Water is the most precious gift of nature. By the turn of the century, water will be a critical resource to mankind and therefore should be husbanded in a most scientific and efficient manner. In India, the availability of water is highly uneven, both in space and time. The prime source of water is precipitation which is confined to only about 3-4 months in the year and varies from 10 cm in the western parts of Rajasthan to over 1170 cm to Cherapunji in Meghalaya. As a result, the country is afflicted by drought-flood-drought syndrome. Nearly a third of the country is drought prone while an eighth of the country is flood prone. The total surface water available to our country is nearly 1776 BCM of which only 271 BCM are being now used. So far, India has built over 600 storage dams with an aggregate capacity of 160 BCM which is hardly a seventh of the water available in our country; whereas USA has almost the same quantum of total water as India, but dams built in the USA hold five times, as much water as we do. The drought prone areas in the country have hardly water available for even drinking purposes during summer months.
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