Ms. Swarnima KC
Institute of Forestry (IOF), Pokhara
Abstract
Water, a basis
of survival of all living organisms is also considered as the basic
pre-requisite of development. Being second richest country in water resources,
Nepal is gifted by Himalayan ranges in the north with ever flowing snow melted
rivers and fresh water springs with huge power of producing energy and fetch
out drinking water to the people.
Similarly, no any economic as well as
socioeconomic developments are possible without availability of water. Specially,
Nepal and her GDP (Gross Domestic Product) are dependent on agriculture and
about 62% of Nepalese are involved in agriculture for their livelihood which
requires abundant amount of water for irrigation.
But still most
of Nepalese are out of reach easy access to drinking water, most farmers depend
upon rain water for agriculture and water resources in urban are affected by
pollution too. And in such condition it
is difficult to review a well developed and prosperous nation which is under
scarce of drinking water and for irrigating land.
But, equal distribution of water, sustainable
utilization water and conservation of water source are the steps ahead which
can solve the problem of water scarce. And these steps must be initiated by
every family member, farmers and community based people and should be supported
by government and different organizations. If the government is able to well
distribute water and check water leakage. Water management can be done easily.
Hence, the essay
aims at introducing water, its importance, present condition of drinking and
agriculture demanded water. Essay also creates focus on how useful utilization
of water, along with its conservation can be done, what should government act upon
it to conservation and what can an individual do for protection from pollution
and wastage.
Key words: water
resources, water availability, sustainable water management, conservation of
water.
Introduction:
Water a miracle
of nature, wonderful creation in this world that posses divine power to make
all the living beings survive. It is a central basis of life for people,
animals and plants. It maintains living system of terrestrial as well as
aquatic organisms and conduct functions of ecosystem. Among all other human is most depended upon
the water resources, all the social, economic and developmental activities are
governed by water resources. Availability of good water is an important fuel to
develop human races.
In the chain of
human development water resources is the most utilized resources, the growing
population and increasing rate of use of this resources is being a problematic
one. In addition climate change and its effects on water resources have moved
into the spotlight of public interest. Climate change and its consequences
indicate change in temperature, precipitation and evaporation in the water
bodies. Heavy rainfall causing floods and landslides are result of such effects
and these effects are largely affecting the agriculture, which is the most
abundantly using sector of water resources.
NEPAL is a completely landlocked
country situated in Southern Asia with the mean annual precipitation of 1500.
As most other countries in Asia, the agricultural sector plays a very important
role in both economic and social terms and, therefore, water plays a crucial
role in everyday life.
It is a developing country whose GDP depends upon agriculture and its products.
About 62% people are farmers either in large or small scale. But the fact is
that agriculture requires 100% water resources from sowing to harvest phase of
crops and plants. But the condition is very pitiful there is no facility of
irrigation which is a must for agriculture i.e. there is no effective use of
water resources, though Nepal is the second richest country throughout the
world with numerous rivers, riverines, lakes, ponds, fresh water springs and
many more. And most of the farmers depend upon rain fed farming system which is
now greatly affected by climate change phenomenon.
Most important factor of
development is drinking water, which is out of reach for most of the people in
our country. Utilization of water resources and flood protection are
increasingly coming up against the limits of nature and technology and economic
constraints. Water scarcity along with rising water use pressure will lead to more
use conflicts in the future. According to a survey, 46% or rural people do not
have access to water sources near their house and 7% in urban do not have
pipeline connection, but among them most of pipelines get regular flow of
water. Lack of institutional capacity, market and awareness among water users, unequal
distribution of drinking water, over utilization, leakage and geographical
condition are the major constraints for water management in Nepal. Therefore,
it is a very difficult task to review a well developed and prosperous Nepal
where people are under scarce of drinking and irrigating water.
Now the ultimate
way to make water available to the people is sustainable management of water
resources prevalent in Nepal. Sustainable water use and sustainable management
are only the alternative to uplift the development of nation through
agriculture.
Sustainable
management is the process of assurance of pure water availability for daily
purpose and irrigation water management for agricultural purpose, along with
conservation of water sources for future generations. Sustainable utilization
of water is the best idea which includes various plans and procedures.
To assure
sustainable water use, it has become unavoidable to start out not only from the
demands but also from the potential of the water resources. The task of
integrated water resources management is to achieve optimal use of water
resources while protecting the lasting ecological resources. Sustainable water
management procedure must consider two interlinked systems:
1.
The
natural systems (river, rivulets, fresh water springs, lakes etc) and
2.
Socio-economic
system that uses water resources and have impacts on them.
Sustainable
water management must be started from community based level so that each and
every member of nation gets aware about careful utilization of water and its
importance. The foremost step in conservation of water is proper utilization of
it. Each family member should be aware to turn off the tap after use, and
wastage of water should be checked.
Sanitation is an integral
element therefore every house should have a toilet to reduce pollution of water
resources. As water resource conservation is threatened by wide spread water
control structures, intensive use of water power, the increase in water
temperatures, and pollution through chemicals. Disposal of industrial and medicinal wastes on
water sources systems have become increasingly vulnerable and should be
controlled completely.
Government should focus on drinking water test
(arsenic test).
Over flow and
leakage of water should be controlled and water theft should be punished.
Also climate
change has consequences for the regional water balance, water stores in lakes
and glaciers, groundwater, and water flows in the ecosystems. The changes in
the dynamics of climate and the global water balance are leading increasingly
from local to regional level, adoptions and mitigation to climate change should
be adapted locally or regionally
Talking about agricultural basis water
use, sustainable use of water in irrigation sector should be focused. Timing of
agricultural operations should be managed according to rainfall pattern as for e.g.
In Nepal in mid and far western regions rainfall occurs after the onset of
monsoon, therefore sowing of paddy should be done during the specific time.
Well managed collection of water should be done for irrigation. Rain water
harvest technology should be adapted where there is no enough rain and
agriculture is depended on rain water. E.g. Tomato cultivation in Palpa
District through rain water harvests technique. Under ground water pump
techniques in Terai belts of Nepal etc.
Sustainable
water management process is easily accessible technique which helps Nepalese
people and farmers to utilize maximum amount of water and conserve it as well.
It must be able to focus on improved access to water and sanitation through
community managed water resource for the poor and excluded. Also should
strengthen the capacity of local service providers, local organizations and
local bodies to demand driven service delivery system.
Hence water
uses, flood protection, and prevention of water pollution leads to numerous, in
part conflicting demands on the management of our
water resources, which is also the principle of sustainable water management
and utilization. We can say that these strategies
for resolving complex conflicts of water management are the applicable one for
better use of water for both daily purpose and agricultural purpose.
Conclusion:
Hence, we can
conclude that water is a property of nature that should be preserved as well as
utilized for present as well as future betterment. It becomes a duty of a citizen to conserve
the available water and explore the water sources instead of facing
difficulties during harvest.
Protecting water
source from pollution, utilization of ground water for variety of purpose
without polluting it and harvesting rain water for agriculture are the best
methods for sustainable utilization of water and its conservation.
References:
National Planning Secretariat, Government of Nepal
“Drinking water survey”
Cbs.gov.np/?p=807
Farming matters
2012
ecs.com.np/feature_detail.php?f_id=312
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Nepal
