Social Studies SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS(3 Mark)

1. Multiplying urban centres with large and dense populations and urban lifestyles have caused the over exploitation of water resources.
2. Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow and causes the sediment to settle at the bottom of the reservoir.
3. In Gujarat, the Sabarmati basin farmers were agitated when higher priority was given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts.
4. Today in Rajasthan, the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on the decline due to the Rajasthan canal.

Water is a renewable resource as it is renewed by water cycle itself, where three processes take place as evaporation, condensation and precipitation. This process of water cycle is never ending and hence, water is a renewable resource.

Water scarcity occurs when the availability of water is not enough to match the demand for it. This caused by over exploitation of water resources. Increase in population, deforestation, wastage of water, are a few examples. The ever-increasing populations' demand for water is also increasing which makes the water availability unequal. Water is also used for irrigation and industrial use. This also contributes a lot in water scarcity.

Multipurpose river projects help in irrigation, electricity production, flood control, inland navigation and fish breeding.At the same time the multi-purpose river projects also destroy local flora and fauna. Many native villages get submerged, and people lose their livelihood, with little or no hope of rehabilitation.

1. Not suffering from water scarcity.
2. Suffering from water scarcity.
3. Suffering from water scarcity.
4. Not suffering from water scarcity.

1. Water scarcity is experienced in major cities of India due to large population, increased consumption and unequal access to water resources.
2. Large population requires more water for domestic purposes as well as for increased agricultural productivity. To provide assured irrigation for agriculture water resources are overexploited resulting in lowering of the water table.
3. Setting up of multinational companies on a large scale has created ever increasing demand for water and cheap source of power for running the machines.
4. Large scale urbanisation and modern lifestyle of the people in cities has created more demand for water and energy resulting in water scarcity.
5. The bad quality of water has resulted in water scarcity due to pollution of waterbodies by discharging urban waste, industrial effluents, pesticides and fertilisers from agricultural fields rating it unfit for human consumption.

Causes:

1. Industrial affluent are discharged into rivers which are both organic and inorganic.
2. Paper pulp, textiles, chemical, petroleum refining, tannery and electroplating are the major industries creating water pollution.

Remedy: Treatment of industrial liquids can be done in three phases.

1. Primary treatment by mechanical process.
2. Secondary treatment by biological process.
3. Tertiary treatment by biological, chemical and physical process which includes recycling of waste water.

Water scarcity is indeed the outcome of large and growing population. Increase in population puts strain on resources including water. People living in an area require water for their various activities, and more the number of people more the consumption. Furthermore, wastage and indiscriminate use of water has worsened the condition.
There is no substitute of potable water. Increasing population depletes ground water and other water sources. Increase in population also augments speedier economic development, straining the water resources further. Areas with high density of population therefore witnesses intense waters scarcity. At time, such scarcity drives people to marginal areas, in turn draining water resources in such areas as well.

A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment.
Dams are classified according to structure, intended purpose or height. Based on structure and the materials used, dams are classified as timber dams, embankment dams or masonry dams, with several subtypes. According to the height, dams can be categorised as large dams and major dams or alternatively as low dams, medium height dams and high dams.

The Krishna-Godavari dispute is due to the objections raised by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh governments. It is regarding the diversion of more water at Koyna by the Maharashtra government for a multipurpose project. This would reduce downstream flow in their states with adverse consequences for agriculture and industry. Similar disputes arise as kaveri issues between the states of Karnataka and tamilnadu and yamuna water disputes between harayana and Delhi governments regrading the use of water.

In Gujarat, the Sabarmati-basin farmers were agitated and almost caused a riot over the higher priority given to water supply in urban areas, particularly during droughts.

Mettur Dam, which forms Stanley Reservoir, is constructed across the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu. It was constructed in 1934 and took 9 years to complete. Maximum height and width of the Dam are 214 and 171 feet respectively.

Rainwater harvesting is a technique of collecting and storing rainwater for domestic useRainwater harvesting is a technique of collecting and storing rainwater for domestic use.Three methods of rainwater harvesting followed in different regions of India for:

1. Bamboo dripping irrigation system in Meghalaya.
2. Storing rainwater in underground 'tankas' in Rajasthan.
3. Kuls or guls are the water diversion channels built mainly in the Himalayan region for agricultural purposes.

In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system channelling the flood water of the river Ganga. It was During the reign of Chandragupta Maurya, dams, lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built.

Water scarcity may be an outcome of large and growing population and consequent greater demands for water, and unequal access to it.
Water scarcity in most cases is caused by over-exploitation, excessive use and unequal access to water among different social groups.

Rabi crops are sown in winter from October to December and harvested in summer from April to June. Some of the important rabi crops are wheat, barley, peas, gram and mustard. Though, these crops are grown in large parts of India, states from the north and northwestern parts such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh are important for the production of wheat and other rabi crops.

A multipurpose project is that which fulfils a variety of purposes at the same time, for example – irrigation, generation of electricity, flood control, fish breeding, soil conservation, etc. It would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and the growth of urban economy.

In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny and opposition for a variety of reasons. Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life. Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning. The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.

Conservation of water resources is essential in India due to following reasons:

1. To safeguard ourselves from health hazards as the quality of water is badly affected by discharge of urban wastes, industrial effluents, pesticides and fertilisers.
2. To ensure food security to the people.
3. Continuation of human activities and prevention of degradation of environment.
4. To control over-exploitation and mis-management of water resources leading to depletion of water and ecological crisis affecting the life of millions of people.

Rainwater harvesting is a technique for capturing and storing rainwater through hydro-structures such as recharge through handpumps and abandoned dug well. We can associate the following values with rainwater harvesting system.

1. Ensuring water security.
2. Reducing burden from other.
3. Lowering water supply cost.
4. Reducing flood flow.

Hirakud Dam is built across the Mahanadi River, about 15kilometres from Sambalpur in the state of Odisha in India. Behind the dam extends a lake, Hirakud Reservoir, 55km long. It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India's independent.

By rainwater harvesting, we can recharge ground water by capturing and storing rainwater by construction of check dams, percolating pits etc.

1. It is cheap and affordable method of conservation of water.

For example:

Roof top rainwater harvesting technique which is increased nowadays because Common people can also afford it.

2. Rain water harvesting techniques are more environmental friendly as compared to multipurpose river project.
3. Rainwater harvesting reduces pressure on existing water resources.
4. People had in depth knowledge of rainfall regimes and soil types and developed a wide range of rain water harvesting techniques. For example, the hilly and mountains regions, people built diversion channels like "guts" or "kuls" of western himalayas for agriculture.

Even we can see rooftop harvesting is seen in Rajas than to store drinking water.

Even in Rajasthan agricultural lands in semi-arid region are converted into rain fed storage structures that allowed water to stand and moisten the soil .

5. The use of bamboo drip irrigation are it prevents leakage, increases crop yield with less water and makes use of natural, local and inexpensive material.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting:
In Gendathur, a remote backward village in Mysore, Karnataka, villagers have installed, in their household’s rooftop, rainwater harvesting system to meet their water needs. Nearly 200 households have installed this system and the village has earned the rare distinction of being rich in rainwater.

1. Multiplying urban centers with large and dense populations has increased the demand for water.
2. Urban lifestyles have not only added to water and energy requirements but have further aggravated the problem.
3. The housing societies or colonies in the cities have their own groundwater pumping devices to meet their water needs.
4. Fragile water resources are being over-exploited and have caused their depletion in several cities.
5. Urbanization creates vast opportunities which attract people. This increasing population demands more water to fulfill their domestic needs.

The quality of the surface water and ground water decreases due to:

1. Foreign matters such as micro organisms, chemicals, industrial and other wastes.
2. Discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater from cities and towns without treatment in rivers and lakes.
3. Excessive use of fertilisers, insecticides, and pesticides in agricultural fields.
4. Seepage of these pollutants underground.

India receives nearly 4 per cent of the global precipitation and ranks 133 in the world in terms of water availability per person per annum. The total renewable water resources of India are estimated at 1,897sq km per annum.

Three causes of the river water pollution are:

1. Increase in population and urban settlements have polluted the rivers. Large amount of domestic, municipal and agricultural wastes are disposed off in the rivers.
2. Huge quantities of untreated sewage and industrial effluents are disposed in rivers which not only diminishes the quality of water but also the self-cleansing capacity of the river.
3. Dumping of used oil and paints into river water has also polluted the river.

Over-utilisation and mismanagement of water resources may cause:

1. Serious health hazards.
2. Shortage of availability of food which may adversely affect food security in the country.
3. Our livelihoods and productive activities may be affected.
4. Degradation of our natural ecosystems.
5. Depletion of water resources.

In Gendathur, a remote backward village in Mysore, Karnataka, villagers have installed, in their household’s rooftop, rainwater harvesting system to meet their water needs. Nearly 200 households have installed this system and the village has earned the rare distinction of being rich in rainwater.
Gendathur receives an annual precipitation of 1,000mm, and with 80 percent of collection efficiency and of about 10 fillings, every house can collect and use about 50,000 litres of water annually. From the 20 houses, the net amount of rainwater harvested annually amounts to 1,00,000 litres.

The implications of the pollution in rivers are:

1. Scarcity of water.
2. Increase in global warming.
3. Threatens aquatic flora and fauna.
4. This water when used by animals and plants can be a cause of health issues.

1. Water harvesting is the accumulation and deposition of rainwater for reuse on-site rather than allowing it to run off. People have in-depth knowledge of rainfall regions and soil types and have developed wide ranging techniques to harvest rainwater, groundwater, river water and flood water in keeping with the local ecological conditions and their water needs.
2. Different rainwater harvesting methods are not only economical but also ecofriendly. Hence, these methods are desirable to be followed in each and every state of India.

1. Tankas are large underground tanks used to store rain water in arid and semi arid areas of Rajasthan.
2. Underground rooms are also made near the Tankas to make the room cool to escape from hot season.

Narmada Bachao Andolan is a movement initiated by environmentalists, farmers, tribal people and human rights activists against the construction of Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river in Gujarat. It has become a controversial issue due to the problems in the form of displacement of local people, loss of livelihood, floods, deforestation, etc.

In Rajasthan, sadly the practice of rooftop rainwater harvesting is on a decline. It is due to the availability of plenty of water from Perennial Rajasthan canal. New generation considers stored water of rainwater unhygienic so they don’t prefer to drink that water. Tamil Nadu is the state which has made rooftop rainwater harvesting compulsory.
Tamil Nadu is the first and the only state in India which has made roof top rainwater harvesting structure compulsory to all the houses across the state. There are legal provisions to punish the defaulters.

Sardar Sarovar Dam is built on Narmada river. It is a large multipurpose project of India including four states i.e., Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The project was completed in 1979 as part of a development scheme to increase irrigation and produce hydroelectricity.

96.5 per cent of the total volume of world’s water is estimated to exist as oceans and only 2.5 per cent as freshwater. Nearly 70 per cent of this freshwater occurs as ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and the mountainous regions of the world, while a little less than 30 per cent is stored as groundwater in the world’s aquifers.

Dams were traditionally built to impound rivers and rainwater that could be used later to irrigate agricultural fields. Today, dams are built for irrigation, electricity generation, water supply for domestic and industrial uses, flood control, recreation, inland navigation and fish breeding.

The traditional rainwater harvesting technique used in the Thar desert region of Rajasthan is called Taanka. As a cylindrical paved underground pit, the rainwater from rooftops, courtyards or artificially prepared catchments flows into this.
This water is sufficient for the entire dry season and is save for a family of 5-6 members. It helps people fetching water from outskirts.
‘Rooftop rain water harvesting’ was commonly practised to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.

Hydraulic Structures in Ancient India

1. In the first century B.C., Sringaverapura near Allahabad had sophisticated water harvesting system channelling the flood water of the river Ganga.
2. During the time of Chandragupta Maurya, dams, lakes and irrigation systems were extensively built.
3. Evidences of sophisticated irrigation works have also been found in Kalinga, (Orissa), Nagarjunakonda (Andhra Pradesh), Bennur (Karnataka), Kolhapur (Maharashtra), etc.
4. In the 11th Century, Bhopal Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes of its time was built.
5. In the 14th Century, the tank in Hauz Khas, Delhi was constructed by Iltutmish for supplying water to Siri Fort area.

Narmada Bachao Andolan or Save Narmada Movement is a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that activated tribal people, farmers, environmentalists and human right activists to fight against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada river in Gujarat. This was initiated to save trees from getting em destroyed due to building of dam and to get full rehabilitation facilities from the government for the displaced people.

Dams are classified according to structure, intended purpose or height.

1. Based on structure and the materials used, dams are classified as timber dams, embankment dams or masonry dams, with several subtypes.
2. As per the height, dams can be classified as large dams and major dams or alternatively as low dams, medium height dams and high dams.

According to citizen’s Fifth report CSE 1999, the big rivers like the Ganga and Yamuna are far from being pure. India’s rivers, especially the smaller ones, have all turned into toxic streams. The assault on India’s rivers – from population growth, agricultural modernisation, urbanisation and industrialisation – is enormous and growing by the day.

There are areas where water is sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people but they face the problem of water shortage. Thus shortage or scarcity may be due to poor quality of water. There has been a growing concern that even if there is adequate water to meet the needs of the people, much of it may be polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides and fertilisers used in agriculture, thus, making it injurious for human use.

It was said so by Jawaharlal Nehru because multi-purpose projects (dams) accelerated the growth of agriculture, industrialisation and urban economy.Other advantages of constructing dams/ multi-purpose projects:

1. They eliminate or reduce flooding.
2. They provide water for agriculture.
3. They provide water for human and industrial consumption.
4. They help to prevent flooding.
5. They provide lake fisheries.
6. They provide electric power or cooling for nuclear power plants.
7. They improve transportation.

Jawaharlal Nehru proudly proclaimed the dams as the ‘temples of modern India’; the reason being that it would integrate development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialisation and growth of the urban economy.

Scarcity of water means shortage of water an imbalance between demand and supply.Causes or the factors responsible for water scarcity are as follows:

1. Growing population which is the main cause of water scarcity.
2. Urbanization and industrialization which have increased the consumption of water.
3. Wastage and injudicious use of water.
4. Over-exploitation and mismanagement of water resources.
5. Unequal access to water resources.