Serious water crisis looms, says expert

Nagpur: Of the entire water on Earth, only 3% is fresh and fit for consumption. Of this, 68.7% is in the form of glaciers, 30% is groundwater and only a mere 0.3% is surface water in the form of lakes and rivers which is readily available, said Sandeep Shirkhedkar, an alumnus of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology and consultant to the state government, on Saturday.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Rainwater harvesting: Urban and rural water conservation systems’, organized by The Eco Club of Chitnavis Centre, he said everyone should act with a sense of responsibility and use water judiciously, .
He said, “According to a NASA satellite report, groundwater resources of northern India are depleted. This is a serious crisis. According to WHO, by the year 2040, one in every four children will go thirsty. Today, we have reached a situation where we are extracting 300-year-old water from the confined aquifer of groundwater table. Do we have a right to do that,” he asked.
Talking about Nagpur, he said, “A sample study of the city’s rainfall has revealed that it is the same since the last 20 years (1000mm). The amount of rain falling is the same, however the intensity is increasing.” According to him, at this rate, Nagpur’s entire monsoon water will fall in just 10 days.”
Shirkhedkar pointed out that the next war in the world will probably be for water. “There are so many water disputes between countries, states, villages and even families. There needs to be optimization of water usage.”
He inferred that solution to the water crisis lies in construction of big reservoirs. “Apart from big reservoirs, river linking, construction of small reservoirs, river diversion, watershed management, water use optimization, community and individual initiative will go a long way.”
Shirkhedkar has designed a wide variety of large and small conservation projects. He spoke about rainwater harvesting, watershed management, structures for conservation, treatment of water, do’s and don’ts, people’s participation and various case studies.