Awareness Session about Water Scarcity

Welcome

By

K.Harshini Udhra

Water scarcity

What is water scarcity?

• If the next world war happens; it may well be triggered by water scarcity across the continents. It has been already found that the third of the world is suffering from water shortages. Increasing demand for water with rapidly growing rate of population, inadequate rainfall, uncontrolled use of water and climate change are some of the reasons behind it.

• The word water scarcity describes the relationship between demand for water and its availability. Water scarcity can be determined as both the availability of water and its consumption patterns

Water shortage increases fear of human-animal conflict

• With the monsoon continuing to play truant, water sources inside the Mudumalai and Anamalai Tiger Reserves may dry up

• With the frequent appearance of elephants in some parts of the Nilgiris like Pandalur near Gudalur and Nonsuch below Coonoor becoming a cause for worry due to water shortage in the jungles stated to be among the contributory factors, speculation over the situation in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) near here has, of late, become rife in various parts of the Nilgiris.

• The fear is that if the Southwest Monsoon continues to play truant, water sources may dry up inside the MTR and would lead to an escalation in the human-elephant conflict.

• Frequent visitors to the MTR told the Hindu that in many of the water sources, the storage was not satisfactory. Normally at this time of the year, they should be overflowing.

Papanasam dam looking like a small irrigation pond since the storage level has come down to a dismal level

• As the district, blessed with the Western Ghats and the Tamiraparani and its tributaries originating in the mountain ranges, has failed to experience a good rainfall even during the southwest and northeast monsoons ever since 2009, storage level in the major reservoirs presents a disturbing picture.

• The over-dependence on the dams and also on the river for drinking and irrigation requirements has badly depleted the storage level in the reservoirs as only the catchment areas alone have experienced some precipitation during the past four years while there was literally no rain in the plains, leaving all 1,528 rain-fed tanks across the district almost dry

Rain Fall Data for Tirunelveli

Many parts of Periya Semur municipality in Erode district continue to reel under acute water scarcity.

• Water scarcity is a perennial problem for the residents of Periya Semur

• The frequency of water supply stretches from a minimum of two days to 10 days in many areas. A few parts are supplied with water once in 15 days. People appealed to the district administration to intervene in the issue and instruct the municipal authorities to ensure adequate supply of drinking water to all residential areas in Periya Semur

Water shortage in Ramnad tail-end areas

• Though the recently commissioned Cauvery water supply scheme has solved the drinking water crisis to a great extent in the district, several tail-end areas, particularly in and around Thondi, have been experiencing water shortage, owing to a problem in supply link in different areas and power supply crisis.

• It is said that except a few villages, water supply has been maintained steadily in Paramakudi and Ramanathapuram peripheries. As per the arrangements, Cauvery water is supplied along with the local water schemes in a few villages in order to ensure an optimum supply.

• However, the problem over continuous water supply in Thondi and S.P. Pattinam areas continues to be a daunting task for the officials. There were reports that there was no consistency and regular schedule in supplying Cauvery water to these areas. The repeated review meetings by officials only had a marginal result.

No water will be released to Tamil Nadu: Jagadish Shettar

• While chief minister Jagadish Shettar walked out of the meeting after registering a protest over the ruling, while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said her state would approach the Supreme Court to get its due. "The obligation to release 10,000 cusecs per day upto 20.09.2012 will be adhered to," he said.

• Following are the arguments of Karnataka expressing why water cannot be released:

• *Further releases beyond Sept 20 will sacrifice the basic drinking water requirements and protection of standing crops of farmers of Karnataka. This will cause irreparable injury to the State of Karnataka

• *Subsequent to the failure of the rainfall to an extent of 43% in the basin, the inflows into our reservoirs have drastically dwindled resulting in a shortage of 48% till the end of August 2012.*Against the normal flow of about 217 tmc, the flow into our reservoirs is only 102 tmc till the end of August.

• *Flows into KRS (Krishna Raja Sagar) stem is curtailed to about 55% and that in Kabini stem to 34% of the normal at the end of August, 2012 which reflects the severity of the deficit monsoon. This year is the worst affected year in the last 40 years in terms of rainfall.

Coimbatore district gets lowest rainfall in SW Monsoon, pins hopes on NE Monsoon

• The exiting South West Monsoon that proved to be a bundle of disappointment has left the district with a lowest ever rainfall of 73.2 mm in the last seven years. This has resulted in the city and district pinning hopes on North East Monsoon which has showed signs of setting in any time.

• The Metrological Department sources said that the rainfall on October 9 and 15 were just showers of the exiting South West Monsoon while North East was just setting in.

• However, there had been a meagre benefit out of the two recent downpours with reservoirs recording some improvement in storage (see graphics).

Drinking water crisis looms as rains play hide-and-seek in Kerala

• THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The drinking water supply network in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam cities and their suburbs are on the verge of grinding to a halt as the water levels in the Peppara dam and Sasthamkotta Lake have almost hit rock bottom.

• "We foresee a major water supply crisis in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam, if the rains continue to elude the two districts for long. With the water available now, we will not be able to supply water beyond a month," said Kerala Water Authority chief engineer (south region), K P Krishna Kumar.

Vaigai Dam• The Vaigai Dam is built across the

Vaigai River near Andipatti, in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu, southern India. It provides water for irrigation for the Madurai district and the Dindigul district as well as drinking water to Madurai and Andipatti.[1] Near the dam, the Government of Tamil Nadu has constructed an Agricultural Research Station for researching the growing of a variety of crops, including rice, sorghum, blackgram, cowpea and cotton

Cauvery row: Farmers observe bandh in Tamil Nadu's delta districts

• Life came to a standstill in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu, including Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur, as farmers observed a bandh over the Cauvery water crisis today. The protest comes a day after neighbouring state Karnataka began releasing 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for four days as directed by the Supreme Court.

Shops remained closed in the areas as agitating farmers blocked trains and buses as a mark of protest. They have demanded the Supreme Court to ensure the farmers receive adequate water to save the standing paddy crop in 14 lakh acres.

Hogenakkal Falls• The word Hogenakal is formed of two

Kannada words hoge and kal. When the water falls on the rocks it appears as if hoge (smoke) is emanating from the top of the kal (rock) because of the force of the water, hence Hogenakkal (smoking rocks).[11] It is also called as Marikottayam by the people of Tamil Nadu.[12]

• Hogenakal Falls is the location for the Hogenakkal Integrated Drinking Water Project proposed by the Tamil Nadu Government. The objective of this project is to provide safe drinking water to the urban and rural areas in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts.

Mumbai faces serious water shortage

• Mumbai is likely to see a serious water shortage with poor monsoon rains rapidly bringing down water levels in the six lakes that feed the city.

• A worried Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp (BMC), Mumbai's civic body, has extended the 10 percent water cut in supply till July 31.

• "There is not much rainfall in catchment areas," lamented Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajiv Jalota.

• According to official estimates, Mumbai needs around 3,450 million litres of water a day.

The BMC now supplies 3,087 million litres to households.

• The lakes collectively must have at least 12.54 million litres every year. The present collective stock is approximately 2.12 million litres as against 4.24 million litres a year ago.

Manimuthar dam water released for irrigation

• The district started getting good rainfall while dry spell continued in the catchment areas of Manimuthar and Papanasam dams much to the disappointment of the district administration and the farmers here.

• Consequently, the poor inflow into the dams did not show any significant increase in its level

• Places such as Sengalthaeri Manjolai, Kuthiraivetti, Kaakkaachi and Upper Gothaiyar experienced a good rainfall on Sunday to bring a decent inflow of 1,954 cusecs into Manimuthar dam to take the water level in the dam, with the permissible level of 118 feet, from 44.83 feet to 50.75 feet only.

Siruvani Waterfalls

• The Siruvani falls and dam is situated some 37 kilometers to the west of Coimbatore city in the Western Ghats. The river is very much familiar and it is well-known for its tasty water. This Siruvani water falls is the chief source to supply water to Coimbatore city. With an outstanding panoramic view, both the dam and water falls is extremely beautiful and breathe taking. The dam is interlinked by tunnels and canals for confining Aliyar, Parambikulam, Nirar, Sholiyar, Thunakadavu, Palar, Thekadi rivers for the purpose of generating power and irrigation.

Simple & cheap solution to India's grave water crisis: Desalination plant/Waste water recycling

• Desalination plant — removing salt from seawater to make fresh water — is increasingly catching the fancy of administrators. Two of India's most industrialised states, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, are the keenest among the lot.

• Treating Waste Water Countries the world over, while

being bullish about desalination, are equally bullish about other means, notably waste water recycling. Not India. Only about 31% of municipal wastewater can be recycled. That would be more than 75% in China

• Minjur Desalination Plant, Tamil Nadu, India

Minjur Desalination Plant, Tamil Nadu, India