conclusion of Water conservation in West Bengal and Ladakh.
Answers
Answer:
Sustainable Water Resource Management in West
Bengal: A Review
Pijus Kanti Bhuin
Bhatter College, Dantan
Abstract
This paper aims to identify the water related issues in West Bengal in context of sustainable
development. West Bengal has already started realizing the water stress. Per capita fresh water
availability continues to be declined. The state suffers from water scarcity amid plenty due to
misuse and abuse of water resources. The current economic growth trends show a paradigm shift
in the consumption pattern of water – more energy centric than irrigation demands. The demand
supply situation also depicts a continuous deficit in future. In spite of standard rainfall during
monsoon season, West Bengal depends excessively on ground water during non-monsoon season
vowing a potential danger. Due to failure of tap erratic rainwater and degradation of natural
drainage systems, the state faces frequent flood resulting one of the top flood prone states of
India. The rivers and wetlands of Bengal are on the verge of death due to pollution, human
interventions, unplanned industrial development and corruption. Pockets of ground water are
contaminated by arsenic, fluoride and iron. The issues of water policies, international rivers and
climate changes have been addressed in the article. A region-specific action plan has been
presented for sustainable water resource management considering spatial and inter-temporal
problems. Lastly, the paper concludes on inadequacy of comprehensive national water policy,
approaches and importance of integrated water resource management to face the challenges of
water resources likely to be confronted by our future generations.
[Key words: Arsenic, Climate Change, Contamination, Groundwater Flood Management, Human
Interventions, Integrated Water Pollution, Participatory Irrigation Management, Resource
Management, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Water Resource Management,
Transboundary Rivers, Water Resources, Wetlands]
Introduction:
The state West Bengal is endowed with an excellent geophysical location - starting from
the great Himalayan Range in the north to the Bay of Bengal in south. The location has a
strategic significance in the eastern part of India since it places a corridor to North-East
and its boundary touches three international borders, namely, Nepal, Bhutan and largely
Bangladesh.
To meet the human needs, water is tapped at the point between precipitations on
to land and discharge into the ocean. Only 2.5% of the water of our planet is suitable for
drinking and irrigation, out of which 98.6 % water is tapped in glacier, snow, ground
water and soil moisture. India gets 0.7% of world water precipitation (4000 Km3
). In
India, rainfall is spatially and temporally skewed and uneven which sets serious
challenges for water resource management (Rudra, 2005). West Bengal is bestowed with
Bhatter College Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, (ISSN 2249-3301), Vol. IV, 2014. Ed. Pabitra Kumar Mishra.
Available online at: http://bcjms.bhattercollege.ac.in, published by Bhatter College, Dantan, Paschim
Medinipur, West Bengal, India