completing this lecture

• Student will get knowledge about
importance and benefits of water
resource.
• Student will understand the flood and
drought impact on environment.

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Water Resources

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Properties of Water

• Prerequisite for existence of life

• Cannot be substituted by anything else
• Can be recycled and reused
• Exist in wide range of temperature
• Excellent solvent
• Needed for economic growth, environmental stability,
biodiversity conservation, food security and health care
• Plenty of water on earth, but many millions face water
scarcity.
• Global water cycle (Hydrological Cycle) provides us with
fresh water every year. 4
 Importance of Water
•Water is the basic component of every living cell.
•Water moves through different biotic and abiotic component-
hydrological cycle
•Industries consumes water for cooling, heating, washing etc.
•It is the basic input required for agriculture.
•Hydrothermal power can be used for generating hydroelectricity.
•It provides habitat to aquatic flora and fauna.
•Common salt can be obtained from water.
•We need water to grow plants, care for animals, cook food, bath,
brush our teeth, flush the toilet, and wash our clothes etc.

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Why do we need to save water?

• You might think that there is plenty of water for everyone to

use. But did you know that most of the water on the Earth is
ocean water?
• Ocean water is very salty. You can’t drink it, use it for growing
plants, cooking food, bathing, or washing clothes.
• It is estimated that 15% of worldwide water use is for
household purposes. These include drinking
water, bathing, cooking, sanitation, and gardening.
• The water we use for these things is called freshwater. It
comes from rain or snow that falls in rivers and lakes. It is also
found in rocks beneath the ground.

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Water used by us in two forms:
i. Water withdrawal (Water withdrawn is the total volume
removed from a water source such as a lake or river. Often, a
portion of this water is returned to the source and is available
to be used again.)
ii. Water consumption (eg evaporation, drinking) 7
 Sources of Fresh water

1. Surface water

2. Frozen water

3. Ground water

4. Rain water

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 Surface water:
Surface water is water in a river, lake, ponds or fresh water
wetland. Surface water is naturally replenished by
precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to the
oceans, evaporation, and sub-surface seepage.

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Ground Water:
Sub-surface water, or groundwater, is fresh water located in
the pore space of soil and rocks. It is also water that is flowing
within aquifers below the water table.

An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable

rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or
silt).
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Aquifer: A layer of sediment/rock that is highly permeable and
contain water.
Layer of sand and gravel: Good aquifers
Clay and crystalline rocks (e.g. Granite): Not good aquifers

Under River flow

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Types of Aquifer:
Unconfined aquifer: permeable and recharged by water from
rainfall or snow melt

Confined aquifer: sandwiched between two impermeable

layer of rocks/sediments and recharge only in those areas
where the aquifer intersect the land surface.

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Effect of use of excessive ground water:

Subsidence: aquifer got compact (due to more withdrawal and

less recharge) known as ground subsidence

Lowering of water table: due to excessive use of water

Water logging: saturation of soil with water

Water pollution: addition of pollutants into water

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Frozen Water:
Several schemes have been proposed to make use of
icebergs as a water source, however to date this has only
been done for novelty purposes. Glacier runoff is
considered to be surface water.

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 Uses Of Water
Productive use (Irrigation)
Consumptive use (drinking, cooking etc.)
Commercial use (fountains, industries etc.)

Industrial

Agriculture

Household

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 How do people use Water Resources?

Divide
Recreational
Household Personal Use
activities
•Washing dishes • Washing the •Go to the pool.
•Fill the car with teeth •Go to the beach.
water • Drinking water •Walk in the pool for
•Watering the • Take a shower recovering health.
plants • Going to the •Skiing in the
•Putting out the bathroom mountains.
fire • Walk in the •Fish in the lakes.
•Give water for pool for •Play with a ball in
the cows recovering the river.
•Watering the health •Surfeit in the ocean.
grass
•Washing the car
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 Water Crisis/ Calamities:
Floods and Droughts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHVxNjnNdMY

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Floods
Floods refers to the presence of unusually large amount of water
at any place or more water that can be handled by the drainage of
the area. It depend on climate , nature of the collecting basins,
Streams, soil, vegetative cover, amount of snow melt and rainfall.
The various types of floods are
1. Flash Floods: caused suddenly due to heavy rainfall.
2. River floods: Precipitation over large area or/and by melting
snow
3. Coastal Floods: Due to cyclone activities like hurricans, wind
induced storms.

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 Drought
A drought is a condition in which a region suffers
from a severe scarcity in its water availability.
Mainly due to constantly below average rain fall.
Effects ecosystem and agriculture
The various kinds of drought are
1. Meteorological Drought: When actual
rainfall in an area is significantly less than
climatological mean of that area.
2. Hydrological Drought: When there is running
down of surface water leading to very low
stream flow and drying of lakes , rivers and
reservoirs.
3. Agricultural Drought: When there is
inadequate soil moisture resulting in acute
crop stress and fall in agriculture productivity.

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Solutions to Water Crisis
Reduce demand:
Adopt agriculture practices that require less water:
Reduce industrial consumption through recycling, reuse and new
water-efficient technologies.
Catch the rain where it falls (harvesting)
Retain water on land as long as possible through check dams and
contour bunds allowing it to percolate into the ground.
Implement rain water harvesting in urban and rural areas
Restore traditional system of ponds and lakes.
Adopt fairer policies

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 Conflicts over Water

• Nile Water Conflict: Egypt vs. Ethiopia,

• Brahmaputra Water Conflict: China, India, Bangladesh etc.
• Indus river conflict: India & Pakistan.
• Inter-state disputes (e.g., Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over Caveri
water)
• Industries vs. Communities (Coca-Cola Beaverage company in
Kerala.

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 Water harvesting

Water harvesting is collecting and storing rain water for future use.
The common methods of water harvesting are :-

i) Digging pits, ponds, lakes etc.

ii) Building small earthen dams or concrete check dam.
iv) Construction of reservoirs.
v) Construction of rooftop collecting units in houses.

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Advantages of underground water :-

i) It does not evaporate easily.

ii) It spreads out and recharges wells.
iii) It provides moisture for irrigation of crops.
iv) It does not get polluted easily.
v) It does not provide breeding ground for mosquitoes and
houseflies.

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Different methods of water harvesting

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RAINWATER HARVESTING

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 Important Web Links

http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechap
ter/000964.pdf
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-are-
floods-causes-types-prevention.html

http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechap
ter/001426.pdf

http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php
?id=89584

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Acknowledgment
Some images, animation, and material have been
taken from the following sources:

Textbooks: PERSPECTIVE IN
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES by ANUBHA
KAUSHIK, C P KAUSHIK, NEW AGE
INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS

References Book: TEXTBOOK OF

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES by D. DAVE
AND S. S. KATEWA, CENGAGE LEARNING

All slides can be used for reading purpose only

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