Water : Will it run out

Centre of Public Policy in association with ASSOCHAM and Triveni Engineering & Industries ltd. organized a seminar on water crisis. The topic of the seminar “Water: Will it run out?” focused on one of the pressing concerns of the present time more so at a time when Delhi is about to host the prestigious Common Wealth Games in Oct 2010. The session started with a Welcome and Opening Remark by Prof. Neelamegham, president NIILM-CMS. The chief guest, Hon’ble Minister of State, Water Resources, emphasised upon the use of innovative technology in the effective management of water resources in the country, laying special emphasis on rain water harvesting and its benefits.

The minister expressed concern over contamination of soil and ultimately water through undesirable pollutants such as chemicals, fertilizers, arsenics and fluoride used rampantly by industries and agriculturists. He spoke about the national water mission under which the government has been taking continuous initiatives to minimize losses and integrate water resources and management in the country. The government is trying hard to promote waste water management, re-use of water and rainwater harvesting, he added.

The central Government has already taken up works related to preparation of feasibility reports or detailed project reports with respect to projects identified under National Perspective Plan for interlinking of rivers aimed at utilizing the surplus flood water by diverting the same to deficient regions, he said.

The Ministry of Water Resources also promotes rainwater harvesting and various means of ground water recharge, he said adding that demonstrative schemes have been taken up by the Central Ground Water Board.

“All sections of the society have to join hands and contribute to address the challenges in the water sector – be it Central Government, State Governments, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies, Industrial Houses, Civil Societies or any stakeholder”, Mr Pala said. Achieving the objectives of meeting the demand for clean water for domestic purpose, developing sustainable infrastructure for irrigation, and ensuring water supplies for consumptive and non-consumptive uses for various categories of industries, are important objectives to be achieved while keeping environmental in mind, he added.

Mr Pala further said there two major challenges before the country: Food security and Climate change but he added, that the issue of water was a central issue that affected all development programs in the country. He also spoke about the adverse impact of climate change on the availability of clean water and said that research based studies should be made to analyze the issue and the reliable data hence used in policy measures.

The session came alive with the views and observations made by other eminent dignitaries present in the seminar such as Mr. BK Agrawal, Vice President, Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd., Mr. Rahull Sharma, Founder & Co-Chairman, Cool the Earch-Initiative, ASSOCHAM, Mr. A.K Bajaj, Chairman, Central Water Commision, Dr. Ramesh Negi, CEO, Delhi Jal Board, Mr. Ashok Jaitley, Distinguished Fellow and Director, Water Resources Division, TERI and Ms. Jyoti Sharma, President, Force (NGO). They voiced their concern about the water crisis and ways how we could prevent it. The session explored almost all possible perspectives in analyzing and identifying where the problem lies and how to deter further damages.

Mr AK Bajaj, Chairman Central Water Commission said the scale and magnitude of the water problem in India was quite huge and is compounded by centre-state differences, owing to the fact that water is basically a state subject.

“Centre on its own cannot do much and can only provide time-to-time guidelines and financial assistance to the states to ensure optimum utilization of water resources in the country”, he said pointing out that a 1996-97 scheme called ‘Accelerated Irrigation Benefit program’ that focused on financial assistance to water related programs in state had indeed proved to be a reasonable success.

Mr Bajaj further said that out of the total 4,000 billion cubic metres of precipitation that the country receives every year, unfortunately only 1,133 BCM can be effectively utilized. He said the maximum precipitation took place in the Brahmaputra basin where incidentally the requirement was the least, as against the peninsular areas and western region including Rajasthan where there was serious water deficit.

The challenge, therefore, lay in redirecting the water from surplus areas to deficit areas through effective programs aimed at curtailing this variability. An extensive study has been done in this regard and 30 inter basin transfer links in the country have been proposed but the centre-state cooperation remains a key factor in successful implementation of this program, he said.

Also, we have to build storages in the form of more and more dams and reservoirs which however, invariably meet roadblocks in the form of protests by the local people and the question of their resettlement, Mr Bajaj said adding that hence, ground level storage has assumed importance. “Aquifers in the ground are being used as an important solution to the problem in India, which has one of the lowest storage capacities in the world”, he said.

Delhi Jal Board CEO Mr Ramesh Negi started his speech by saying that water indeed was the biggest concern for every Delhi citizen today. He pointed out that only 45 per cent of Delhi was planned and had authorized construction while the rest of the city comprised slums, unauthorized colonies and resettlement areas. Add to this, the continuous and ever growing migration to the city, and the desperate need of good civic infrastructure with water supply at its pinnacle becomes a glaringly big issue, he said.

Mr Negi further said that DJB was still making all efforts to provide water to unauthorized areas through tankers that supplied potable water and bore wells/hand pumps for washing, cleaning purposes. The DJB has already dug 4000 bore wells but everyday, the demand for bore wells especially from MLAs keep on increasing and as a result a cap has been placed for no bore wells until next January. Stating that Delhi has been expanding on a continuous pace, he rued that the DDA does not think about means of water procurement before coming up with a new colony. He cited the example of Dwarka which is an authorized, planned colony but has a tremendous water problem.

“By the year 2020, the population of Delhi will reach a staggering 24 million and along with it, the need for water will rise from the current 830 MGD to more than 1100 MGD”, he noted adding that while Delhi should expand, adequate care and concern should be given to the ordinary resident of the city.

Delhi has only ground water as the main source of water as River Yamuna, the share of which is only 4.6 % for Delhi, depends largely on rains and in case of poor monsoons, the river too fails to provide enough water the citizens, he said.

Mr Negi suggested an integrated NCR water management program that will not just tackle the bickerings with states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, but also come up with cooperative solutions for the water trouble. Just like transport is being treated as an NCR issue, water should be given the same importance.
He said the maximum immigration to Delhi was reported from UP and hence the state should be asked to divide its water resources with Delhi like letting us use the water of river Ganga.

Also, reducing wastage was a very important part in dealing with the problem. It has been found that out of 825 MGD water being supplied in the city, 40 % of the supply suffers from technical losses and 25 % is unbilled water. Lack of effective policies to ensure safe keep, repair and maintenance of pipelines and meters in the capital is a serious problem. He also suggested PPP models to ensure reduced wastages/leakages of water in the city. The private players would be asked to detect leakages and maintain the pipes in the 1500 local clusters with all possible assistance from the government, he said.

Mr BK Agrawal, vice-president Triveni engineering and industries ltd, Mr Ashok Jaitley, distinguished fellow and director, water resources division TERI and Ms Jyoti Sharma, President Force (NGO) also expressed their views on this occasion.