Water Resources Class 10 – Complete Notes, NCERT Solutions & CBSE 2025 Guide

Water Resources Class 10 Notes

Subject	Social Science (Geography)
Class	10
Board	CBSE
Chapter No.	3
Chapter Name	Water Resources
Type	Notes
Session	2025-26
Weightage	04 marks

Water is a renewable resource
Water Scarcity and the Need for Water Conservation and Management:
Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal)
Multi-purpose River Projects and Integrated Water Resources Management:
Narmada Bachao Andolan or Save Narmada Movement
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaee Yojana (PMKSY)
Rainwater Harvesting

Water is a renewable resource

Freshwater is mainly obtained from surface runoff and groundwater that is continually being renewed and rechanged through the hydrological cycle. All water moves within the hydrological cycle ensuring that water is a renewable resource.

The availability of water resources varies over space and time, mainly due to the variations in seasonal and annual precipitation.

Water Scarcity and the Need for Water Conservation and Management:

Water Scarcity is the lack of freshwater resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region.

Main causes of water scarcity:

Water scarcity in most cases is caused by over-exploitation, excessive use, and unequal access to water among different social groups.
Water scarcity may be an outcome of a large and growing population and consequent greater demands for water and unequal access to it.
To facilitate higher food-grain production, water resources are being over-exploited to expand irrigated areas for dry-season agriculture.
Intensive industrialization and urbanization exerted pressure on existing freshwater resources.
Even if water is sufficiently available to meet the needs of the people, much of it is maybe polluted by domestic and industrial wastes, chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers used in agriculture, thus causing water scarcity.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)

The Goal of JJM is to enable every rural household to get an assured supply of potable piped water at a service level of 55 liters per capita per day regularly on a long-term basis by ensuring the functionality of the tap water connections.

Need for Water Conservation

Sustainable Resource Management: Conserving water ensures its availability for future generations and sustains ecosystems.
Mitigating Water Scarcity: Many regions face water scarcity, and conservation helps balance supply and demand.
Preserving Aquatic Ecosystems: Conserved water supports healthy habitats for aquatic plants and animals.
Reducing Energy Consumption: Water treatment and distribution consume energy, and conserving water lowers energy demands.
Agricultural Efficiency: Efficient irrigation practices save water and optimize agricultural productivity.
Economic Benefits: Water conservation lowers costs for individuals, businesses, and governments.
Addressing Climate Change: Reduced water wastage contributes to climate change mitigation.
Minimizing Water Pollution: Conservation reduces the need for pollutant removal from water sources.

Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal)

Implementation:

Covers 8,220 water-stressed Gram Panchayats.
Implemented in seven states: Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Coverage:

The selected states represent 37% of India's total water-stressed blocks (over-exploited, critical, and semi-critical).

Key Focus:

Aims to shift community behavior from water consumption to conservation.
Promotes smart water management practices.

Multi-purpose River Projects and Integrated Water Resources Management:

A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs, or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake, or impoundment. “Dam” refers to the reservoir rather than the structure.

Jawaharlal Nehru proclaimed the dams as the ‘Temples of modern India’ because

They integrate the development of agriculture and the village economy with rapid industrialization and growth of the urban economy.
They provide water for irrigation.
They provide water for electricity generation
Provide water supply for domestic and industrial uses.
Helps in flood control.
Provide recreation
Helps in inland navigation.
Useful for fish breeding.

Hence, dams are now referred to as multi-purpose projects where the many uses of the impounded water are integrated with one another.

In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny and opposition for a variety of reasons

Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the rivers’ aquatic life.
Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.
The dams have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir and the release of excess water during heavy rains.
Multipurpose projects induced earthquakes, caused water-borne diseases, and pests, and lead to pollution resulting from excessive use of water.
Irrigation has changed the cropping pattern of many regions with farmers shifting to water-intensive and commercial crops. This has great ecological consequences like salinization of the soil.
The dams increase the social gap between the richer landowners and the landless poor.
The dams create inter-state water disputes with regard to sharing the costs and benefits of the multi-purpose project.

Most of the objections to the projects arose due to their failure to achieve the purposes for which they were built.

Ironically, the dams that were constructed to control floods have triggered floods due to sedimentation in the reservoir.
Moreover, the big dams have mostly been unsuccessful in controlling floods at the time of excessive rainfall. The floods have not only devastated life and property but also caused extensive soil erosion.
Sedimentation also meant that the flood plains were deprived of silt, a natural fertilizer, further adding to the problem of land degradation.
It was also observed that the multi-purpose projects induced earthquakes, causing water-borne diseases and pests, and pollution resulting from excessive use of water.

Narmada Bachao Andolan or Save Narmada Movement

It is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that mobilized tribal people, farmers, environmentalists, and human rights activists against the Sardar Sarovar Dam being built across the Narmada River in Gujarat.
It originally focused on the environmental issues related to trees that would be submerged under the dam water.
Recently it has re-focused the aim to enable poor citizens, especially the oustees (displaced people) to get full rehabilitation facilities from the government.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaee Yojana (PMKSY)

Objectives of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaee Yojana (PMKSY):

Increase Irrigated Area: Make sure every field gets water. ("Har Khet Ko Pani")
Boost Efficiency: Improve water use to avoid wastage.
Promote Technologies: Use methods like drip irrigation ("Per Drop More Crop").
Conservation Practices: Adopt sustainable water-saving practices.

Rainwater Harvesting

The need for rainwater harvesting are:

Rainwater harvesting is needed to provide it for agriculture, collect drinking water, irrigate the fields, and to moisten the soil.
Rainwater harvesting is a viable alternative, both socio-economically and environmentally to multipurpose projects.

Traditional methods of rainwater harvesting:

In hill and mountainous regions, people built diversion channels like the ‘guls’ or ‘kuls’ of the Western Himalayas for agriculture.
‘Rooftop rainwater harvesting’ was commonly practiced to store drinking water, particularly in Rajasthan.
In the flood plains of Bengal, people developed inundation channels to irrigate their fields.
In semi-arid and arid regions, agricultural fields were converted into rain-fed storage structures that allowed the water to stand and moisten the soil like the ‘khadins’ in Jaisalmer and ‘Johads’ in other parts of Rajasthan.

Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting

Rainwater is commonly referred to as Palar Pani in the arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan.

In the semi-arid and arid regions of Rajasthan, particularly in Bikaner, Phalodi, and Barmer, almost all the houses traditionally had underground tanks for storing drinking water.
The tanks could be as large as a big room.
The tanks were part of the well-developed rooftop rainwater harvesting system.
They were connected to the sloping roofs of the houses through a pipe.
Rain falling on the rooftops would travel down the pipe and be stored in these underground tanks.
The first spell of rain was usually not collected as this would clean the roofs and the pipes.
The rainwater from the subsequent showers was then collected.

Tamil Nadu is the first state in India that has made rooftop rainwater harvesting structures compulsory for all houses across the state.

Importance of rooftop rainwater harvesting in Rajasthan:

It was commonly practiced to store drinking water.
The rainwater can be stored in the tanks till the next rainfall, making it an extremely reliable source of drinking water when all other sources are dried up, particularly in the summers.
Rainwater (Palar Pani) is considered the purest form of natural water.
Many houses construct underground rooms adjoining the ‘tanks’ to beat the summer heat as it would keep the room cool.
Some houses still maintain the tanks since they do not like the taste of tap water.

Bamboo Drip Irrigation system

It is a 200-year-old system of tapping stream and spring water by using bamboo pipes and transporting water from higher to lower regions with the help of gravity.

Features:

18-20 liters of water enter the bamboo pipe system, gets transported over hundreds of meters, and finally reduces to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the plant.
The flow of water into the pipes is controlled by manipulating the pipe positions.
If the pipes pass a road, they are taken high above the land.

🧠 NCERT Solutions – Class 10 Geography Chapter 3: Water Resources

🔹 Q1. How is freshwater obtained?

Answer:
Freshwater is obtained from precipitation, surface run-off, and groundwater. It is found in rivers, lakes, ponds, springs, and glaciers. Only 2.5% of the total water on Earth is freshwater, and a small portion of that is easily accessible.

🔹 Q2. What is water scarcity, and what are its main causes?

Answer:
Water scarcity refers to the shortage of water in relation to its demand.
Main Causes:

Rapid population growth
Industrial and agricultural expansion
Over-extraction and misuse of water
Unequal distribution and seasonal variability
Pollution of freshwater sources

🔹 Q3. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of multipurpose river projects.

Answer:

Advantages	Disadvantages
Irrigation for agriculture	Displacement of people
Hydroelectricity generation	Environmental degradation
Water supply for domestic and industrial use	Submergence of forests and land
Flood control	Disruption of aquatic life
Inland navigation and fish breeding	Inequitable distribution of water

🔹 Q4. What are the main objectives of rainwater harvesting?

Answer:

To meet water demand during dry seasons
To reduce pressure on groundwater
To recharge underground water tables
To minimize surface runoff and soil erosion
To ensure sustainable water availability

🔹 Q5. Why is it necessary to conserve and manage water resources?

Answer:

To ensure equitable distribution of water
To meet growing demands for agriculture, industry, and domestic use
To prevent water pollution and wastage
To maintain ecological balance
To secure water for future generations

🔹 Q6. Write a short note on the traditional methods of water conservation in India.

Answer:
India has a rich tradition of water conservation practices:

Johads, baolis, and tanks in Rajasthan
Zings in Ladakh
Khadins and check dams in western India
Surangams in Kerala
These traditional systems effectively managed water for local needs before the advent of large-scale dams.

🔹 Q7. What are the various methods of rainwater harvesting?

Answer:

Rooftop rainwater harvesting
Construction of tanks or percolation pits
Recharge wells and borewells
Contour bunding and trenches
Check dams and nala bunds

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