Severe spatial and temporal variations in rainfall has prompted that the creation of storages be given due priority with the overall plan for water resources development. The successive Five year plans initiated after Independence have laid significant emphasis on creation of storages that resulted in creation of many major, medium and minor water resources projects. Even after such relentless persuasion to create more storage, till date, the present level of development in terms of creation of live storages is only just more than 12% of the average annual water resources potential of the country. The level of creation of storages in India is decisively lower compared to some other nations in the world. Therefore, there is an urgent need to vigorously pursue the case for creating storages, wherever feasible, given its projected rise in population, urbanization and industrialization.
Realizing the importance of quick completion of ongoing projects for creation of more storage, the Government has already launched the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) during 1996-97 to provide Central Loan Assistance (CLA) for accelerating implementation of ongoing irrigation/multi-purpose projects on which substantial progress has been made and which are beyond the resources capability of the States. Apart from creation of storage projects, repair, renovation and restoration of old water bodies. Some of the management practices that needs to be taken up for bridging the gap between areas in the country in the integrated manner.
Highly intensive development has resulted irrigation potential created and in over exploitation leading to decline in the levels of ground. Promotion of ground water development in areas having untapped/unutilized potential and comprehensive act for regulation of ground water development is on sustainable basis. Improvement in water use efficiency is increasingly perceived to be a very important strategy for mitigating the gap between creation and utilization. This is even more relevant in case of irrigation sector since a small improvement in the efficiency can lead to considerable saving of water that can be utilized for catering to the demand from other improvements like the following:
1. Rationalization of water rates.
2. Benchmarking of irrigation systems.
3. Conjunctive use of surface and ground water.
4. On farm management by reducing application losses, precision land leveling and irrigation scheduling /deficit irrigation.
With population growth, rise in urbanization and non-uniform water availability, the domestic water supply particularly in the large urban centers, of late, has been an issue of immense concern. Under such circumstances the adoption of water conservation measures, augmentation of water supply through creation of storages and demand management has' assumed significant importance. To improve the efficiencies in domestic sector various measures such as water audits, mass awareness programmes, water pricing, proper maintenance and improvement in supply, control on leakages, prevention of un-accounted use of water, etc. has to be adopted.
Some of the action points towards water conservation for improving efficiency in industrial sector could be setting up of norms for water budgeting, modernization of industrial process to reduce water requirement, recycling water for cooling purposes, rational pricing of industrial water to compel adoption of water saving technologies, proper treatment of effluents and use of treated water by industrial units.
Another major consumer of water is the energy sector. The water requirement in the power sector is mainly met from the surface water resources. Recycling of water in pump storage plants would conserve water and should be encouraged, wherever feasible, for generation of peaking power. The other miscellaneous water requirements are for recreation, navigation etc., most of which are non-consumptive.