Water Resources in Rajasthan  :

 Rajasthan is the largest State of the country. The status of water in the State is most critical. Rajasthan with more than 10.4 % of the country's geographical area, supporting more than 5.5% of the human population & 18.70 % of the livestock has only 1.16 % of the total surface water available in the country. 2/3rd part of the State is a part of the Great Thar Desert which is bigger than most of the states except MP, UP, AP and Maharashtra. This further aggravates the water crisis.

The per capita annual water availability in the State is about 780 cubic meters (Cum) on the basis of projected population July, 2009 against minimum requirement of 1000 cum, the availability would fall below 450 cum by 2045.

Efforts of the Government : To increase the irrigation area in the State, the Water Resources Department since past many year has been adopting a two pronged strategy as under:-

 A. Creation of new command area by tapping the surplus surface water. Moreover to satisfy the drinking water and industrial needs.

B. Taking up works for improving the water use efficiency to fulfill the demand of irrigating, drinking water and industries.

 A. Creation of new command area by tapping the surplus surface water:-  

• The available surface water in Rajasthan State is 25.38 BCM ( Billion Cubic Meter ). Out of this available surface water, 14.547 BCM water has been tapped by 24 major irrigation projects, 84 medium irrigation projects and 3324 minor irrigation projects. 17.88 BCM water is available in state by interstate agreement.  The total culturable land of the State is 257.00 lac hect. and out of this, 38.20 lakh hect. has been covered through canal irrigation. 68.74 lakh hect. by tube wells/open wells/ talab and 1550.06 lakh hect. land is rain fed. Thus, at present 58.39% culturable land is rain fed.
• To tap this surplus water the following schemes are in progress:· a. Narmada Major Irrigation Project covering 2,46,000 hect. CCA 239000 hect. CCA ( Culturable Command Area ) has been opened. b. 6 Medium Irrigation Projects covering 40,031 hect. CCA.,49 Minor Irrigation Projects covering 46,846 hect. CCA. d. The department has under taken the works of “Four Waters Concept” to use the surplus water the Mahi, Chambal, Luni, Sukli and West Banas basins by constructing 267 MI tanks and 413 check dams to create additional command. Future Targets:  In next five years 1,10,000 hect. Additional land will be covered by canal irrigation by the ongoing projects.

The following new projects are in pipeline to be started in next five years:- a. Two major irrigation projects i.e. Kalisindh Phase II and Parwan. b. Three medium irrigation projects. .c Four proposals of intra linking of rivers to transfer the water from surplus basins to deficit basins have been prioritized d. New works under Four Waters Concept of Sabarmati Basin.

B. Taking up works for improving the water use efficiency: To improve water use efficiency many projects have been taken up in the State in the past viz. Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project (RWSRP), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Repair, Renovation and Restoration of old water bodies. Extension, Renovation & Maintenance (ERM) projects. The department has implemented pilot sprinkler irrigation projects in 24 minors of IGNP Stage II lifts in 28,732 hect. CCA. The following works for improving water use efficiency are in progress:

(i) 32 numbers of old water bodies are being repaired under RRR project of GoI amounting to Rs. 90 crore. (ii) CADWM works in 1.6 lakh hect. CCA is under progress. (iii) Revamping of Chambal canal system amounting to Rs. 1274 crore is in progress. (iv) 113 number of works under ERM is in progress. (v) Narmada Irrigation Project has been designed on sprinkler irrigation covering 2.46 lakh. hect. CCA ( Culturable Command Area ).

Issues which need attention from State Government :

 (i) O&M (Operations and Maintenance ) budget is to be increased to bridge the gap between irrigation potential created & irrigation potential utilized.

(ii) Sufficient budget has to be provided for taking up renovation and rehabilitation works of Major, Medium as well as minor irrigation projects.

(iii) Small irrigation tanks transferred to Panchayati Raj Bodies need to be given priority in repair & maintenance budget allocation.

 Central Government :

 (i) The project proposals of CADWM ( Command Area Development & Water Management ) to be cleared by MoWR, GoI expeditiously.  (ii) The central assistance of ongoing projects are need to be reimbursement of expenditure. (ii) For all the GoI ( Government of India ) financed programme, the Rajasthan State needs to be given special category State so that Central sponsored schemes can be implemented effectively with 90% Central share as the State is largest in Geographical area and is water deficit also.

Identification of Areas For The Role of Private Sector:- The private sector can play an important role in water sector in following two ways:

•  By way of corporate social responsibility.  
• Through PPP ( Public Private Partnership ) mode : The projects under Four Waters Concept can be taken up by industries under corporate social responsibility and the project proposals of pressure irrigation and interlinking of rivers can be taken up through PPP mode. Besides, the above proposals, it is difficult to take up the other proposals under PPP mode because of the low irrigation rates which will cause the unviability of the proposal.

 Rajasthan has always been a water deficit area. The rainfall is erratic and there is large variation in the rainfall pattern in the State. The average annual rainfall ranges from 100 mm in Jaisalmer to 800 mm in Jhalawar. Average annual rainfall of the State is 531 mm. For the 22 eastern districts, it is 688 mm whereas for the remaining western districts, the rainfall is only 318 mm. The State has witnessed frequent drought and famine conditions in the past fifty years. Ground water is not available in many parts even for drinking purpose. This calls for immediate remedial measures to address the critical water resources situation in the State.