Rethinking water management issues

 

Context:

• India is facing one of its major and most serious water crisis.

 

Present water crisis in India:

• India’s cities are running out of water. Water scarcity can mean scarcity in availability due to physical shortage, or scarcity in access due to the failure of institutions to ensure a regular supply or due to a lack of adequate infrastructure.
• Water levels in India's major reservoirs have fallen to 21 per cent of the average of the  last decade.
• Countries groundwater is deckling faster than it is being replenished
• Chennai witnessed the worst drinking water woes.
• A recent report by the Central Water Commission and ISRO asserted that India is not yet in “water scarcity condition”, but in a “water-stressed condition”, with reducing per capita water availability.
• According to the data released by the World Resources Institute (global research non-profit organization), India is ranked 13^th among the 17 most  water stressed countries of the world.
• More than half of India’s districts are threatened by ground water depletion or contamination, said a 2019 World Bank report.

 

 

Water in the Indian Constitution Article 246: Laws to be made by the Parliament and the states Article 262: Regarding disputes 7th Schedule: Regulation and development of inter-state rivers

 

 

NITI Aayog report on water crisis:

• According to a Niti Aayog  ‘Composite Water Management Index ‘on water management index last year, India is currently suffering from the worst water crisis in its history with the country ranked at 120 among 122 countries in the quality of water.
•  By 2020, it said, as many as 21 major cities of India will run out of water and face ‘day zero’— a term that got popular after a major water crisis in Cape Town in South Africa, which means literally switching off most of the city’s tap for a day.
• However, 12 per cent of India’s population is already living the 'Day Zero' scenario, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water management system and years of deficient rains.
• The CWMI report   also states that by 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual six per cent loss in the country's GDP.
• The report said 600 million people face high-to-extreme water stress, 75% of households do not have drinking water on premises and 84% rural households do not have access to piped water.
• Cities includes Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, will run out of groundwater by 2020; also, 40% of our citizens will have no access to drinking water by 2030.
• Factors such as rapid climate change and ongoing over-extraction of groundwater, mainly for agriculture, are pushing the system to a breaking point.

 

 

 

Why India is facing water crisis today?

 

As per NITI Aayog, India is facing water crisis due to the following reasons:

 

• Over-exploitation of groundwater:

• India is the biggest user of groundwater.
• It extracts more groundwater than China and the US the next two biggest pullers of groundwater - combined. Groundwater meets more than half of total requirement of clean water in the country.
•  About 89 per cent of groundwater extracted in India is used for irrigation making it the highest category user in the country.
• Household use comes second with 9 per cent share of the extracted groundwater followed by industry that uses only two per cent of it.
• Overall, 50 per cent of urban water requirement and 85 per cent of rural domestic water need are fulfilled by groundwater.

• Unequal distribution and availability:

• It is estimated that while 81 per cent of all households have access to 40 litres of water per day through some source, about 18 to 20 per cent of rural households in India have connections for piped water supply.
• This has created mismatch in water availability and supply.
• According to the Composite Water Management Index of the Niti Aayog, 75 per cent of households do not have drinking water on premise and about 84 per cent rural households do not have piped water access.
• Water is not properly distributed where it is supplied through pipes. Mega cities like Delhi and Mumbai get more that than the standard municipal water norm of 150 litres per capita per day (LPCD) while others get 40-50 LPCD.
• The World Health Organisation prescribes 25 litres of water for one person a day to meet all basic hygiene and food needs. Extra available water, according to the WHO estimates, is used for non-potable purposes like mopping and cleaning.

 

• Wastage of water:

• India is still water surplus and receives enough annual rainfall to meet the need of over one billion plus people.
• According to the Central Water Commission, India needs a maximum of 3,000 billion cubic metres of water a year while it receives 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain.
• But the problem is India captures only eight per cent of its annual rainfall - among the lowest in the world.
• The traditional modes of water capturing in ponds have been lost to the demands of rising population and liberal implementation of town planning rules.
• India has been also poor in treatment and re-use of household wastewater. About 80 per cent of the water reaching households in India are drained out as waste flow through sewage to pollute other water bodies including rivers and also land.

 

• Law regulating groundwater

• It is a curious case but the Easement Act of 1882 that gives every landowner the right to collect and dispose groundwater and surface water within his/her own limits is still in operation. This law makes regulation of water usage by a person on his/her land.
• Water falls under state list of the Constitution meaning only the state governments can frame a regulatory law. In 2011, the central government published a Model Bill for ground water management for the states.

 

• Loss of wetlands, water bodies

• Almost every single city and village in the country has lost its wetlands, water bodies and even rivers to encroachment to meet the needs of rising population.
• Chennai that is facing acute water shortage had nearly two dozen water bodies and wetlands but most of them are out of use today. A recent assessment found that only nine of them could be reclaimed as water bodies.
• A survey by the Wildlife Institute of India reveals that the country has lost 70 80 per cent of fresh water marshes and lakes in the Gangetic flood plains, the biggest river plain the in the country.
• The Standing Committee on Water Resources, which submitted its report to Parliament in December 2015, found that while 92 per cent of the districts in the country had safe level of groundwater development in 1995, it came down to 71 per cent in 2011.
• On the other hand, the percentage of districts with overexploited state of groundwater level increased from 3 in 1995 to 15 in 2011. The water security has only worsened since then.

 

Loopholes in NITI Aayogs’s report:

• The   Niti Aayog strategy for ‘water resources’ is considered to be  unrealistic as the successive National Water Policies (NWP).
• NITI Aayog’s strategy for water resources is a continuation of failed policies of the past.
• The ‘strategy’ for water fails on all three counts.

1. Acknowledge and analyse past failures
2. Stipulate who will do what, and within what time frame.
3. Suggest realistic and implementable goals

• The document reiterates two failed ideas: adopting an integrated river basin management approach, and setting up of river basin organisations (RBOs) for major basins.
• The integrated management concept has been around for 70 years, but not even one moderate size basin has been managed thus anywhere in the world.
• Even after the NWP of 1987 recommended RBOs, not a single one has been established for any major basin.
• The water resources regulatory authority is another failed idea.
• Maharashtra established a water resources regulatory authority in 2005. But far from an improvement in managing resources, water management in Maharashtra has gone from bad to worse.
• There is a huge gap between irrigation potential created and utilised, and recommends that the Water Ministry draw up an action plan to complete command area development (CAD) works to reduce the gap.
• Setting unrealistic goals, particularly for a five-year window.
• Some goals, such as ‘Har Khet Ko Pani (irrigation to every field)’, are simply not achievable.
• There is no recommendation to amend the Easement Act, or to stop subsidised/free electricity to farmers.
• The strategy recommends promoting solar pumps. However, the free electricity provided by solar units will further encourage unrestricted pumping of groundwater, and will further aggravate the problem of a steady decline of groundwater levels.
• The document fails to identify real constraints. For example, it notes that the Ken-Betwa River inter-linking project, the India-Nepal Pancheshwar project, and the Siang project in Northeast India need to be completed. A major roadblock in completion of these projects is public interest litigations filed in the National Green Tribunal, the Supreme Court, or in various High Courts.
• The document takes no cognisance of some real and effective reforms that were once put into motion but later got stalled, such as a National Water Framework law; significant amendments to the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act; and the Dam Safety Bill.
• Critiques argued that far from solving our water problems, the Niti Aaygo documents helps India to continue walking on the unsustainable path it has pursued for decades.

 

Recent steps taken by the government for water governance:

 

• The Union government recently formed a new Jal Shakti (water) ministry, which aims at tackling water issues with a holistic and integrated perspective on the subject. The ministry has announced an ambitious plan to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2024.
• The ministry has set a tough target at a time when hundreds of millions don't have access to clean water.
• In Rajasthan, there is a scheme called ‘Mukhya Mantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan’. One of its objectives is to ensure effective implementation of water conservation and water harvesting related activities in rural areas.
• Maharashtra has launched a project called ‘Jalyukt-Shivar’, which aims to make 5000 villages free of water scarcity every year.
• The Telangana government has launched a mission called Mission Kakatiya, the objective of which is to enhance the development of agriculture based income for small and marginal farmers, by accelerating the development of minor irrigation infrastructure, strengthening community based irrigation management and adopting a comprehensive programme for restoration of tanks.

Strategies for water management:

• Educating public: The government needs to seriously take action in educating the public on proper uses of water, and people also need to concern themselves about the dangers of wasting water.
• Managing demand: The government of India must concentrate on managing demand. They must ensure a timely, leak-proof and safe water supply rather than promising 24 hours supply based on nothing.
• Water consumption: Controlling the water consumption at irrigation level is the most important factor as it consumes 85% of groundwater without inflicting food security of the country.
• Creating Water literacy: Water literacy at the national level should be the primary focus, which has not been seriously done so far. It is high time to introduce special models on water saving, conservation and utilization – starting in school.
• Generate livelihoods: The government of India needs to launch an aggressive program of nature based solution, ecological restoration, ideally to build resilience and generate livelihoods.
•  Awareness: There is an urgent need to increase and spread awareness about recycling, reusing and conservation of water.

• Supply more water: Urgently require a transition from this 'supply-and-supply-more water' provision to measures which lead towards improving water use efficiency, reducing leakages, recharging/restoring local waterbodies as well as applying for higher tariffs and ownership by various stakeholders.
• Using traditional practices: It is time to go back and start using our traditional practice of rainwater harvesting — catching water where it falls. Presently, India captures only eight per cent of its annual rainfall, among the lowest in the world.
• Decentralised approach: Need to promote a decentralised approach, with a key focus on water conservation, source sustainability, storage and reuse wherever possible.
• Behavioural change: Emphasis on behavioural change is not getting enough attention because it is nuanced and complex. But locals/citizens/ communities have a huge part to play. By keeping in check our own usage and actions, we can contribute

 

Challenges in Water governance:

• Information: The lack of credible “water information,” that is, information about water storage, groundwater, water flows and, in some cases, even rainfall and snowfall levels.
• Multiple institutions: Central Water Commission (CWC), Central Ground Water Board, Central Ground Water Authority, State Pollution Control Boards and Central Pollution Control Board, among others.
• Unsustainable extraction: More recent research has reinforced that North India is most affected, and is guzzling down groundwater at a rate 70% faster than estimated earlier but western and southern India are not far behind.
• Absence of National Policy: Groundwater is going to remain India’s lifeline for a long time to come. But, neither national policy nor national or state water resource establishments acknowledge this reality.
• Water infrastructure: The water infrastructure continues to perform far below its optimum, as India is not allocating even a fraction of the required annual maintenance budget of $4 billion that it needs.
• Soil moisture: Soil moisture represents another major challenge. For the farmers facing increasingly irregular rains with changing climate, the increased capacity of soil to hold moisture is hugely useful, as also is the local water storage and sustained or enhanced groundwater levels.
• Water footprint: As the urban water footprint is going up by leaps and bounds in multiple ways, there is a need for a national urban water policy to guide the urban water sector.
• NITI aayog highlighted the following challenges in water management:

• irrigation potential created but not being used
• cropping patterns not aligned to agroclimatic zones
• subsidised pricing of water
• citizens not getting piped water supply
• contamination of groundwater

 

 

Central Water Commission (CWC) : Central Water Commission is a premier Technical Organisation in the country in the field of water resources. It  is charged with the general responsibilities of initiating, coordinating and furthering, in consultation with the State Governments concerned, schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout the country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking Water Supply and Water Power Development. Is headed by a Chairman, with the status of Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government of India. The work of the Commission is divided among 3 wings namely, Designs and Research (D&R) Wing, River Management (RM) Wing and Water Planning and Projects (WP&P) Wing.   Composite Water Management Index’: This index is an attempt to budge States and UTs towards efficient and optimal utilization of water and recycling thereof with a sense of urgency. The Index and this associated report are expected to: Establish a clear baseline and benchmark for state-level performance on key water indicators Uncover and explain how states have progressed on water issues over time, including identifying high-performers and under-performers, thereby inculcating a culture of constructive competition among states Identify areas for deeper engagement and investment on the part of the states.

 

Conclusion:

Recently, the government has created the Ministry of Jal Shakti (water power) to oversee water resource management, and reiterated his election campaign promise to provide piped water to every rural home by 2024.This is a step in right direction, but a lot more needs to be done. India needs a Paradigm Shift in its Water policy with the help of reliable and robust data pertaining to rainfall, surface, and groundwater to develop strategies that strengthen resilience.

 

Source)

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/rethinking-water-management-issues/article29622296.ece