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irrigation, rainfall run-off etc. Construction of weirs/ sub-surface dams in
suitable locations is helpful for rainwater harvesting in drought prone areas to
increase surface water potential and artificial recharge. The country is endowed
with large numbers of traditional water harvesting structures. Unfortunately, most
of then are dilapidated, silted, or encroached due to breakdown of the traditional
community-based management systems and neglect by the state water
engineering department, mostly because of the lack of fund. Revival of these
traditional water harvesting structures coupled with contemporary watershed
management systems (including large scale afforestation and regeneration of
nearly 30% of the degraded lands of the country, small structures like check
dams, gully plugs can significantly enhance the surface water retention and
storage capacity and also recharge groundwater aquifers of the country.
Recycling of Waste Water
With the advancement of industrialization the demand of water for
industry is increasing day by day. In most industries it is essentially used as
input and mass and heat transfer media. However, the industries consume a
small amount of water and the major part is discharged as effluent. Different
industries consume different quantities of water. Thermal power, textiles, pulp
and paper and iron and steel industries are highly water intensive, whereas
cement, copper, zinc, plastics etc. require little water. In addition, ever growing
population needs water for domestic purposes including drinking, sanitation,
washing etc. According to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), major
Indian industries consumes 40 billion cubic meters and discharges about
30.7 billion cubic meters. Thus the overall utilization of fresh water is only
0.77 indicating that major part of fresh water is discharged as waste water.
A simple country-wise analysis will reveal that the Indian industries give little
importance to the re-use of waste water. [Source : Google search].
