Government of India
has declared the year – 2003 as the Freshwater Year with a view
to focus on creating mass awareness about the importance of
freshwater. The Fresh Water year will be launched by the Prime
Minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee at a function here
tomorrow. With this the programmes to create awareness about
freshwater will begin. The Government’s decision to declare
the current year as Year of Freshwater is in tune with the UN
Resolution adopted during the 55th Session of General
Assembly marking the year 2003 as the "International Year of
Freshwater".
Despite the importance
of fresh water in our lives and lives, people take the resource
as infinite and granted and, therefore, the overuse or misuse.
Although about three-fourth of earth is water, the estimated
volume of Freshwater in rivers, ground water snow and ice, is
about 2.5% only, the rest being see/salt water. Most of the
fresh water are either available in form of ice and permanent
snow covered in Antarctic/Arctic region (about 69%) or is stored
underground in the form of deep underground basins/aquifers,
soil moisture etc. Total usable fresh water supply to ecosystem
and humans from river system, lakes, wetlands, soil moisture
and shallow groundwater is less than 1% of all freshwater and
only 0.01% of all the WATER ON EARTH. This indicates that freshwater
on Earth is finite and also unevenly distributed.
In India, the per
capita average annual freshwater availability has reduced from
5177 cubic meters in 1951 to about 1820 cubic meters in 2001
and is estimated to further come down to 1341 cubic meters in
2025 and 1140 cubic meters in 2050. The per capita availability
of freshwater is fast declining all over the world and if the
present consumption pattern continues, two out of every three
persons on earth will live in water stressed conditions-moderate
or severe water shortage - by the year 2025.
The objective of
adopting 2003 as the Year of Freshwater is to increase awareness
among stakeholders regarding scarcity value of freshwater, conservation
and efficient use of freshwater, preservation - quality and
its ecosystem, augmentation of resources, and community partnership
for informed decision making. The year 2003, therefore, provides
opportunity wherein everybody can rededicate and focus attention
on protecting and preserving water resources as an individual
community, as a nation and a global family. The Freshwater Year
will give the initial impetus to the Capacity Building programme,
which has to be taken up on a continuous basis.
