The Kabar lake of Begusarai in a degraded state. Telegraph picture

The state faces degradation of surface water resources, including wetlands, rivers and lakes.

The fact is supported by a United Nations’ Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) report that has revealed the per capita requirement of potable water to be two to four litres per day against 2,000 to 5,000 litres to produce a person’s daily food.

Experts have also expressed concerns over conservation of water resources in the state.

“The state faces degradation of surface water resources, including wetlands, rivers and lakes among others, which make a substantial contribution in providing water for irrigation. Of the total geographical area of Bihar — 94 lakh hectares, 15.82 per cent falls under the wetland category. Despite such vast wetlands in the state, these are shrinking. According to my study on changes in surface water configurations in north Bihar, the total surface water has shrunk by 26 per cent in the past three decades,” said Ashok Ghosh, head of department of environment and water management, AN College. He added that around 70 per cent of water bodies fall in north Bihar.

According to recent figures released by Central Statistical Organisation, the growth in agriculture and animal husbandry in Bihar during 2011-12 was 3.23 per cent, 6.33 per cent during 2010-11 and 0.81 per cent in 2009-10.

According to a senior official of directorate of economics and statistics under the state planning and development department, around 80 per cent of the total population (comprising certain percentage of unemployed people) in the state is dependent on agriculture.

UNCED also claims presence of over 7 billion people to feed on the planet and this number is expected to touch 9 billion by 2050. To fulfil the water requirement of this population, water has to be saved in sufficient quantity and adequate quality.

However, Central Statistical Organisation’s figures have assessed Bihar’s gross state domestic product to grow at an average annual rate of 12.07 per cent between 2007-08 and 2011-12, which is mostly contributed by the tertiary sector with construction sector taking the lead.

“Tertiary sector, being mostly confined to urban areas means that such a growth is not reaching around 89.5 per cent of the state population, which lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture. One of the reasons behind poor agricultural growth is the negligent attitude of authorities towards conserving water for irrigation. Severity of such a situation can be gauged as the total area under irrigation fell from 16 lakh hectares in 2001 to 12 lakh hectares in 2010-11,” said Naval Kishore Chaudhary of economics department, Patna University.