Sustainable Development of Water Resources in India

Abstract

Irrigation is the basic input for the development of agriculture from subsistence to the commercial one. The progress made by the country in respect of creation of irrigation potential and its utilisation is very dismal. The actual utilisation of the available potential is less than 80 per cent, leaving a huge gap between creation and utilisation of the irrigation potential. The main causes of under utilisation of irrigation potential include incomplete land development works, non-maintenance of distribution system, heavy transit and seepage losses, water logging and salinity, unrealistic cropping pattern, and inadequate supply of credit and other farm inputs. There are various measures suggested for conjunctive and judicial use of irrigation water such as lining of canal and distribution system, reduction in transit and seepage losses, use of micro irrigation methods, implementation of rotational water supply system, and harvesting of rain water.