Mahatma Gandhi said that the earth has enough to meet the needs of everyone, but not for their greed. This is certainly true of water. It is estimated that the total fresh water available in India annually is sufficient for both irrigation and drinking purposes. But the problem lies in wastage and faulty distribution. The updated draft of the National Water Policy estimates the total precipitation in the country at around 400 million hectare metres. Of this, the surface water availability is about 187 million hectare metres. About 50 per cent of this cannot be put to use because of topographical and other constraints. Floods and drought affect vast areas in the country, transcending State boundaries. A third of the country is drought-prone. Floods affect on an average around nine million hectares a year. The area suscetible to floods is around 40 million hectares.