Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said the country should impound maximum river waters flowing into the seas and use it for agriculture and drinking purposes. <br/><br/>Speaking at the centenary celebrations of the KLE Society in Karnataka's Belagavi, he said across the country, river waters to the extent of 70 per cent joined the seas. Only 15 per cent is absorbed within the land and the remaining used for irrigation. <br/><br/>Lack of technology to impound river waters has been the major problem and the budding engineers should find the ways, he said. <br/><br/>The Minister urged the civil engineers to do maximum to channel the river waters, that otherwise go waste, be fed to lakes in the plains to irrigate more land and provide drinking water to parched villages in Karnataka and beyond, he said. <br/><br/>He said shortfall in usage of technology in the country use of fresh water resources had led to acute shortage of water not only for agriculture but also for drinking purpose. Litigations between states for river water sharing have not helped. So we have to find a way to maximise the fresh water use, he urged. <br/> <br/>The Union minister said to solve irrigation and drinking water problem in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra, scientific methods of agriculture, be it Paddy or sugarcane, should be adopted. Mr Gadkari, who is also the Ports minister requested the Karnataka government to give land for development of Belekeri port near Karwar, modernisation 12 other minor ports along the Arabian sea coast.