38.-Water harvesting, pollution and management in urban areas

Abstract

Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, urban population of the country is increasing year after year posing a challenge to the planners, engineers and administrators to cope up with the problems providing the basic amenities such as availability of safe drinking water, sanitation, drainage, solid waste management etc. In order to achieve the said targets, suitable strategy and policy framework has to be evolved giving due consideration to the important aspects such as the development of water resources, adoption of appropriate technology for water harvesting and conservation, and effective operation and maintenance. Also, to plan for a better future and to stimulate visions for a better future, conventional approaches to urban water management must be challenged. In the present study an attempt has been made to look into the surface and ground water resources scenario in India with special reference to urban development. The effects of urbanization and Industrialization have been demonstrated with some case studies. The potentialities for systematic planning of urban water harvesting, its conservation and management practices with safe water supply (quantity and quality wise) have been discussed.