question_answer

Water is available in abundance in India even then scarcity of water is experienced in major parts of the country. Explain with four examples.                                                                                              [Delhi 2008]

Answer:

Water scarcity is experienced in major cities of India due to large population, increased consumption and unequaal access to water resources.

(i) 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 water table.

(ii) 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.

(iii) Large scale urbanisation and modern lifestyle of the people in cities has created more demand for water and energy resulting in water scarcity.

(iv) The bad quality of water has resulted in water scarcity due to pollution of water bodies by discharging urban waste, industrial effluents, pesticides and fertilisers from agricultural leads rating it unfit for human consumption.