Events & Issues

New Delhi, 11 August 2014

Groundwater Depletion

SEVERE WATER CRISIS IMMINENT

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Alarm bells should be ringing in the Ministry of Water Resources. Not only is the monsoon playing truant, the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) has recently warned that 56 per cent of wells, which were examined, showed a serious decline in levels.

While the figures are not updated it referred to decline in levels in 2013 compared to the preceding 10 years (2003-2012). It found that 5699 wells, of the 10,219 examined, reported decline during the above period. Depletion of groundwater has been a long standing problem more so because the aquifers in deficit areas have not been adequately recharged. Worse it noted that agriculture has been the biggest user of water followed by domestic and industrial sectors, which would be impacted.     

Two years ago, Gravity Recovery & Climate Experiment (GRACE) had warned that northern India was losing more groundwater than anywhere else in the world except for the Arctic ice sheets. One of the studies put the estimated groundwater loss in States of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan at 109 cubic km, which is roughly equivalent to 109 billion tonnes.

Such depletion has been a cause of worry if one considers the increasing demand for water.  Experts have estimated that by 2050, the country would need 1180 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water. Presently, there is an annual potential of 1123 BCM of utilizable water with 690 BCM coming from surface water and remaining 433 from groundwater sources. It is thus apparent that the country would land itself in a water stressed condition if aquifers are not recharged adequately and also water use and water wastage is not reduced significantly.         

Experts agree that by 2020 or even earlier there would be a genuine water crisis in many regions of the country. Even now, the Cauvery, Pennar, Sabarmati, East-flowing rivers and West-flowing rivers are some of the basins of the country with scarcity conditions. While water availability of less than 1000 m³ per capita is considered by international agencies as scarcity condition, in majority of the river basins, present utilization is quite high in the range of 50-95 per cent of utilizable surface resources.          

One may refer to  the Water Vision 2025 prepared by the India Water Partnership (IWP 2000) followed by the National Water Policy (2002), both of which considered the emerging challenges in terms of growing population and the increasing urbanization and industrialization, concluding that the scenario for 2025 would involve a serious threat to health and ecological security.

Their prescription for averting this crisis included among other actions private sector participation in water management; promotion of watershed management which has proved to be an effective means of recharging groundwater, soil fertility and enhancing productivity; stricter enforcement of environmental laws; specific steps at pollution control; water conservation policies, specially of rivers, lakes and coast lines; changing agricultural practices to reduce non-profit pollution; and larger investments in the sector. The question is whether the Ministry is working in the above direction? 

More so, as the water situation across the country is a picture of mind-boggling paradoxes. At one extreme is Rajasthan with scanty rainfall and its vast desert tracts, giving a picture of the luxury of potable water and at the other end is the southern state of Kerala with over 42 tiny rivers, lakes, lagoons, backwaters and the Arabian Sea. Also Kerala has a fairly long spell of monsoon rain during the south-west and north-east monsoon seasons but still complains of acute shortage of drinking water.         

Gujarat is another State which faces water crisis of unimaginable proportions, as per projections of the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology. Obviously, population growth coupled with rapid industrialization and urbanization has contributed to a decline in the availability and quality of water resources by largescale pollution of rivers, estuaries and even groundwater. Large parts of Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka lack access to potable water.

A large proportion of the country’s water resources have become unusable due to various types of severe pollution such as industrial effluents, dumping of untreated wastewater and garbage and also from natural substances found in the earth’s crust, like arsenic and fluoride. At best we treat around 60-70 per cent of the domestic waste, dumping the rest untreated into the nearest water bodies. Fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture enter water bodies as run-off or percolate into the groundwater aquifers. It is estimated that around 70 million litres of industrial wastewater is dumped directly into local rivers and streams without prior treatment, endangering the rivers’ health.         

According to a survey of Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), the availability of water per person has come down from to 2500 cubic metres, a few years back which may presently be around 2000 cu. m. Even the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute has predicted that India will be a highly ‘water stressed’ country from 2020 onwards i.e. it would have less than 1000 cubic metres availability of water per person per annum!        

Sustainable water use is the need of the day as threat of water scarcity will be “the defining condition of life for many in the new century”. Distressingly, all of India’s 14 major rivers are badly polluted while groundwater contamination has spread severely in the eastern part of the country. Both the Ganga and the Yamuna are examples of such pollution. It is no consolation that the lethal interaction of dwindling river flows, falling water tables, rising pollution and other factors have generated a global major water crisis.                

Therefore, it is imperative that every district and city must adopt a strategy of collecting water locally, supplying it locally and treating the waste locally. Cities must look at groundwater reserves carefully and draw from external sources after optimizing their own. If there is proper segregation of waste, the less toxic can be cleaned up and used to recharge groundwater to irrigate fields. Israel started this and many countries are following suit.              

Apart from reuse of water, watershed management needs in the country must be intensified further. Both the Centre and States should come up with a time-bound plan to protect watersheds, rivers and wetlands and work with local bodies to establish distribution systems. Unfortunately, several thousand wetlands that constitute the water security of vast areas do not enjoy legal recognition and are being filled or severely polluted. A statutory right of water being a basic/fundamental right will compel local governments to take better care of their water utilities and make them more transparent and accountable.

Indeed, water and sustainable development are inextricably linked. The varied uses of water -- for drinking, for industry, for irrigation, for a healthy life -- are essential for human sustenance. It is as if all these are competing and are not an inherent part of maintaining the whole ecological system and complementing each other for sustainable development. As eminent agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan recently observed: “The new government should focus on water scarcity and water use efficiency. The latest technology for most efficient water use should be adopted. Water harvesting in homes, farms and factories should be accorded maximum importance”.         

Thus, it goes without saying that a holistic and judicious approach relying not on Western models but on local solutions, in an integrated manner, for effective management must replace the confused policies in managing water. The Ministry must get its act together, without wasting any more precious time. ---INFA 

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