Abstract:
Unlike other natural resources, water is a unique resource, which renews itself. It is due to its constant circulation in the ocean-atmosphere-earth-ocean system. No matter how much water is consumed in daily life, its amount seldom dwindles. With time and under certain conditions water regains its properties and becomes fit for reuse. This is probably the reason why water resources appear to be unlimited for a long time. The key consumer of fresh water is agriculture rather than industry. Irrigation of fields, orchards and estates claim almost 80% of the water consumed the world over. Unfortunately, 97.5% of all water resources on earth are salty. Consequently, fresh water including the one in glaciers accounts for only 2.5%. Even here the most accessible one is as little as 0.3% moreover the natural distribution is extremely uneven. This unevenness is aggravated by the still greater unevenness of the geographical distribution of human settlements. In this scenario the importance of National Water Policy is thus amply emphasized and well recognized by the rulers and emphasize the need for the of water resource master plans to be adopted by the countries become an issue of discussion. This article recommends the strategy to be adopted in water resource planning in the case of water has to be done for a hydrological unit such as a catchment area/river basin as a whole basin, or for a sub-basin. It further recommends that special multi-disciplinary coordination forum should be set up in regions to prepare comprehensive plans taking into account the needs of not only irrigation, but also the various other water uses so that the available water can be put to optimum use.
