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Acute drought conditions and poor natural water resources are focusing more
attention on what continues to be a worldwide problem: a lack of fresh portable
water for drinking and sanitation water scarcity can be defined as a lack of
sufficient water or not having access to safe supplies in Kerala, severe water
scarcity is being reported from the border areas and coastal areas of the state.
METHODOLOGY
The study mainly focused on domestic use of water in urban areas in general and
Kerala state in particular. Both primary and secondary data have been collected to
examine the objectives of the study.
The time series secondary data regarding urban population, water supply system,
number of water works and tube wells, depth of tube wells, timings and quantity of
water supply, price, etc. were collected from Municipal Corporation, Kerala.
Graphs and tables are also used to analyze the scarcity in Kerala.
WATER SCARCITY - ANALYSIS
The case in India:
India’s population regarding a current annual increase by 15.5 million people has
to mentally face the greatest challenge of conservation and equitable distribution of
the limited fresh water resources. And its management is extremely intertwined
with figure and poverty association
The per capita availability of fresh water in the country has dropped from an
acceptable 5.175cm in 1951 to 1320 cm in 2050
It is easily shown from the figure that Kerala has been showing decreasing levels
in per capita availability. The availability of rain and the lowering of the surface
and ground water resulting from various human and wrong nature activities might
convert the state to “God’s own dry land”
TABLE 3
Assuming 650 liters per capita per day liter as the water requirements estimated by
experts water demand in Kerala is presented in the above figure. We have
considered the modest increase in the water required for irrigation by 2 percent per
year for the future.
Table 4
From above table we can analyze the rate of sand is increasing and mining is still
happen even it is illegal.
From the above diagram we can conclude that deforestation is increasing even it is
illegal in India.
CAUSES
The main causes of water scarcity in Kerala are:
Deforestation
Sand quarrying and river bank agriculture
Degradation of water resources
Land reclamation and construction
Bacteriological contamination in drinking water sources
Solid waste dumping in rivers
There are many other reasons for water scarcity like secondary recovery of
petroleum, mines, climate changes, lack of storage for water, or not having access
to safe water supplies. With its enchanting greenery and network of backwater and
rivers Kerala is thought to be water plenty state. After all Kerala gets 6 months of
rainfall 2.5 times higher than the national average. Despite this, the state is facing
water scarcity with conditions worsening in some regions.
DEFORESTATION:
Sand quarrying in rivers and watersheds are killing the rivers. Such activities lead
to bank erosion, lowering of water table and create several environmental
problems. Ground water level in some of the watersheds has gone down by nearly
one meter in the last two decades. Agricultural practices in the riverbanks (and also
inside the dry riverbeds) during non-rainy months also add to bank erosion and
sedimentation in rivers.
Degradation of Water Resources All 44 rivers in Kerala are highly polluted due to
inflow of untreated domestic, industrial wastes and agriculture runoff. Most of the
industries are near the thickly populated riversides, often near cities and towns.
There is no efficient water treatment system in industries and city municipalities.
Pollution level in some of the sites is far above permissible limits
Sand filling of ponds, farmlands, wetlands and other water body affect natural
water flow and groundwater recharge. Construction of new roads and buildings has
blocked many canals, which were important for navigation and freshwater. Vast
areas of wetlands and paddy fields have been converted into settlement and
industrial areas in the recent times
• Washing, bathing and other domestic activities around the open dug well
sources, especially among the low income communities;
EFFECTS
Lack of Access to Drinking Water: The biggest problem that happens when
you have water scarcity is that people are not able to get fresh, clean
drinking water. The human body can only go so long without water, and a
lack of drinking water can result in a number of other problems, which we
discuss below.
Hunger: If there is no water that can be used in order to help water the crops,
then you are going to have people that are going hungry. Animals will also
die, which will result in a lack of meat as well. Water scarcity, in short,
causes starvation to occur en masse for both people and animals that are
located in the area.
Lack of Education: Water scarcity makes it difficult for people to get the
education that they need or that they deserve. Why? Mainly, because those
children are either too sick to go to school (which we will discuss below), or
they are working to help get water to the home and the family.
Diseases: If you don’t have clean water access, then you will be more likely
to get diseases from the water that you do have. Whether you’re drinking the
water or using it for bathing, those diseases will get into the body and, in a
number of cases, the people carrying those diseases will pass away.
Poverty: All in all, people who are dealing with water scarcity are often
stuck in poverty as well. These people are not able to get the resources that
they need in order to be able to thrive, and instead are just barely surviving
through these difficult times.
SOLUTION
Education: There are plenty of opportunities out there that people can use in
order to learn more about the world around them. By educating those who
are not dealing with water scarcity, they can be in a position to help. Those
who are dealing with it can get educated on how they can prevent the
problem from becoming even worse in the future.
Recycle Water: There are plenty of technologies out there that allow you
to recycle rainwater and other water that you may be using in your home.
Consider learning about how you can recycle water. Not only does it help to
prevent scarcity, but it can save you some money as well.
Improve Sewage Systems: Clean drinking water starts with a good sewage
system. Without proper sanitation, the water in an area becomes ridden with
disease and any number of other problems. By improving the sewage
systems in these areas, we can prevent water scarcity from becoming any
worse.
Support Clean Water Initiatives: There are organizations located all over the
world that are looking to bring clean water to areas that don’t have it.
Consider donating to these organizations, either with your time, your skills,
or your finances (whichever you can afford to give to them).
CONCLUSION
Kerala has been converting to a state of poverty ad mist in its water
resources. The mismatch between the demand for and the supply of water
creates higher concerns and challenges in its way ahead in equitable and
inclusive development strategy. Although Kerala has lot of rivers and
backwaters in numbers, its ability in aggregate in discharging water is far
behind to the single river of other state in India. Moreover rivers and water
spots in Kerala highly depends on monsoon rather than the glaciers in the
case of the rivers of other states. Hence the environmental degradation
through man’s encroachment and destructive activities in our forests, fields,
backwaters and rivers raises serious concerns even in the existence of the
state itself.
There is growing need for developing new and further advancing existing
technologies for supply enhancement such as rainfall harvesting, wastewater
re-cycling and reuse, use of drainage water improved scheduling and
technologies, leaked detection and repair, in order improve their
effectiveness and cost.
Abbasi, SA; Arya, DS; Hameed, AS; Abbasi, N 1996. Water quality of a
typical river of kerala.
APHA, 1985. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater.
Lal, M., Climate change – Implications for India’s water resources. J.India
Water Res. Soc., 2001, 21, 101–119.
Nair, N.B, et al., 1989, A spatial study of River the Neyyer River in the
light of the Continuum-Concept. Tropical Ecology. Vol. 30 (1), pp. 101-110.
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