Theme-V-1-Water management issues for Punjab with special reference to water conservation and rainwater harvesting.

Abstract

Water is the most essential natural resource for life, next to air, and is the most important input for all development activities. Rapid increase in population has resulted in increasing water needs day by day for meeting the domestic, agricultural, industrial and power generation demands. With the growing requirements of water for diverse purposes, water is becoming a scarce natural resource. Increasing water pollution due to rapid urbanization, large scale industrialization and use of fertilizers and pesticides for increased agricultural production is causing water quality deterioration in both surface and groundwater and is affecting the net availability of fresh water for consumptive uses. Sectoral availability of water may decline significantly in future, if the limited water resources are not managed properly. Thus, it is necessary to develop, conserve, utilize and to economically manage this critically important resource on an integrated basis so as to meet the ever-growing demand of various users.