[Environment] A new beginning on Water in the 12th Plan
Ranjith
A new beginning on Water in the 12th Five year Plan:
· India faces major crisis of water in 21st century.
· Water demand increasing due to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation when the potential for augmenting supply is limited and also currently water tables and water quality are falling.
Limitations
· Limits to Large dams in providing economically viable additional water storage.
· Ambitious scheme to interlinking river presents major problems – 5.6 lakh crores estimation for inter basin transfer of water, land submergence, R&R package, will cut sedimentary supply - affect fragile coastal ecosystem & delta erosion, affect the monsoon system significantly and affect natural supply of nutrients to downstream.
· Ground water crisis:
o In last 4 decades, 82% additional irrigation has come from ground water
o It is now exploited beyond sustainable levels – crisis of ground water over extraction and quality deterioration
o Nearly 60% of all districts of India have problems in water quality, quantity or both
o Stage of ground water development is 61% (with Punjab, Haryana, Rajastan and Delhi crossed 100%)
Paradigm shift in 12th five year plan:
· Large Irrigation reform:
o Move from a narrowly engineering-construction -centric approach to disciplinary, participatory management perspective, with command area development and improving water usage efficiency.
o 80% of water resources are consumed by irrigation – it targets increase of 20% efficiency of irrigation projects.
o State compete for Major & Medium Irrigation(MMI) investment, but do little to manage them efficiently – Irrigation Service Fee(ISF) is nil or very low.
o Vision for National Management Fund – to incentivise state to increase ISF(1:1 contribution) and to encourage Participative Irrigation Management with Water User Associations.
o Command Area Development become integral part of MMI.
· Participative Aquifer Management:
o Ground water accounts for 2/3 of India’s irrigation and 80% of domestic needs.
o 12th plan – adoption of participatory approach to sustainable management of ground water based on aquifer mapping that takes into account common pool resource nature of ground water.
o Identification of ground water recharge areas – protection and augmentation strategies.
o Regulation options at community level – drilling depth, distance between the wells, cropping pattern that ensure sustainability of aquifer and participative ground water management
o National Aquifer Management Program
· Breaking the ground water energy nexus:
o The current regime of power subsidies of agriculture has had played major role in deteriorating water table.
o Find a way to break ground water energy nexus without hurting farmer interest.
o Gujarat example to cut energy loses and also stabilizes water table:
§ Separate feeders for agriculture – supply of power at off-peak hours(8 hours/day), but of high quality and full voltage.
§ Energy efficient pumpsets.
· Watershed Restoration and Ground water Recharge:
o 12th plan – make MGNREGA into our largest watershed programme, Integrated watershed management programme and Repair, Renovation & Restoration of water bodies.
· A new approach to Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation:
o Same aquifer is being tapped for both drinking and irrigation without any coordinated management of resources – greatly aggravated drinking water problem.
o Tubewells drilled for irrigation -> drying up the aquifers used for drinking water.
o Setup Management Devolution Index to track and incentivise more substantive devolutions of functions, funds and functionaries to Gram Panchayats – participative aquifer management.
o Convergence of drinking water supply and sanitation to deal with water quality
§ Total sanitation campaign change from APL-BPL divide & individual demand based approach to habitation saturation approach.
§ Convergence with MGNREGS and toilet designs in accordance with local social and ecological considerations.
§ Priority to Nirmal Gram Puraskar -> Nirmal Blocks -> Nirmal Districts -> Nirmal States.
· Conjoint Water and Waste Water management in Urban India:
o Challenges greater in Urban India
o Investment must focus on demand management, reducing intra-city inequity and quality of water.
o Cut distribution loss, increase efficiency, higher tariffs for increase level of use.
o Local water bodies should be first source of water.
o Incentives for protection of local water bodies & catchments and local sewage management.
o Turn sewage into water for irrigation, industry, gardening and domestic use.
· Industrial Water:
o Best international practices to improve water use efficiency – reducing fresh water usage, reusing & recycling the waste water.
o Mandatory to keep details of water footprints/year of the industry.
· Non-structural Mechanism of flood Management:
o In addressing the problem of flood by central engineering solutions(dams) -> large economical cost for 1 in 10 years of flood.
o Alternative: flood insurance, designation of flood diversion areas, natural drainage systems (Bihar model).
· New institutional Framework:
o Independent regulatory bodies -> resolution of water conflicts, advising on tariff determination, maintain transparency in decision making.
o New ground water law: Model Bill for the protection, conservation , management and regulation of ground water
o National water framework law:
§ Water is state subject, but the water crisis, interstate conflicts, massive waste generation and contamination, long term ecological implications, equity distribution, international dimensions, climate change concerns make the requirement of national water law.
§ Framework for general principle and priorities – state & PRIs.