PIB – May 2 , 2019


ENVIRONMENT

Ground Water Level

Context

  • Water storage level of 91 major reservoirs of the country goes down by one percent

What is Groundwater?

  • Groundwater is a valuable resource throughout the world.
  • Where surface water, such as lakes and rivers, are scarce or inaccessible, groundwater supplies many of the hydrologic needs of people everywhere.
  • It is the source of drinking water for about half the total population and nearly all of the rural population.
  • It provides a large amount of water for agricultural needs.

How it is stored underground?

  • The surface water is heated by the Sun and goes into the atmosphere as evaporation.
  • Water vapor then creates precipitation, water that falls from the sky as rain and snow.
  • Once water falls from sky and onto the ground, it is absorbed into the Earth and is then stored as groundwater in aquifers.

What are the Aquifers?

  • Water flows freely through the saturated rocks known as aquifers. There are large and small aquifers, and they are the underground water reserves that absorb water and hold it, enabling us use.

What is Groundwater Depletion?

  • Groundwater depletion is long-term water-level declines caused by sustained overexploitation of groundwater.

Causes of Groundwater Depletion

  1. Frequent pumping of water from the ground.
  2. Continuous pumping of groundwater from aquifers does not have enough time to replenish itself.
  3. Agricultural needs require a large amount of groundwater. A large amount of groundwater goes to farming, but the availability of groundwater is steadily declining.
  4. Groundwater depletion can also occur naturally. It comes from changes in our climate and can speed up the process.

Effects of Groundwater Depletion

  1. Groundwater depletion forces to pump water from deeper within the Earth. It compels to use even more resources to develop alternative methods to reach further into the ground.
  2. Large bodies of water become shallower from groundwater depletion.
  3. A groundwater shortage keeps additional water from flowing into lakes, rivers and seas. This means that over time, less water will enter as the existing surface water continues to evaporate.
  4. As the water becomes less deep, it will affect everything in that particular region, including fish and wildlife.
  5. Saltwater contamination can occur.
  6. As large aquifers are depleted, food supply and people will suffer.
  7. A lack of groundwater limits biodiversity and dangerous sinkholes result from depleted aquifers.

Groundwater Storage in India

  • The occurrence and distribution of ground water in the country varies significantly depending on geology, rainfall and geomorphology.
  • In regions like North West India ground water resources are depleting whereas the eastern parts of the country have plenty of ground water resources which remained unexploited.
  • The distribution of rainfall also varies widely both in time and space.
  • Most of rainfall (about 76%) occurs during the Monsoon months resulting into eight comparatively dry months.
  • Diverse rainfall in country is a major factor for diverse groundwater storage along with regional topography and geomorphology.

Solutions to Groundwater Depletion

  1. As individuals, need to use less water for luxury purposes.
  2. Less and prudent use of water for major attractions, such as amusement parks.
  3. Need to reduce use of chemicals and dispose of them in water sources properly.
  4. More comprehensive research and additional funding can help with groundwater depletion.
  5. Find alternative sources of water. Alternative water sources can be used to help replenish aquifers.
  6. The pumping of groundwater should be regulated.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Waste to Wealth

Context

  • Government of India and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have approved Waste to wealth mission project to bring the best of science and technology to implement waste management in India to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Waste challenges in the world

  • Most developing countries have solid waste management problems different from those found in industrialized countries in areas of composition, density, political, and economic framework, waste amount, access to waste for collection, awareness and attitude.
  • The quantity of solid waste generated in urban areas in industrialized countries is higher than in developing countries; still municipal solid waste management remains inadequate in the latter.
  • The slogan “Waste to Wealth” connotes that waste management operations must transcend delivery of service to provision of goods or value like energy.
  • Solid waste management has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing state and local government environmental protection agencies.

What is Waste to Wealth technology?

  • The concept of Waste-to-Wealth literally means moving waste from a platform of exhausted utility to valuable and desirable level.
  • Its transformation in engineering requires some form of energy, and in economics requires factor of production.
  • The “Waste to wealth” solutions concentrate on the development of technologies for rural, urban and industrial applications for the SME sector. Two major approaches followed are:
  1. Facilitating cleaner production solutions enabling profitable businesses
  2. Customization of technology based solutions to convert waste to wealth thereby creating livelihoods.

Benefits

  • To identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials, and extract resources of value.
  • The aim of this work is to examine the operation of waste markets in the State, identify the challenges facing its operation, and create awareness on the need to explore opportunities inherent in waste market for environmental and economic benefits.
  • Facilitating cleaner production solutions enabling profitable businesses, Customization of technology based solutions to convert waste to wealth thereby creating livelihoods.

Objective of Waste to Wealth mission project

  • The Idea is to consolidate all possible Waste to Wealth Technologies, learn from the best practices followed worldwide, and implement them on the ground for Indian cities.
  • The mission will assist and augment the Swachh Bharat and Smart Cities projects by leveraging science, technology and innovation to create circular economic models that are financially viable for waste management.
  • The long-term goal is to create circular economic models for waste management, by leveraging big data analytics and frontier technologies to streamline waste in India.
  • The mission will also work to identify and support the development of new technologies that promise to create a clean and green environment.

Outcomes of Waste to wealth mission project

  • The overall outcomes would involve treating waste and generating different forms of energy, thereby making India a waste free nation, with zero greenhouse gas emission and no health hazard.
  • The partnership between Government of India and IIT Delhi will provide an effective platform for stakeholders to bring together integrated approaches for effective recycle, reuse and resource recovery of waste.
  • Under the initiative, a waste to wealth programme management centre will also be set up at IIT Delhi.

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