sharpeye

Dr Arvind Kumar* *President, India Water Foundation, New Delhi. World oceans encompass about three fourth of earth’s surface. According to the UN estimates, the total amount of water on earth is about 1400 million cubic kilometre which is sufficient to cover the earth with a layer of 3000 metres depth. However the fresh water constitutes a very small proportion of this enormous quantity. About 2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which about 75.2 per cent lies frozen in Polar Regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water. The rest is available in lakes, rivers, atmosphere, moisture, soil and vegetation. What is effectively available for consumption and other uses is a small proportion of the quantity available in rivers, lakes and ground water. The crisis about water resources development and management thus arises because most of the water is not available for use and secondly it is characterized by its highly uneven spatial distribut