(a) whether 80 percent of the rain water flows down in the sea through the rivers without making any proper use of it;
(b) if not, the projection of the Government in this
regard;
(c) the long term plan prepared by the Government to make proper use of this water; and
(d) the details of works carried out under the programme during the last two years?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR HEAVY INDUSTRIES, PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND WATER RESOURCES (SHRI SONTOSH MOHAN DEV)
(a) to (d) The average annual precipitation is estimated
as 4000 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM) in the country. After
accounting for the natural process of evaporation and
transpiration through vegetation etc., the average annual
water availability in the country is assessed as 1869 BCM.
Owing to topographic, hydrological and other constraints, the
utilizable water is assessed as 1122 BCM. 629 BCM of water is
being utilized for diverse purposes. Rest of the water could
be considered to be flowing down to sea.
State Governments conceive, plan and implement
major, medium & minor schemes for utilisation of water
resources. Storage capacity of about 213 Billion Cubic Metre
(BCM) has been created so far. As per present assessment, the
total estimated storage capacity of the various projects under
construction is about 76 BCM and that for the projects under
formulation is about 108 BCM.
It has been estimated that irrigation potential of
3.34 million hectares has been created during 2003-04 and 2004-
05.