NAME : UZMA AFRIN AKHTER

CLASS : X SECTION :B SUBJECT : SOCIAL SCIENCE BOARD REGISTRATION

NO. :B114084140109 ROLL NO. : 52

GEOGRAPHY

CONSERVATION

OF WATER

• Water conservation encompasses the policies, strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource to protect the water environment and to meet current and future human demand. Population, household size and growth and affluence all affect how much water is used. Factors such as climate change will increase pressures on natural water resources especially in manufacturing and agricultural irrigation

• Rainwater harvesting is a technology used for collecting and storing rainwater from rooftops, the land surface or rock catchments using simple techniques such as jars and pots as well as more complex techniques such as underground check dams. The techniques usually found in Asia and Africa arise from practices employed by ancient civilizations within these regions and still serve as a major source of drinking water supply in rural areas. Commonly used systems are constructed of three principal components; namely, the catchment area, the collection device, and the conveyance system.

• Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs, and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within a watershed boundary. Features of a watershed that agencies seek to manage include water supply, water quality, drainage, stormwater runoff, water rights, and the overall planning and utilization of watersheds. Landowners, land use agencies, stormwater management experts, environmental specialists, water use surveyors and communities all play an integral part in the management of a watershed.

• Reuse of graywater for flushing toilets or watering gardens

• Recycling of wastewater through purification at a water treatment plant. See also Wastewater - Reuse

• Rainwater harvesting• High-efficiency clothes washers• Weather-based irrigation controllers• Garden hose nozzles that shut off

water when it is not being used, instead of letting a hose run.

• using low flow taps in wash basins• Swimming pool covers that reduce

evaporation and can warm pool water to reduce water, energy and chemical costs.

• Automatic faucet is a water conservation faucet that eliminates water waste at the faucet. It automates the use of faucets without the use of hands.

• The population of India exceeds 1.1 billion people and is growing annually at an astonishing 1.4%.The economy is experiencing even greater growth rates, with roughly 8% increases in gross domestic product (GDP) annually in the past several years.The nation’s use of water has naturally intensified in step with the jumps in population and economic growth. India’s annual groundwater extraction rate is the highest on earth: an estimated 200 billion cubic meters per year.The country boasts approximately nineteen million groundwater extraction structures, over four times the amount in China, Pakistan, Mexico, and the United States combined.4The expanding economy and population make sustainable access to water one of the critical issues dictating the nation’s future.Much of India’s heavy reliance on groundwater is attributable to the country’s unique climate and how it affects India’s largely agrarian economy. The Indian climate is marked by the erratic rain patterns of the monsoon.The summer monsoon, which lasts a period of 100–125 days, accounts for 80% of yearly rainfallA possible solution to over-use of groundwater in India

India’s heavy dependence on groundwater has led the country into a water crisis because it is currently extracting its groundwater at an unsustainable rate.18 Groundwater depletion is perhaps most evident in the dry regions of the country. A joint study by the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) and the states shows that approximately 14.7% of the groundwater units of the country are “over exploited,” meaning the current groundwater extraction levels exceed recharge levels.Additionally, approximately 3.9% of the units are “critical,” i.e., currently extracted at 90–100% of their capacity. These figures only account for current levels of use, and the number of overexploited regions is expected to continue rising each year.Furthermore, these national-level depletion rates do not fully represent the plight of the arid regions. States that have a considerable number of overexploited units include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. According to a study done in 2004, in Gujarat, 31 of the 184 talukas were withdrawing greater amounts than the annual recharge levels could support, with twelve talukas drafting 90% of the sustainable level.Additionally, more than 15% of the units were at critical or overexploited levels in Andhra Pradesh.

To properly comprehend and evaluate current reform movements, an understanding of the background legal framework is necessary. The following is a brief summary of the Indian groundwater system, as it developed under the common law. India’s water law is not, nor has it ever been, treated as its own discrete policy area with one self-contained water code or a single line of water-related case law. Rather, laws pertaining to water are scattered amid numerous constitutional provisions, irrigation acts, land use acts, judicial opinions, and various other state and central government laws. In stark contrast to other former colonial countries, India has not strayed far from the British legal system in many of its core legal doctrines.Hence, the groundwater property structure has remained relatively unchanged since colonial times. India inherited much of its water law system from Common English Law. The Indian Easements Act, 1882, which is still in effect today, officially incorporated the British groundwater legal structure into Indian law. The Act deems groundwater to be an easement connected to the land and grants landowners an unrestricted right to use the groundwater below the land. Specifically, every landowner has the right to “collect and dispose within his own limits of all water under the land which does not pass in a defined channe.”The Act solidified the notion that surface water is state property, while groundwater is the property of the landowner. The common law system incorporated by the Act views groundwater as chattel connected to the land, and allows the landowner ownership rights based on the ad coleum principle Unlike with surface waters and underground streams in defined channels, which are governed by the riparian doctrine of reasonable use, landowners have the right to extract percolating groundwater in any amount they desire with no risk of liability from adjacent landowners for overuse. Under the common law, there is no limit to the amount of groundwater a particular landowner may extract.As preemnent Indian water scholar Chhatrapati Singh put it

If the Model Bill and the state bills were enforced exactly as they were written, they would likely do a great deal to improve sustainable use of groundwater resources. The permitting and registration systems would give the government a clear window into types of groundwater uses and levels of extractions—all of which would be helpful in keeping groundwater use at safe levels. But the statutes are simply not being enforced. Among the state acts, the MWRRA shows greater promise because it approaches water regulation on the river basin level, rather than attempting to regulate surface water under one authority and groundwater under another authority.This holistic method recognizes the interrelated properties of the water cycle and makes an attempt to take all relevant water bodies into account to enhance sustainable use. Other state statutes, some recently enacted and some still in the proposition stage, follow the lead of the MWRRA in this regard. Hopefully successful implementation of these provisions is close on the horizon.Concerning pollution and its effect on sustainability, the Model Bill and the vast majority of the state acts are silent about pollution because the EPA has set up an independent institutional framework under the purview of the central government to legislate on such matters. Thus, the pollution problems of millions of wells dispersed across the country are placed under the authority of the central government.

Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community building, community organizers generally assume that social change necessarily involves conflict and social struggle in order to generate collective power for the powerless. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of issues over time. In the ideal, for example, this can get community organizing groups a place at the table before important decisions are made. Community organizers work with and develop new local leaders, facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns

ONE EXAMPLE OF MOVEMENT BASED ON WATER

STRUGGLES IN INDIA WAS THE NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN (NBA)

Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is a social movement consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists against a number of large dams being built across the Narmada river. The river flows through the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh in India. Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is one of the biggest dams on the river and was one of the first focal points of the movement. Friends of River Narmada is the unofficial website of the NBA.

Their mode of campaign includes hunger strikes and garnering support from film and art personalities (notably Bollywood actor Aamir Khan). Narmada Bachao Andolan, with its leading spokespersons Medha Patkar and Baba Amte, received the Right Livelihood Award in 1991.

Within the focus of Narmada Bachao Andolan towards the stoppage of the Sardar Sarovar dam, Patkar advised addition of World Bank to their propaganda. Using the right to fasting, she undertook a 22-day fast that almost took her life. In 1991, Patkar's actions led to an unprecedented independent review by the World Bank. The Morse Commission, appointed in June 1991 at the recommendation of World Bank President Barber Conable, conducted its first independent review of a World Bank project. This independent review stated that "performance under these projects has fallen short of what is called for under Bank policies and guidelines and the policies of the Government of India." This resulted in the Indian Government pulling out of its loan agreement with the World Bank. In response, Patkar said "It is very clear and obvious that they used this as a face-saving device," suggesting that if this were not to happen, the World Bank eventually would have withdrawn the loan. The World Bank's participation in these projects was cancelled in 1995.

She undertook a similar fast in 1993 and resisted evacuation from the dam site. In 1994, the Bachao Andolan office was attacked reportedly by a couple of political parties, where Patkar and other activists were physically assaulted and verbally abused. In protest, a few NBA activists and she began a fast; 20 days later, they were arrested and forcibly fed intravenously.

Amongst the major celebrities who have shown their support for Narmada Bachao Andolan are Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy and Aamir Khan.

1994 saw the launch of Narmada: A Valley Rises, by filmmaker Ali Kazimi. It documents the five-week Sangharsh Yatra of 1991. The film went on to win several awards and is considered by many to be a classic on the issue. In 1996, veteran documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan, made an award-winning documentary: A Narmada Diary.

The Narmada dam's benefits include provision of drinking water, power generation and irrigation facilities. However, the campaign led by the NBA activists has held up the project's completion, and the NBA supporters have attacked on local people who accepted compensation for moving.Others have argued that the Narmada Dam protesters are little more than environmental extremists who use pseudoscientific agitprop to scuttle the development of the region and that the dam will provide agricultural benefits to millions of poor in India. There had also been instances when the NBA activists turned violent and attacked rehabilitation officer from Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) and caused damage to the contractor's machinery.

The NBA has been accused of lying under oath in court about land ownership in areas affected by the dam. The Supreme Court has mulled perjury charges against the group.