Water Resources

This chapter examines water as a renewable but increasingly scarce resource. It explains why water scarcity occurs even in regions of plentiful rainfall — through over-exploitation, a growing population, the demands of irrigated agriculture, industrialisation and urbanisation, and the unequal access to and poor quality of water. It then studies multi-purpose river projects and dams — their objectives, benefits and uses, and the serious social and ecological problems and opposition they have generated (displacement, sedimentation, floods, and movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan). Finally, it explores rainwater harvesting, both India's rich traditional methods (guls and kuls, khadins, johads, tankas and rooftop harvesting) and modern practices (Tamil Nadu's compulsory rooftop harvesting, Gendathur and the bamboo drip irrigation of Meghalaya). It is a conceptual and highly scoring chapter of the Class 10 Geography (Contemporary India II) Board syllabus.