Online published on 19 September, 2014.
Rivers in India have their own ecosystems, river streams in hills have aquatic life, which is increasingly being threatened by human needs and search for new resources for growth. Along its lengthy course, several tributaries join them with sediment, waters carrying varying physical gradients. The deltaic regions of each of our rivers are rich with its own characteristic biodiversity, environment and ecosystem. Indian rivers are mostly rainfed. Deltaic conservation of rivers in Kerela, Krishna, Sunderbans of river Ganga have been attracting notice in the recent years. There is increasing urgency to harness off-shore resources along our coasts. On land, wetlands and evaporation ponds are being planned. Economists evaluate new investment options in water environmental segments, by a set of criteria; like Pay back period, contingent evaluation, hedonic price methods. WSP are said to cause odours, if overloaded, need high land requirement, and costs and poor effluent quality. Constructed wetlands have to be preceeded, by septic tank or anaerobic tank to digest organic waste loads, population pressures demand of us new innovative solutions.
Energy Minerals of significance to us include coal, petroleum gas, coal-bed methane, oil shale and uranium. Renewable sources for energy generation are hydro, wind, wave/tidal, ocean thermal, solar thermal, photovoltaics, geothermal and Biomass. Of these, hydros and wind resources are already being exploited for grid-linked electricity supplies. Rest are still at different stages of development for meeting stand alone individual, community needs and are under commercial applications/expansion, before being allowed for an open access to electricity grids. All the above sources can be used for conversion/transformation to electricity, heat, transport fuels, smokeless solid fuels, coke for steel making, chemicals, and carbon products. Energy storage options enable us to use the energy in manufacturing, transport, agriculture, mining construction, commercial services and residential use. Environment impacts are evident at all stages of development like exploration, mining, processing, collection and storage. Waters are needed in most of these applications. Water requirements for energy needs therefore assume a high priority.
In water related applications, waste waters are generated, which are released through drainages to rivers or recharged into ground, damaging the very life giving sources, which sustain our life. Water flows in rivers are to be maintained for ecology, for navigation and other uses. It is therefore become unavoidable for us to use our flood flows.
