that is used to clean products, discarded packaging and goods that are no longer
wanted are absorbed by the environment. This is as important as the source function.
The "sink function" describes an environment's ability to absorb and render harmless
waste and pollution. When waste output exceeds the limit of the sink function,
long-term damage to environment occurs.

In the past fifty years of economic development, both these functions of the
environment have been overused. This has been said to affect the carrying capacity
of the environment, i.e. the capacity of the environment to support economic
production and consumption in the future. Let’s look at few examples.

Example 1: As per the traditional practices, the lifting of water was limited to
supplemen- tal irrigation or for a small area. For example, with ‘mota baavi’ only 2
to 3 acres can be irri- gated. Agriculture was limited to rainy season and large
areas were rainfed drylands. Over time, with new energy resources, pumpsets that
work with petrol/ diesel and electricity came into picture. The impact has to be
seen in two phases: initially there was relief from drudgery; lifting of water
became very easy with pumps. Water was also available in plenty. Open wells had
water at 10 to 15 feet deep; utmost 100 feet depth. However, with the lifting of
groundwater by electric and motor pumps, water table started going down. So much so,
that in some areas, groundwater is being drawn from a few hundred feet deep. After
all, the water has to go down to the ground for it to be lifted up. This is called
‘recharge’. The path of water under the ground is through the medium of soil and
rocks. If the water drawn up is more than what is being recharged then it is obvious
that after sometime, you have no more groundwater left.

Recent data on the status of groundwater resources in India suggests that
the groundwater is under serious threat of overuse in many parts of the country.
Nearly one-third of the country is pumping out more groundwater than what
goes in as recharge. About 300 districts have reported a water level decline of
over 4 metres during the past 20 years. This points to an alarming rate of extrac-
tion. Groundwater overuse is particularly found in the agriculturally prosperous
regions of Punjab and Western U.P., hard rock plateau areas of central and south In-
dia, some coastal areas and the rapidly growing urban settlements.