It is indeed distressing that a large part of the country is suffering owing to want of water, even for drinking purposes, and the government has been forced to take unconventional measures to supply at least drinking water for people and their livestock. Soaring heat has also reached record highs. Unregulated sinking of deep borewells has depleted ground water and added to the woes. Large and medium industries, besides water-intensive farming, are drawing water through deep borewells or from the rivers. As a result, normal agricultural fields are starving of much-needed irrigation water. Thousands of tropical forestland is going up in flames in the summer months. It has been said that "the Third Word War shall be fought over water". This, indeed, may come true sooner than later.

But, simple and common forestry practices, if implemented meticulously, can solve the water crisis. It is necessary to hold rainwater and recharge groundwater during the rainy season so that it can be made available during the drier months. All hill slopes should be fully clothed through eco-restoration measures and by ensuring protection measures. Artificial regeneration should be resorted to as a last resort wherever there is no rootstock to re-clothe the forest floor. All hill streams should be treated with soil and moisture conservation measures such as small check-dams to recharge groundwater and ensure availability of water for longer durations in the open or borewells besides the tanks for the entire summer months.

With the rapid pace of development, industrialisation and urbanisation, large tracts are being covered by paved surfaces in the form of wide concrete/asphalt roads, buildings, factory premises or large buildings. This results in generating heat while allowing the rainwater falling on these surfaces to drain out as floodwater. While it is necessary to ensure minimum paving, the rainwater draining from these surfaces should be held along their edges to either recharge the groundwater through suitable planting or appropriate structures besides arrangement for rainwater harvesting. These plantations would also help neutralise the generated heat from these surfaces, besides reducing air pollution.

Apart from protected areas such as sanctuaries and national parks, reserve forests also enjoy fair amount of legal protection. But, there are other classes of deemed forests such as revenue forests, protected forests and village forests. These also need to be surveyed and demarcated and given due protection after reforestation/eco-restoration with suitable moisture-conservation measures.

The highways and other roads are being frequently widened to meet the growing traffic needs. Often, the first casualties are the trees that line the avenues. In such unavoidable cases, we may have to think whether these trees can be saved. In case this is not possible, replanting of land within the ROW (right of way) should be meticulously planned with guidance from competent foresters before the tree felling starts. Planting should be undertaken with twohree-year-old saplings of appropriate species, ideal for the site, even before the widening is taken up so that the tree cover is established even before the widened road is brought to use. Similar measures should also be taken in case of new roads. The canal banks should also be identically treated.

Traditional as well as modern technology should be adopted to prevent forest fire in the tropical, sub-tropical and low-level temperate forests. All forest fires should be monitored by using remote sensing techniques and the field personnel should be alerted to take suitable preventive measures well in time. They should be well-equipped with training, means of mobility and equipment to control any fire hazard that not only kills plant growth but also wild animals, their nests, young ones and eggs; it desiccates the forest soil, and make them hard for rain water to percolate down or retain moisture. The humus on the forest floor is lost along with subterranean micro-organisms.

A study in the Gir National Park by the Gujarat Agricultural University has shown that conservation in this protected area of around 1,400sqkm helped in ensuring intangible benefits of Rs 2,150 crore a year. The most important contribution of the conservation effort is that water that helps produce the Keshar variety of mango in this semi-arid area. I have seen in the drier regions of Wardha district of Maharastra that the water table in the shallow wells of the locality has seen considerable rise in summer due to plantations and moisture conservation measures around some villages, enabling people to grow summer crops of vegetables.

All the hill streams, rivers and rivulets our Similipal National Park continue to be perennial source of water for both wild animals and the local people as the tract is fully covered with vegetation.

Tree planting in the form of avenue planting, institutional planting, farm forestry and backyard planting, besides reclamation of mine wastes, planting within or around industrial complexes and in apartment complexes, will recharge the groundwater level and absorb radiated heat.

These plantations in the private land can also be put to commercial uses, besides their protective role as short rotation timber crops in the fields of Haryana, Punjab and west Uttar Pradesh, are now source of raw material for many paper mills in the country. Besides, they also supply packing cases and wood for other uses. Tree farming can also be practised in dry uplands with more income to farmers than subsistence farming with much less labour input.

But to make all this happen, efforts of all concerned is needed. While the forest departments of the states have to take a lead role with substantial financial and technological input, the field formations of the forest departments have to be further strengthened for this purpose with more manpower and adequate training. If necessary, new specialised divisions need to be created as most of the existing forest divisions are already over-burdened with their present workload and support from other line departments, voluntary agencies, corporate bodies, urban local bodies and Panchayati raj institutions should be ensured.

These efforts, if sincerely undertaken in all regions, particularly in drier regions and catchment areas of rivers, would ensure availability of much-needed water in summer, even in areas usually affected by severe drought-like situations. This will also ensure much better and perennial water flow into our large, medium and small dam reservoirs, besides natural streams, tanks and wells while sequestering carbon and reducing ambient heat. These steps along with economy of water use, besides treatment and reuse of used water shall go a long way to prevent water crisis in future. This will also cost a very small fraction of the cost of other efforts being made to provide water though often with limited success.

(The author is a former chief wildlife warden)