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CHAPTER - IV
WATER RESOURCESANDMAJOR DAMS IN INDIA
Water Resources of India
The National Commission on Agriculture (1976) assessed the total annual
replenishable water resources to be of about 400 m.ha.m.or 4000 BCM. Recent
publication of Government of India (Ref.
statistics.html) indicates the following figures on water resources of India :
1)
Average Annual Precipitation : 4000 BCM
2)
Average precipitation during Monsoon (June - Sept.) 3000 BCM
3)
Natural Run off : 1986.5 BCM
4)
Estimated utilized surface water resources : 690 BCM
5)
Total utilizable groundwater resources : 433 BCM
6)
Total annual utilizable water resources : 1123 BCM
7)
Per capita water availability : 1720.29 Cu m.
Indian River System
Rivers
Rivers in India may be classified as (i) Himalayan rivers, (ii) Peninsular rivers
(iii) Coastal rivers (iv) rivers of inland drainage basin.
The Himalayan rivers are perennial as they are snow-fed and have
reasonable flow throughout the year. During the monsoon the Himalayas
receive heavy rainfall and the rivers discharge the maximum quantity of water
causing frequent floods. The Peninsular rivers are generally rainfed and
therefore fluctuate in volume. The coastal streams, specially in the west coast,
are short in length and have limited catchment area. Most of them flow during
monsoon season, but gradually loose discharge and are non-perennial.
