Question

The total renewable water resources of India are estimated at ______________.
a. 1,789 km2 per month
b. 1,978 km2 per month
c. 1,897 km2 per month
d. None of these

Answer 1

Hint: There are four main surface water sources. Rivers, reservoirs, rivers, and tanks are these. There are about 10,360 rivers and their tributaries in the country, each longer than 1.6 km. The mean annual flow is calculated to be 1,869 cubic km in all the river basins in India.

Complete answer:
- India has just about 4% of the world's sustainable water supply, but nearly 18% of the world's population lives here. It receives an annual average rainfall of 4,000 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is the country's primary source of freshwater.
- The total quantity of a country's water supplies (internal and external resources), both surface water and groundwater produced through the hydrological cycle, are natural renewable water resources. This report also takes real renewable water resources into account.
- Water sources that are continuously replenished are sustainable water supplies. Fresh water, which accounts for 3 percent of the earth's surface water, is sustainable. The sources of renewable water are atmospheric precipitation in the form of mist, rain and snow.
- Example of water resources - Water supplies are a source of water, typically fresh, that are useful or potentially useful to society, such as for agricultural, industrial or recreational use. Groundwater, rivers, lakes and reservoirs are examples.
- Water is a natural resource because it evaporates into clouds from the oceans, producing rain that falls on the earth. The water then flows through rivers and lakes where it is used and until it makes its path to the sea, where the cycle starts again the waste is partially washed.
- It is estimated that India's total renewable water supplies are 1,897 sq km per annum. By 2025, it is expected that countries or regions with absolute water scarcity will enter large parts of India.

Hence, the correct answer is option C.

Note:
- Renewable water supplies include both surface water and groundwater resources that are renewed on an annual basis without taking into account the resource's harvesting and utilisation ability.
- Nepal is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of water resources, accounting for more than 2.27 percent of the world's water resources (HEMS, 2015).