Providing water security in India by conserving and utilizing flood flows

Security for water and other resources in India is likely to come under stress with rising demands and growing water scarcity. In India, more than 75% of the annual flows occur in rivers during four monsoon months and this is also the period when flooding takes place. The major causes of water insecurity in India are: (a) highly skewed water availability, variability and increasing demands, (b) poor water quality and issues arising due to these, (c) weak water governance, and (d) emerging challenges due to climate and land-use cover changes. This paper focuses on the first cause of floods. I have argued here that flood flows should be viewed and harvested as a resource to be conserved and utilized to overcome water shortages rather than to be passed to oceans as quickly as possible. Conservation and diversion of flood flows can help in overcoming water shortages, variability and disaster management. Both infrastructure and governance will have to be expanded to achieve this objective. To that end, the paper presents suggestions to conserve, divert, and utilize flood flows.