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The water from rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, and reservoirs is critical to our daily lives. The most common surface water applications are drinking water and other public use, irrigation, and the thermoelectric power generating industry.
The Surface water resources in India are divided into three categories. Lakes, rivers, and wetlands are examples of permanent surface water resources present all year. Human-made surface water is water that can be maintained by human-built infrastructure. Dams may store surface water and use it to generate renewable energy in the form of hydropower. Hydropower is the process of pushing surface water from rivers and streams to generate electricity.
Surface Water Resources
Watershed organizations Trust (WOTR) in India monitor the streamflow and surface water quality regularly. They currently work in more than 3,939 villages from across 7 states of India. Flooding and drought conditions are predicted by monitoring streamflow.
Mainly, the water utilization in India is provided by the surface water resources. Hence, the water quality is critical. There are various biological, chemical, and physical tests that determine the quality of the water. Electrical conductivity, pH, temperature, phosphorus levels, dissolved oxygen levels, nitrogen levels, and bacteria levels are examined as indicators of water quality standards.
Turbidity
Turbidity is a water quality indicator that measures the amount of suspended material in a stream. The worse the water quality, the more turbid the water.
Concerns About Color/Odour
Water takes on a brownish yellow color due to rotting leaves or algae. Natural dissolved organics or gases can give a bad taste and smell. Iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and chloride are some of the chemical contaminants linked to India’s aesthetic quality of water resources. Water tainted with dissolved metals has a harsh taste and can stain clothing and plumbing fittings. Chlorides in excess provide an unpleasant salty taste in the water.
Hardness
Hardness is another criterion for water quality standards. This word refers to dissolved minerals (mostly calcium and magnesium). Minerals induce scale build-up in hot water pipes and obstruct soap lather. Humans are unaffected by hard water.
Protection of Surface Water Sources
Even while most communal drinking water (particularly from surface water sources) is treated before entering the home, the cost of this treatment and the hazards to public health can be lowered by preventing contamination of source water. We all live in a watershed, defined as an area that drains into a shared waterway such as a stream, lake, wetlands, or the ocean. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and many other agencies engage with communities to maintain surface water resources.
Applications of Surface Water Resources
The most common surface water applications are drinking water and other public use, irrigation, and by the thermoelectric power generating industry.
Surface-water resources provided most of the water needed for thermoelectric generation, public supply, agriculture, mining, and industry.
Surface-water resources provide nearly all of the water consumed in the United States. The remaining 30% was made up of water derived from underground sources.
In 2021, surface-water resources provided around 71% of the freshwater utilized in the United States.
Groundwater accounted for the remaining 29%. Surface water is a valuable natural resource used for various purposes, including irrigation and public drinking water (supplying people with drinking water and everyday use).
Conclusion
Due to considerable population shift and growing demand, groundwater supplies, which are unevenly dispersed in space and time, are under stress. Access to reliable data on water availability, quality, quantity, and variability is essential for effective water resource management. To develop and safeguard our man-made surface water resources in India efficiently and sustainably, all components of the hydrological cycle and human activities’ influence must be understood and quantified.
Surface water availability is becoming increasingly uncertain, and water pollution and diversions are increasing, posing a threat to social and economic growth and ecosystem health. Drinking water is derived from groundwater resources. Sustainable management of non-renewable groundwater should receive more emphasis.
