• Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful.

• Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and

environmental activities.
• Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water.
 While 67% of Earth’s surface is covered by
water, only less than 2.7% of global water is
freshwater. Most of the freshwater (2.05%) are
locked in ice caps and glaciers. Only less
than 0.7% is available for human use.
 100% of water

97.5%
2.5%
ocean Fres
h
68.7% water 1% Fresh
30%
Ice and
Ground
Snow
52% 8%
38% soil 1% rivers 1% living
lakes Vapour
Over two thirds of the
earth's surface is covered
with water, 97.2% of which
is contained in the five
oceans. The Antarctic ice
sheet, containing 90% of all
fresh water on the planet,
is visible at the bottom.
Atmospheric water vapour
can be seen as clouds,
contributing to the earth's
albedo.
Iceberg and Polar cap store most of the fresh water
on Earth
• Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is
steadily decreasing.
• Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world and as the world
population continues to rise, so too does the water demand.
How Much Do We Depend On Groundwater?

According to United States Geological Survey (USGS) figures,

groundwater
provides an estimated:

22% of all freshwater withdrawals

37% of agricultural use (mostly for irrigation)

37% of the public water supply withdrawals

51% of all drinking water for the total

population 99% of drinking water for the rural

population
Water Resources-Use and
Overutilization
• The water Cycle through evaporation and precipitation,
maintains hydrological systems
• All aquatic ecosystems are used by a large number for their daily
needs such as washing irrigation, cooking etc.
• One of the greatest challenges today is the management of these
water resources.
• Due to increasing population there is an enormous supply for the
available freshwater resources.
• India is likely to face water crisis by 2025.
• With growth of human population larger amounts of water will
be
required to fulfill basic needs Today in many areas this need
cannot
be met.
• Overutilization of water occurs at various levels:
• Most people use more water than required to carry out basic
activities such as brushing, bathing, washing and cleaning etc.
• Farmers also sometimes use double the water required for
irrigation.
• There are many ways in which the farmer can increase the yield
by using less water for irrigation.
•Sources of Fresh Water
•Surface Water is water in a river, lake or fresh water wetland.
•Surface water is naturally replenished by precipitation
•naturally lost through discharge to the oceans, evaporation, and sub-
surface seepage.
•Sub-Surface water or groundwater
•One of our most valuable resources is the water beneath our feet.
• 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.
•Sometimes it is useful to make a distinction between sub-surface water that
is closely associated with surface water and deep sub-surface water in an
aquifer (sometimes called "fossil water").
 Conflicts over Water

Scarcity of water has increased conflicts over water

among various states and countries. Some water
conflicts are:
1. Indus water dispute.
2. Ganga water dispute.
3. Cavery water dispute.
4. Yamuna water dispute.
Conflicts over
water
• Multiple conflicts between countries.
• Around 20 major cities in India face chronic or
interrupted water shortages.
• Around 100 countries all around the world share the waters
of 13 large rivers and lakes.
• The upstream countries could stare the downstream
countries leading to political instability. Eg. Ethiopia
(Upstream) and Egypt (Downstream) are highly dependent
on the river Nile for their water supply.
• International accords that look at fair distribution of water
will become critical to the world peace
• India and Bangladesh already have a pact for fair usage of
water of Ganges River.
 On a global basis, fresh water is a
increasingly scarce resource. It is partially
caused by increasing population coupled by
change of consumption pattern and
climate changes.
 FLOODS
FLOODS ARE NATURAL PHENOMENA.
FLOODS ARE WATER RELATED DISASTER

A flood occurs when the Geomorphic Equilibrium in

the river system is disturbed because of intrinsic or
extrinsic factors or when a system crosses the
geomorphic threshold.
(a)Flooding in a river due to aggradation of river bed
(intrinsic threshold);
(b) Flooding in a river due to heavy rainfall (extrinsic
threshold)
 TYPES OF
FLOODS
Types of floods
•Flash floods
•River floods
•Coastal Floods
•Urban Flood According to their
duration flood can be divided into
different categories:
•Slow-Onset Floods: Slow Onset
Floods usually last for a relatively longer
period, it may last for one or more peeks,
or even months.
•Rapid-Onset Floods: Rapid1Onset
Floods last for a relatively shorter period,
they usually last for one or two days
only.
•Flash Floods: Flash Floods may occur
within minutes or a fe1w hours after heavy
rainfall, tropical storm, failure of dams or
levees or releases of ice dams. And it causes
the greatest damages to society.
Contd….
Storm Surge, Eg: bursting of landslide
Tsunami, Glacial Melt, blockades in the catchment
Natural areaof the Bhagirathi River in
Landslide, Riverine, August 1978 (Gupta and Dave,
Estuarine & Marine Flood 1982).

Flood
s
Breach of Eg: In the year 2009,Almatti
and Naryanpur dams on the
Dam/ Barrage/ Krishna River in Karnataka.
Man made Embankment This water along with rain
water reached Andhra Pradesh
Release from Reservoir, near the Srisailam dam. It
causes a hevy floods in
Urban Flood andhrapradesh

7/4/201 Floods- Disaster 19

5 Managment
Causes for
flood
VEGETATION COVER
This varies seasonally. The type and
amount will affect interception and
stemflow/throughfall. Overland flow
is reduced. Lag time will be increased.
ROCK TYPE
Impermeable rocks prevent groundwater
flow and encourage through flow and
overland flow. These rocks will decrease
lag time. Permeable rock will have the
opposite effect.

CLIMATE
The distribution of rainfall over the
LAKES & RESERVOIRS
year and the temperatures will
These will store floodwater and
affect the lag times.
FACTORS thus reduce lag time and
control river response to heavy
rainfall.
SLOPES
Steep slopes will encourage
overland flow and gentle
slope will slow run off down.

LAND USE SOIL TYPE & DEPTH

Impermeable surfaces Deep soils store more
created by urbanisation will water, pipes in the soil
RAINFALL INTENSITY & DURATION
reduce infiltration and encourage through flow.
Intense rain will increase
encourage overland flow. Soils with small pore
overland flow and reduce lag
Different types of crops spaces will reduce
times. Gentle rain over a longer
affect interception rates e.g. infiltration and increase
time will allow more infiltration.
cereals 7-15%. overland flow.
FLOODS
IMPACTS
• Human Loss
• Property Loss
• Affects the Major Roads
• Disruption of Air / Train / Bus services
• Spread of Water-borne Communicable Diseases
• Communication Breakdown
• Electricity Supply Cut off
• Economic and Social Disruption
• Increase in Air / Water Pollution

7/4/201 Floods- Disaster 22

5 Managment
Analysi over years
s
 Drough
t
• Rains are very unpredictable. This leads to
periods where there is serious scarcity of water.
• Drought prone areas are faced with irregular
periods of famine as farmers have no income.
• Drought prone areas Development Programs:
• Under this scheme, people are given wages in
bad years for activities like building roads, minor
irrigation works and plantation programs.
• It is a major problem in arid and semi arid
regions.
• Drought affects home, agriculture, industry, leads
to malnutrition problems in children due to food
shortages
• Major factor responsible for drought
is deforestation.
• Due to denuded forest cover the rainwater
rushes down the river and is lost.
• Forest cover permits the water to remain in
the same area and gradually seep into the
ground.
• This charges the underground stores of water in
natural aquifers. Which later can be use during
the period of no monsoons.
 Causes of
drought Human
Natural / Physical causes:
causes:
- Weather: increased amount of
anticyclone weather (hot + dry)
means air holds less moisture
so you get less rain
- Global warming: weather
patterns change (e.g. Sahel
is becoming hotter + drier)
- Hotter weather = more
evaporation than
precipitation
- El Nino: random weather event
that reverses normal weather
patterns (e.g. Australia has
years of drought + then years
of flood)
- Overpopulation: too many
people living in an area using
too much water
- Overcultivation: planting too
many crops which use up
too much water
- Overextraction: removing too
much water from wells so
they dry up
- Deforestation: cutting down
trees which otherwise store
water + hold soil together
- Politics: fighting over water, or
companies being greedy +
taking too much water to then
sell on
 Conflicts over Water

Scarcity of water has increased conflicts over water

among various states and countries. Some water
conflicts are:
1. Indus water dispute.
2. Ganga water dispute.
3. Cavery water dispute.
4. Yamuna water dispute.
Conflicts over
water
• Multiple conflicts between countries.
• Around 20 major cities in India face chronic or
interrupted water shortages.
• Around 100 countries all around the world share the waters
of 13 large rivers and lakes.
• The upstream countries could stare the downstream
countries leading to political instability. Eg. Ethiopia
(Upstream) and Egypt (Downstream) are highly dependent
on the river Nile for their water supply.
• International accords that look at fair distribution of water
will become critical to the world peace
• India and Bangladesh already have a pact for fair usage of
water of Ganges River.
 DAMS – Introduction

• There are more than 45000 dams all around the

world, which play an important role in in
communities and economies that harness these
water resources for economic development.
• 30-40% of the irrigated land worldwide relies on
dams.
 Benefits of Dams

Navigation
Water
Supply

Recreation
Irrigatio
n
Flood Control
Waste
Impoundment

Power
Supply
Dams
Problems
• Fragmentation and physical transformation of
rivers
• Impacts on riverine ecosystems
• Social consequences of large dams due
to displacement of people.
• Water logging and salinization of
surrounding land.
• Dislodging animal population.
• Disruption of fishing and waterway
traffic.
EFFECT ON ENVIRONMENT
• Greenhouse gas emissions

The reservoirs of power plants in tropical regions may produce

substantial amounts of methane, carbon di oxide. This is due to
plant
material in flooded areas decaying in an anaerobic environment,
and
forming methane, a very potent greenhouse gas.

• Soil Erosion
One of the first problems with dams is the erosion of land. Dams
hold
back the sediment load normally found in a river flow, depriving
the
downstream of this. In order to make up for the sediments, the
downstream water erodes its channels and banks. This lowering
of the
riverbed threatens vegetation and river wildlife. One of the
reasons
dams are built is to prevent flooding. However, most ecosystems
which
Contd
- Species Extinction

As fisheries become an increasingly important source of food supply,

more attention is being paid to the harmful effects of dams on many
fish and marine mammal populations. The vast majority of large dams
do not include proper bypass systems for these animals, interfering with
their lifecycles and sometimes even forcing species to extinction.

Changes to Earth's Rotation

NASA geophysicist Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao have found evidence that large
dams cause changes to the earth's rotation, because of the shift of
water weight from oceans to reservoirs. Because of the number of dams
which have been built, the Earth's daily rotation has apparently sped up
by eight- millionths of a second since the 1950s. Chao said it is the first
time human activity has been shown to have a measurable effect on the
Earth's rotation.
 Industrialized / developed countries tend to
use more water in their industrial production.
 Other countries tend to use more water for
agricultural uses.
 Inadequate access to safe drinking water by
over 1.1 billion people
 Groundwater overdrafting leading to
diminished agricultural yields
 Overuse and pollution of water resources
harming biodiversity
 Regional conflicts over scarce water resources
sometimes resulting in warfare.
 Climate change causes change in frequencies
of droughts and floods.
 Depletion of aquifers caused by over-
consumption as a result of population growth.
 Pollution and contamination by sewage,
agricultural and industrial runoff.
 Estimated from existing data, some countries
are going to experience serious shortage of
fresh water supply in the coming 20 years
time.
 China, India and South Africa and Middle East
countries may among the most adversely
affected countries.
 Desalination of sea water can be done either
via distillation or membrane process.
 Both process requires large amount of energy
and thus costly, which means desalination
remains an expensive option for providing
reliable fresh water supply, restricted to only
economically well-off countries.