Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
snow and glacial ice melt. Contemporary sources range from harvested rainwater
that is stored in artificial storages like tanks or ponds, harvesting atmospheric
dew or even from the sea by desalination.
Water is used in a variety of ways, some of which entail man-made
(anthropogenic) substance discharges. They influence the chemical quality of
water bodies and may thereby not only harm the aquatic life forms but also impair
human usage such as for drinking water.
Contemporary India faces a pressing developmental challenge, namely providing
safe, affordable and efficient drinking water and sanitation services to an urban
population, the size of which is largely underestimated even by the official records
of the census of India. Inadequate water supply and sanitation services impose a
disproportionate public health burden on the poor. It also results in unregulated
and unsustainable groundwater pumping. The urban water and sanitation services
sector needs systemic responses to address these interconnected problems.
India, home to 16 percent of the world’s population, has only 2.5 percent of the
worlds land area and 4 percent of the world’s water resources at its disposal.
Precipitation in the form of rain and snowfall provide over 4,000 trillion litres
of fresh water to India. Most of this freshwater returns to the seas and ocean via
the many large rivers flowing across the subcontinent. A portion of this water
is absorbed by the soil and is stored in underground aquifers. A much smaller
percentage is stored in inland water bodies both natural (lakes and ponds) and
man-made (tanks and reservoirs).
Honouring the fundamental tight to provide basic essential services such as clean
water and sanitation has been an unresolved concern across most of the rural
and urban landscape in India. Recent studies (Narain, 2012); (RobecoSAM, 2015)
confirm that this is due to rapid urbanisation coupled with improper management
of the water resources and pollution. Here is a brief snapshot of the water and
sanitation in the global scenario:
(i) Accessible and high-quality freshwater is a limited and highly variable
resource. Projections show that 40% of the world’s population currently
lives in water-stressed river basins, and that water demand will rise by
Annexures
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