Water resources of India | Rivers and Groundwater - Lakes and Reservoirs - Water Management Policies - Key aspects of water resources in India
Water resources of India: India has a total annual utilizable water resource of bcm (690 bcm surface water + 433bcm ground water). Irrigation is the largest user of India’s water reserve, accounting for 78% of the total water reserve, followed by the domestic sector (6%) and industrial sector (5%). India has around 10,360 rivers and their tributaries with a length of more than 1.6 kilometers. The total yearly flow in India’s river basins is estimated to be 1,869 cubic kilometers. India accounts for 18% of the world’s population and about 4% of the world’s water resources. India’s primary source of freshwater is precipitation, which is estimated to be around 4,000 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually. Surface water, subsurface river flow, groundwater, and frozen water are all-natural sources of freshwater. Despite having an extensive river system, safe clean drinking water as well as irrigation water supplies for sustainable agriculture are in shortage across India, in part because i...