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WATER PUZZLE

INDIA SUFFERS FROM MISMANAGEMENT, NOT SCARCITY Ground reports show Jal Shakti Abhiyan may not alleviate water woes

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Can India protect its water resources while sustaining ODF status?

How climate change is disrupting the water cycle

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Down To Earth Founded in 1992 to arm you with knowledge critical to shaping a better world FOUNDER EDITOR Anil Agarwal

Contents

EDITOR Sunita Narain MANAGING EDITOR

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ASSOCIATE EDITORS Vibha Varshney,

S S Jeevan, Snigdha Das, Sonalika Sinha, Arnab Pratim Dutta (Multimedia)

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ajit Bajaj GRAPHIC EDITOR Sorit Gupto REPORTING TEAM Jitendra, Kundan Pandey, Ishan Kukreti,Akshit Sangomla, Meenakshisushma, Banjot Kaur, Shagun Kapil ASSISTANT EDITORS Aditya Misra, Rajit Sengupta WEB EDITORS Joyjeet Das, Rajat Ghai,Anshika Ravi,

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Shri Krishan,Vijayendra Pratap Singh, Ritika Bohra PHOTOGRAPHER Vikas Choudhary PHOTO LIBRARY Anil Kumar PRODUCTION Rakesh Shrivastava, Gundhar Das TECH SUPPORT Rajendra Rawat, Jaidev Sharma MULTIMEDIA Srikant Chaudhary, Sunny Gautam,Adithyan P C INFORMATION AND RESEARCH SUPPORT

Kiran Pandey, Susan Chacko,Madhumita Paul, Sheeja Nair, Lalit Maurya, Dayanidhi Mishra CONSULTING EDITOR Anumita Roychowdhury Vol 28, No 21; Total No of Pages: 60 Editorial, subscriptions and advertisements: Society for Environmental Communications, 41,Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062, Phone: 91-11- 40616000, 29955124, 29956110, 29956394, 29956399 Fax: 91-11-29955879.

Email: editor@downtoearth.org.in 2020 Society for Environmental Communications.All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited. Printed and published by Richard Mahapatra on behalf of Society for Environmental Communications. Printed at International Print-o-Pac Limited, B-204, 205, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi-110020, India, and published at 41,Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062.

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Edit

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Ground report

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Getting the policy and practice of water management right

Will Jal Shakti Abhiyan solve people's water woes? Reportage from 10 best and 10 worst districts

Tap water for all

Providing everyone piped water requires a system overhaul

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Interview

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Water and sanitation

48

Climate change

India's water resource minister on why the government's piped water scheme will succeed Can India protect its water resources and sustain ODF status?

Extreme weather events will disrupt the water cycle

Cover design: Ajit Bajaj

Down To Earth does not endorse the content of advertisements printed in the magazine. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.

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WATER

EDIT

A GOD WE MUST NOT FAIL 2020 IS OUR MAKE OR BREAK DECADE TO E NSURE WATE R SECURIT Y. WE NE E D TO MAKE WATE R OUR S INGLE BIGGE ST OBSE S S ION AS WE KNOW THE SOLUTIONS TOO SUNITA NAR AIN

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WATER

EDIT

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DARE TO say that I do not believe there would be water wars; or that cities would run out of water; or that we wouldn’t have any water to drink. I say this while acknowledging that we have a dire and crippling crisis of water shortage in the country and it is getting worse day by day. The fact is that we have new water guzzlers like the booming cities and the industries. But at the same time, available water is increasingly getting polluted. Now climate change is adding to this crisis. Rain is now more uncertain and more extreme, leading to more droughts and more floods.

I say this because water is a replenishable resource—it snows and rains each year. More importantly, other than in the case of agriculture, we don’t consume water. We use and discharge. Therefore, it can be treated and then re-used and recycled. So, this is where we can bring in change in the future.

But this means getting the policy and practice of water management right.

The good news is water literacy has grown. Let’s take a quick trip down the policy memory lane to understand how much we have learnt. Till the late 1980s, water management was largely confined to the issue of irrigation projects— building of dams and canals to store and then supply water to long distances.

But then came the period of severe drought spells of the late 1980s. It became clear that it was not enough to only plan for augmenting water through large projects. This was also when the Centre for Science and Environment (cse) published its report, Dying Wisdom, which documented technologies for rainwater harvesting in diverse agro-ecological regions of India. Our slogan for that period was: “Rain is decentralised, so is the demand for water.” So, capture rain where and when it falls.

There was a paradigm shift in policy. In the droughts of late 1990s, state governments launched massive programmes to capture rainwater by building ponds, digging tanks and constructing check dams on streams. By the mid2000s, these efforts coalesced into the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (mgnrega)—investing local labour into building rural water assets. By this time, it was also understood that groundwater— considered a “minor” resource—was the “major” source of water for both drinking and irrigation purposes in the country. It was also understood that in spite of the investment in irrigation infrastructure, over 50 per cent of agriculture was still rainfed and so farm-level water conservation was critical for productivity.

In the decade of 2010s, the crisis of urban drought hit homes. But again, policy evolved as it learnt that augmenting water supply was only one part of the challenge—cities were increasingly dependent on long distance sources; pumping and piping this water meant both loss in distribution as well as high costs of electricity and this, in turn, made the available water expensive and more inequitable in access. As water supply dried up, people turned to groundwater and without recharge—ponds and tanks had been gobbled up by real estate or simply through neglect—meant declining water levels.

More importantly water supply was linked to pollution—more the water supplied the more is wastewater generation. This, without adequate treatment leads to pollution of rivers and waterbodies, which in turn destroys available water and increases the cost of cleaning up drinking water. cse’s report, Excreta Matters, detailed how this unaffordable paradigm of water-sewage management needed change.

A few years later, research revealed that bulk of urban residents are not even

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connected to the underground sewerage network, which is capital- and resourceintensive. Instead, they depend on on-site sewage “disposal” systems, where household toilets are connected to septic tanks or just holding tanks or even to open drains in the vicinity. The “Shit-Flow-Diagrams” in different cities of India revealed that in spite of all the claims of sewage treatment plants being built, wastewater was not treated. In most cases, this infrastructure was not designed to fit the city sanitation system and so remained underutilised. Rivers remained polluted. In all this, new solutions emerged—if affordable water supply was critical, then cities needed to cut the length of their distribution pipelines, which meant increased focus on local water systems like ponds, tanks and rainwater harvesting. Then, if cities needed to ensure affordable sanitation for all and affordable treatment of wastewater, then on-site systems could be re-engineered so that waste was collected from each household, transported and treated. There was no need to build long distance pipelines for supply of water or even longer distance pipelines for taking back the wastewater for treatment. But most importantly, we have learnt that if this urban-industrial wastewater is treated for reuse then water is not lost. More importantly, our rivers are not lost.

So, this is where we are in our understanding of water management. We know what to do. But the question is, why we are not getting our act together. Why is water scarcity growing; why is it that villages are “reached” with water supply and then the “slip”—get added back to the list of water scarce habitations.

This is where the real challenge remains—ensuring sustainability of the water supply systems. Today, the problem is that water asset created is not durable—the pond gets filled; the tank is encroached upon and the watershed critical for the drainage is destroyed. The problem lies in the fact that land and water bureaucracies are fractured—somebody owns the pond; another agency the drain and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change.

This means giving much greater control over the water structures to the local community—deepening democracy and devolution of powers—is then the answer to water mismanagement.

With this, we need to do much more to invest in the future systems of urban India. It is often said that agriculture is the bulk user of water in our country.

But, there is absolutely no data on how much is used in agriculture and how much water is now consumed in cities and excreted as wastewater. So, management of local sources of water; recharge of groundwater and reuse of every drop of wastewater has to be the agenda for water-wise cities. Then we need to do all we can to minimise our use of water. We need to be much more efficient with every drop. This means doing everything from investing in water efficient irrigation, appliances and changing diets so that the crops we eat are water-prudent. So this is the opportunity—the decade to put all we have learnt into practice and to turn around the water story of India. It is possible. We just have to make it our single biggest obsession. Water, remember, is about livelihood.

It is about food and nutrition. It is about economic growth.

This decade is our make or break phase. This is also because in this decade we will see the revenge of nature as climate change impacts get aggravated. We need then to scale up our work to invest in water systems and to make them durable, not just to withstand another rain, but another deluge. We need to speed up our work, because climate change will make sure that we have more rain, but in fewer rainy days. This means doing much more to capture the rain, when and where it falls. It is about a new worship—this is a God we must not fail. D T E

In this decade we will see the revenge of nature, as climate change impacts aggravate.

That's why we should scale up and invest in durable water systems

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WATER

PRELUDE

A LESSON

There was a thirsty crow. It peered into an earthen pitcher. There was water at the bottom.“Dregs,” it cawed alarmed. But it was thirsty. It began to drop pebbles into the pitcher. Drop by drop, the water rose to the top. The crow drank and flew away sated. It could have used a pneumatic drill to smash through to the water. It didn’t.

This water harvester of the crow could teach us a thing or two

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OME 20 years ago, this is how Down To Earth tried to understand water mismanagement in India. That was the time of a water harvesting spree in the country that helped people crawl out of severe water scarcity spells. And suddenly we rediscovered ourselves: Indians were the world’s most efficient water managers. We also rediscovered that the subcontinent hosted places that received rain ranging from 11 metres

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of water annually to just 100 mm. It rained only for 100 hours in a year. But there was no significant diligence on choosing places where water could be harvested. Indians didn’t search for water to settle down, but looked up to spot the clouds and set up ways on the ground to catch wherever it fell. That was what we were all about. As the preceding article says, it was a godly affair. Things changed, later.

The proverbial thirsty crow has

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mutated now. It wants more water, and faster, from the same pitcher. The crow has catagorised itself into two groups: one that still has to search for the pitcher and also the pebbles to some extent, and the second group that doesn’t have to look for both pitcher and the pebbles but is the thirstiest one. It doesn’t have to drop in those pebbles as somebody has just assured to do so. But at the end, as they come together sitting on the edge, the pitcher is near empty. This is the 21st century version of the crow story that is now mocking us, unlike the earlier one that inspired us all.

The pitcher—the groundwater aquifers—is fast depleting. India’s per capita water availability is dipping, irrespective of rain endowment (see ‘Rapid drop’). There is widening gap between who gets how much water. The size and depth of the well is the new indicator of well-being. The strength of a water pump is the defining factor of one’s access to water. A gushing 24x7 water tap is the new promise even if the user doesn’t know how far the source of water is. And all these make access to water a factor of economic and political power. The water-haves are the privileged and the powerful.

According to niti Aayog, 21 major cities, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad would reach zero groundwater levels this year, affecting access to 100 million people.

However, 12 per cent of India’s population is already living the “Day Zero” scenario, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient

ACCORDING TO NITI AAYOG, 21 MAJOR CITIES, INCLUDING DELHI, BENGALURU, CHENNAI AND HYDERABAD WILL REACH ZERO GROUNDWATER LEVELS THIS YEAR AFFECTING ACCESS TO 100 MILLION PEOPLE

Rapid drop The annual per capita water available in the country has dipped by over 70% between 1951 and 2015 6,000

Per capita water availability (m3/year) in India

5,178 1951

5,000

4,732 1955

4,000

2,210 1991

3,000 2,000

1,820 2001

1,508

1,367

1,651

1,486

1,282

Water-stressed*

2015

2031

1,228 2051

Water-scarce*

1,000

2011

2021

2041

0 * According to Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator published in 1989 to express the level of water scarcity in a region Source: Central Water Commission, Ministry of Jal Shakti

and wasteful water management system during years when rainfall was deficient.

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 6 per cent loss for the country’s gdp.

But there is an official dream to reach tap water to all by 2024. Down To Earth deputed eleven correspondents who travelled nearly 6,000 km in India’s most water-stressed districts to make sense of the ongoing water scarcity.

They don’t report wars over water, but flag the challenges and the local audacity in managing water in the most difficult situations. Their dispatches from 12 states add another dimension to the ongoing crisis: climate change. Its impacts may not be distinct, but it is attacking the very conduit of water: our rain ecosystem. D T E

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ANALYSIS

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The dried forests of Walayar in Palakkad district of Kerala

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HE NUMBERS just don’t add up. India is among the top 10 water-rich countries. Every year, it receives about 4,000 billion cubic metres (bcm) rainfall, of which 1,123 bcm is available as either surface water or groundwater. A rough calculation shows this is enough to sustain 22.8 billion people—17 times the country’s population—or to irrigate double the country’s farmland. Yet, almost one-third of India remains perpetually parched. The Central Ground Water Board (cgwb) identifies 256 districts in the country as waterstressed. As many as 1,186 blocks in these districts are overexploited, which means people here have used up over 100 per cent of the available groundwater. Another 312 are in critical stage, where extraction level has reached 90-100 per cent; and 94 have least groundwater availability.

What’s inexplicable is 40 of the water-stressed districts receive more monsoon rainfall than the national average of 880 mm. Take for instance Palakkad district in Kerala. It receives 2,290 mm of rainfall in a year and hosts the state’s second largest river, the Bharathapuzha, and its half-adozen feeders. Hooghly receives 1,419 mm average annual rainfall and falls in the GangaBrahmaputra delta, the largest in the world. South Goa also receives over 3,000 mm rainfall a year and has myriad rivers draining the region. As per the latest report by the Central Water Commission (cwc) per capita water availability in the country has already reduced by one-fourth to 1,368 cubic metres (1,368 kilolitres) a year over the past seven decades, and is set to reduce further.

Small wonder, when the Narendra Modi government came to power for the second term with the promise of providing tap water to all, one of his top priorities was to focus on water conservation. Soon after forming a unified Ministry of Jal Shakti by merging all ministries related to water resources, river development and drinking water and sanitation, his government launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan ( jsa) in July 2019 “to revive India back to a sustained system of water conservation and efficient irrigation”. It was a time-bound campaign with a mission-mode approach. “Like the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, where success had much to do with how it became a jan andolan, this too will be implemented through community-based programmes,” said Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat while launching jsa (see interview on p40). Teams of senior bureaucrats, scientists and technical officers with the Union government were rushed to the water-stressed districts to work with the administrations in two phases—first between July 1 and September 15, 2019 for all states and then between October 2 and November 30 for states and Union Territories that receive retreating monsoon. “Our aim was to capture the monsoon rain,” says a secretary level official with the Jal

10 v 10 JAL SHAK TI ABHIYAN WAS L AUNCHE D TO E ND INDIA’S WATE R WOE S. DID IT SUCCE E D? A REVIEW OF THE BE ST AND WORST DISTRICTS

P H OTO G R A P H : P S M A N O J

Akshit Sangomla Ishan Kukreti Shagun Kapil Jitendra Vivek Mishra Rashmi Verma Jayanta Basu G S Ujjanappa G Ram Mohan Shreeshan Venketesh K A Shaji

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WATER

ANALYSIS

Shakti ministry. The government followed a convergence approach and mobilised funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (mgnrega) and the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (campa) for the scheme. It also launched a dashboard for real-time monitoring of jsa activities.

By November-end, the dashboard reflected an astounding 3.83 billion activities related to water conservation across the 256 districts. All the districts were ranked as per their performance on five “intervention areas”—water conservation and rainwater harvesting; renovation of traditional and other water bodies; reuse and recharge structures; and watershed deveopment and intensive afforestation. They were also assessed on their “special interventions” like the number of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (kvk) fairs organised and on “outcome interventions” from five project sites.

What do these 3.83 billion activities mean? Do the structures built under these activities herald the end of India’s water woes? In districts that have performed well on jsa scorecard, do they pave the way for a drought-free, water-secure future? To gauge this and to assess preparedness of the districts, Down To Earth (dte) reporters travelled to 10 best and 10 worst performers.

They narrate stories that show why India suffers from water scarcity and why a shortterm measure like jsa with top-down approach may not work.

10

TOP

BY NOVEMBEREND, THE DASHBOARD OF JAL SHAKTI ABHIYAN (JSA) REFLECTED AN ASTOUNDING 3.83 BILLION WATERRELATED ACTIVITIES. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR INDIA?

PERFORMERS

Notwithstanding inflated data, these districts have better community control over programmes

1Y S R KADAPA

The perennially drought-prone Rayalaseema shot to limelight when ysr Kadappa, a district placed right at the heart of the region, topped jsa’s ranking list. The district 12

had been sitting among the worst when jsa was launched—252nd. It was people’s participation that helped the district rise to fame, say district officials. “To understand how, where and why water flows or stagnates at a particular place, we involved people. It helped us plan better,” says district collector C Hari Kiran. “It also led to people owning up the projects,” he adds. Sixty per cent of the 19,601 projects taken up under jsa were new, while 40 per cent are old structures.

The administration rejuvenated the 150year-old Tatayyagunta well in Lingala block by clearing up feeder channels. For flawless data collection, satellite imagery was used along with inputs from the groundwater department. “We geo-tagged all our works, which few districts in the country did.

Latitude and longitude of each asset were captured and posted online,” says Kiran.

However, an assessment of jsa across Rayalaseema region lays bare the lopsided approach in its implementation. Of the 664 blocks in 13 districts, only 68 were picked for the campaign. Ananthapur district has been repeatedly hit by drought over the past decade, but the government chose only 26 of its 63 blocks for jsa. In Kurnool, which is currently reeling from drought-like conditions, only one block was chosen.

2 SANGAREDDY

This Telangana district assured itself the second spot with a combination of Central schemes like mgnrega and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, state programmes like Mission Kakatiya, a proactive district administration and data fudging. Local authorities claim that water level in the well they monitor at Lakdaram village in Patancheru block has improved by almost 2 metres between July and September. Anil Kumar, a buffalo herder from Lakdaram says water pressure in his borewell has significantly improved. The authorities say this has been largely made possible by de-silting the 70-year-old Pedda Cheruvu tank in the village and restoring it to its full capacity of 63,000 cu m. Other

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A community pond dug out in Avulavandlapalli village in Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh, under Jal Shakti Abhiyan.

Officials say the pond has improve water tablein the area and facilitated cultivation of adjacent lands

total number of afforestation activities come to just 32.35 million activities. Experts also refute the claims that groundwater levels in all the eight blocks have improved between July and September 2019. They say it is difficult to tell what proportion of this groundwater improvement is due to jsa works as the campaign period coincides with the monsoon season that accounts for most rainfall in the region. Besides, not all the work is recent. For instance, Pedda Cheruvu tank was desilted much before jsa began. Perhaps, the district aimed more at ranking than conservation projects.

3 THANJAVUR

The success of this district in Tamil Nadu is largely due to the 1,826 water conservation structures built and 1,164 billion activities undertaken in seven of the district’s 14 blocks where jsa was implemented. Officials say jsa has helped bring back the focus on water structures, which wasn’t possible under mgnrega.

“Earlier water related works here were mostly taken care of by the public works department. With jsa, the rural development department could get directly involved at the gram panchayat level and initiate works,” says S Sujatha, block development officer, Thiruvaiyaru. Strangely, one

P H OTO G R A P H : G R A M M O H A N

water conservation measures were also taken up. At the zilla parishad high school, which already has a roofttop rainwater harvesting system, one Ayaan Foundation planted trees and constructed community soak pits for groundwater recharge. The authoritie also roped in the community and built four check dams around the village under mgnrega. “One of the check dams retains water from the beginning of the monsoon season till the end of February.

Farmers now use its water for cultivating rice,” says Thammannagiri Raju, assistant project director (capacity building), District Rural Development Agency, Sangareddy.

Kumar says people have started pisciculture in the Pedda Cheruvu tank. Rice is also being grown in a 13-ha area that was left barren.

Across the district, claim the authorities, 15 tanks have been restored under jsa.

Some 667,000 water conservation and rainwater harvesting activities were taken up and 5,000 to 50,000 saplings planted in each of the 647 gram panchayats. The district has reported 598 million afforestation activities. But an analysis hints at anomalies. Let's consider the plantation of one sapling as one activity. At this rate, even if one considers that 50,000 saplings have been planted in each gram panchayat, the

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WATER

ANALYSIS

severely arid village Kelathiruvazlapatty, which receives barely 35 mm of rain, was not chosen for jsa. District authorities say there has been a rise in its water table in recent years. But this is because of the fact that over the past decade, most people here have given up farming and now work in industries. This raises a moot question: what was the criteria for selecting areas under jsa? Were communities consulted before implementing the projects, which should otherwise be the case with water conservation structures?

4 BANASKANTHA

This arid Gujarat district has a history of undertaking water conservation interventions. They are the reason, its 741,000 hectare of net cropped area leads the country in potato production despite a scanty annual rainfall of 585 mm.

Banaskantha is also the highest producer of milk in Asia. However, this agricultural success has come at the price of heavy groundwater extraction, which accounts for 97 per cent of available groundwater in this semi-arid region. “Under jsa, we have created 790 water conservation structures, including rejuvenation of traditional structures. This has helped improve the groundwater level by 0.6 m,” says district collector Sandip Sangale.

In Gidasan village, the district administration has revived a traditional pond by creating an inlet to it and by installing structures that reduce siltation. “Despite a deficit monsoon last year, water level in the pond has been better than previous years,” says Kanjibhai Sethaji Thakur, a small farmer from Gidasan. The tank is the only source of water for cattle in Gidasan. But all these were not sufficient for climbing up the score ladder. So, the district followed a simple strategy: it organised 49,646 Krishi Vigyan Kendra (kvk) fairs in its 1,250 villages as “special intervention” under jsa.

But isn’t organising 39 fairs in each village every other day a mammoth task?

A district official helps make sense of these numbers. “Real-time monitoring had 16

REAL-TIME MONITORING OF JSA HAD CREATED PANIC AMONG SENIOR OFFICIALS WHO WANTED TO SEE THEIR DISTRICTS SCORE MAXIMUM POINTS. FAKE PHOTOS AND INFLATED DATA WERE UPLOADED ON JSA PORTAL TO ENSURE THIS

created panic among senior officials who wanted to see their districts score maximum points. They would ask us to increase the number of activities. We would send our volunteers to tea stalls, shops and markets.

Wherever they found people's gatherings, they would take photographs and upload them as a kvk mela on the jsa portal using our login ID and password,” he says on the condition of anonymity. In fact, during the last few weeks of jsa, pressure from the top was so high that we had to revise all the data to higher figures,” he says.

Officials closely involved in the processes say the figures were so inflated that it was decided to give all districts the maximum weightage of 10 under this “special intervention” indicator.

5

THOOTHUKUDI

Whether genuine or forged, authorities at this coastal Tamil Nadu district claim to have undertaken 33,265 water conservation initiatives in three of the 12 blocks selected for jsa by roping in communities. At Narainoankudirupuppu village, a 1 ha pond desilted and restored by farmers unde jsa now recharges wells of the surrounding area. “My 2 ha farm yielded 2,000 coconuts in 2019 against 700 in 2018 due to adequate irrigation,” says V Jaganadhan, a resident.

In Pallakuruchi village, coconut farmer K Muthukumar says water has appeared in his dried up well after the residents cleaned and desilted the Ambakulam tank. jsa, however, is not without flaws.

In Padukkapatthu village, people have built eight groundwater recharge structures, including check dams, bunds and recharge shafts, under jsa. But these are of little help in a region that recieves barely 10 mm of rain in a year. Years of water extraction has led to seawater ingress into the freshwater aquifers, turning them saline. This has made irrigation impossible, forcing most residents to quit farming. “The problem of salinity cannot be addressed through water conservation. What we need is regular release of water from the Thamirabharani river to the nearby Sadaineri canal,” says K

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6 GAYA

This historic district in Bihar is located on the banks of Phalgu river. Yet just like the river, Gaya also faces severe water scarcity for most parts of the year, with 60 per cent of its total area vulnerable to drought. “We have to dig over 60 m to access water,” says Bigan Saav of Baliya village in Dumariya block. So when jsa was launched, it brought hope to people. “In its communication to the Union water ministry, the district administration has claimed to have built 205 rainwater harvesting structures, 116 check dams, 118 farm ponds, 10,172 soak pits and restored 912 traditional water structures in Manpur, Imamganj and Dumariya blocks,” says an official requesting anonymity. Veracity of these claims is doubtful. When dte visited the district in March first week, block-level officials said only two check dams have been completed in Imamganj and one is close to completion in Dumariya. A well claimed to be constructed under jsa in Bhangiya village of Dumariya, 18

Pond built for fish-rearing and irrigation under Jal Shakti Abhiyan in Kurukshetra

has an engravement that says it was built in 2018. There are other contradictions too.

District programme officer Rajesh Kumar told dte that all the 24 blocks of the district were declared drought-hit during the 2019 monsoon, but block officials say they could not undertake construction because of rainfall and work started only after September 15 by when jsa had ended. The city received 900 mm of rain in 2019, slightly less than its average.

7 TIRUNALVELLI

Officials in this Tamil Nadu district went out of the way to secure a position among the top-10 under jsa. At Achankuttam village of Alankulam block, they asked the residents to volunteer land on which waterefficient crops will be grown under their supervision with the help of labourers remunerated under mgnrega. Two agreed.

One of them, K Chellachamy, says he has been a paddy cultivator for years but had not been sowing it since 2017 because there was no water. “The government provided water-efficient cucumber and lemon and helped me in cultivation and irrigation of my 1.5 ha. I was only earning through my cattle, but now I expect to earn from farming too,” he says. Athisya Moses of Melamen-

P H OTO G R A P H : V I K A S C H O U D H A R Y / C S E

Sittampalapanti, a resident. “Instead of building conservation structures, the government should have analysed area-specific problems before launching jsa,” says Padukapatthu panchayat president Sarvanan.

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WATER

ANALYSIS

gapuram village in Keelapavoor block says officials constructed two earthen bunds on his 1.5 ha farm. “The bunds now check the runoff, reducing soil erosion and recharging groundwater. My coconut yield has increased from 6,000 to 9,000. I have planted 1,200 banana trees in my coconut plantationr,” he says. Some 98 earthen bunds have been constructed in the Keelapvoor block. In total, 28.9 million works have been undertaken in the district under jsa.

8 KURUKSHETRA

It is the only north Indian city to find a place in the top 10. Groundwater extraction through borewell and rainfall is the primary source of irrigation here. “The biggest contribution of jsa is that it helped us get our focus back on water conservation.

Earlier, we too constructed structures but not with a targeted approach,” says Bhushan Pal Singh, project officer, rural development department. Under jsa, the district has constructed 315 water conservation and rainwater harvesting structures, repaired 2,831 defunct borewells, developed 2,112 watershed area and renovated 82 traditional waterbodies, as per data provided by the rural development department.

The data also shows that over 29 million people provided voluntary services for jsa activities, which sounds an exaggeration given the population of the district is under 1 million as per Census 2011. However, examples show these jsa structures have had an impact on water availability in the region. Gurnam Singh of Ban village, who has a piggery, says a pond constructed near his farm now helps him collect about 1,000 litres a day. “The pond has been constructed in such a way that the greywater from my piggery and overflowing water from my fields flow into it,” he adds.

9 MAHOBA

This district in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region achieved ninth rank not because of its high score in undertaking capital-intensive new constructions, but because of taking initiatives like planning

20

DATA BY OFFICIALS AT KURUKSHTRA SHOWS OVER 29 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE PROVIDED VOLUNTARY SERVICE FOR JSA ACTIVITIES. THIS SOUNDS BIZARRE AS POPULATION OF THE DISTRICT IS UNDER 1 MILLION

awareness drives that did not require much funds,” says R S Goutam, district development officer. Some 1,115 campaigns were undertaken in which over 100,000 people participated, as per the data provided by the district administration to the Union government. District officials have not even listed how many structures have been constructed or restored.

The data sent by them to the Union government merely lists the number of functional and dysfunctional water conservation structures in the district. But the district has done well in water management in 2019 despite deficit monsoonal rainfall in the past two years.

Lakhanlal Prajapati, 35, of Kulpahar Gramin village, says unlike last year, he could properly irrigate his mustard crops this year because of new bunds constructed under jsa. They reduced the runoff, which helped the water stay and percolate longer.

“Even the water level in my two wells has increased. I expect the yield to increase by 75 per cent,” says Prajapati.

10 MAHABUBNAGAR

A proactive administration has managed to secure 10th rank on jsa scorecard for this largely rural Telangana district. By May 2019 close to 80 per cent of wells in the district had recorded a fall in water levels. Following implementation of water conservation structures under jsa, water levels in all but one of the 25 monitored wells by the groundwater department have recorded an average rise of 5.37 metres.

K Ramalingam, a farmer in Madaram village, says water pressure and output from his borewell has shot up within a season. “I could grow rice this season because of my recharged bore well,” he says.

Madaram is also witnessing tree plantation in full swing under jsa. “About 40,000 saplings, including 20,000 teak saplings, have been supplied to the gram panchayat to be planted under mgnrega,” says Laxmi Narayana, jsa in-charge in Mahabubnagar.

Planting and caring for the saplings has provided employment to several others.

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10

WORST

PERFORMERS

They too inflated data. But more than that they succumbed to unwillingness, lack of planning

P H OTO G R A P H : M A N I S H C H A N D R A M I S R A

1RAJGARH

This district in the northern part of Madhya Pradesh is ranked the lowest in the country. It has neither prepared annual plans nor undertaken activities under jsa.

“We did not receive funds under jsa, so we could not carry out activities under it,” says district collector Mrinal Meena, ignoring the fact that there is no fund dedicated to jsa and that activities under it are implemented through state and central schemes.

“The idea of jsa cannot work. We have funds only to do some repair work of handpumps,” says B K Ahirwal, chief engineer of District Public Health and Engineering and district nodal officer of jsa. Ahirwal says he did not conduct any meeting or carry out an awareness campaign. K C Dubey, district

40-year-old Mahesh Chandravanshi awaits MGNREGA funds that the village head had promised him for a well he built on his land in Kotri village, Rajgarh, under Jal Shakti Abhiyan

coordinator of mgnrega, claimed that 15 recharge pits have been dug under jsa in Muwaliakhedar panchayat, but when dte visited the village, the sarpanch refuted the claims. Rajgarh receives an average annual rainfall of 1,100 mm and most of the farming is rainfed. Ironically, the district has received the Rashtriya Jal Puraskar for excellence in water conservation efforts.

2 SOUTH GOA

The situation is no different in this Goan district. “It is difficult to believe that South Goa, after all the heavy monsoon rainfall it receives, is a water-stressed district,” says Ankush Gaonkar, executive engineer with the state’s Water Resources Department (wrd), nodal agency for jsa. All the parameters on which districts are ranked are related to conservation and rejuvenation of groundwater. South Goa has ample surface water—its rivers, canals, lakes and tanks remain full and have enough water for irrigation and household purposes. Drinking water is drawn from the dam on the river Salaulim. “People will give importance to groundwater and its recharge

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ANALYSIS

only when surface water declines,” says Gangesh Salgaonkar, junior engineer at wrd’s Salcete division.

However, a major reason for South Goa’s low ranking is that it has taken up bigger but fewer projects. In effect, it has very few assets to show under jsa. For instance, it undertook repairing and maintenance of 200-odd check dams on several rivers in the district to control their water flows. These check dams remain closed in SeptemberOctober during heavy rainfall and then open in dry months. Some of these are made of mud and can cause flash floods if they break. So wrd constructed a check dam on the Sal river in Salcete area using fibre reenforced gates at the cost of `80 lakh.

The government has also approved a project for desiltation of the Sal at a cost of `15 crore. This will increase river water and reduce pollution caused due to hotels and resorts, says Diwakar Gauns, junior engineer, wrd. jsa initiatives have already increased water availability. Earlier, several farmers had abandoned farming due to high labour costs and disputes with landlords. They have now returned to farming as increased water availability has overshadowed other factors. Efforts are on to repair a 400-year24

This check dam with fibre reenforced gates in South Goa, built under Jal Shakti Abhiyan, now helps irrigate nearby fields

old water canal that flowed into the Naya Bandh tank in Cuncolim area. The revival of the 5-km canal would help irrigate agricultural fields of 20-30 farmers.

3 HOOGHLY

Scarcity amidst plenty. This adage well describes the coastal district in West Bengal. According to cgwb, groundwater level in Goghat II block, located 110 km from Kolkata, is “critical”. Yet, one can see wells and borewells dotting the countryside and pumps juddering throughout the day.

“We have enough water,” is the constant remark of local residents. Activists in the region blame the state government for the situation. A 2011 government notification encourages over-withdrawal of groundwater, says Chittaranjan Mallick, who fights for water conservation. It allows farmers in districts with “safe” groundwater status to use shallow pumps of 5 horse power capacity without government permission. But now, places like Goghat II have thousands of pumps operating illegally. Residents of Bangai village say during the growing season of boro paddy and potato, they use the pumps for nearly 20 hours a day. “A 5HP pump extracts 600,000 litres in a day. Just imagine how much groundwater is regularly

P H OTO G R A P H : A K S H I T S A N G O M L A / C S E

WATER

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WATER

ANALYSIS

extracted during non-monsoon season,” says a district official, adding that they cannot do much as the farmers have the support from panchayat members and politicians.

However, there have been a flurry of activities in the block office since the launch of jsa. “We have taken a number of water conservation programmes, mostly under mgnrega. We now plan to revive 482 old ponds, dig 36 new ones, prepare 419 groundwater recharging points, mainly soak pits around tubewells, revive 191 khals (artificial ponds) and plant 24,000 trees,” says Abhijit Haldar, block development officer of Goghat II. “Much of the work has been completed and the rest will be done in the current financial year,” he says. But block officials say the situation would not improve until people stop using pumps.

4 BAGALKOT

26

water crisis of the district cannot be alleviated until the authorities change their attitude towards people’s water needs.

5 RANGAREDDY

This Telangana district ranked 201st, because of a lackadaisical administration and rapid urbanisation. “Groundwater level has considerably receded over the past few years, but the district administration barely undertook work under jsa or mgnrega to recharge water,” says S Narsimlu, a farmer in Rangareddy’s Annaram village. He dug up three bore wells in his 1.2 ha field in the past few months for which he shelled out `1.8 lakh, but got water from none. Now he does not know how he will water his next crop. Between May 2018 and May 2019, Rangareddy had recorded a fall in the water levels in 90 per cent of the monitored wells, shows the ‘Status of Ground Water Level Scenario’ published by the state government’s Groundwater Department in May 2019.

P H OTO G R A P H : A K S H I T S A N G O M L A / C S E

Situated in the semi-arid plateau of north Karnataka, Bagalkot receives only 318 mm of rainfall in a year. Some 65 per cent of people here depend on this scanty rainfall to grow crops. This should have meant active engagement by the district administration under jsa. “But except for the construction of some field bunds, not much happened under the campaign,” says Mahantesh M Nagaral, an engineerturned-farmer in Hungund block. While Nagaral’s family has been using traditional drought-proofing techniques on their farmland, most others in the region have sunk in borewells as deep as 600 m to extract water, but to no avail.

Small wonder, Bagalkot is placed 202nd in jsa ranking. It’s not that the government has not acted to resolve the crisis. In 2016, the state government launched the world’s largest community drip irrigation system, specifically targeted at the farmers of Hungund. The project, built at the cost of `786 crore, should have brought water from the Ghataprabha and Mallaprabha rivers nearby to irrigate 24,300 ha. “But water is never released on time. We often get calls for release of water after we are done with the cropping season,” says Nagaral, adding that

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zero in all the five intervention areas under jsa. “The central inspection committee that came to inspect Bengaluru Urban was only interested in Bengaluru Rural. So it practically had no communication with the crucial urban local bodies responsible for water and wastewater management in the city,” explains S Vishwanath, director of design firm Biome Environmental Solutions, who accompanied the Central committee during the inspection.

Rajiv Manjhi, joint secretary in the Department of Health and Welfare and the Central government representative overseeing jsa in Bengaluru Urban, blames the prescribed format for the district’s poor ranking. “The format asks for interventions at the block/village level which is not applicable for urban areas. We had raised the issue with the ministry initially, but the reporting format was not changed,” he says.

7KATIHAR 6 BENGALURU URBAN

Officials and experts in Bengaluru blame the ranking system for the city’s poor performance. “It is good that jsa consolidates all water-related commands under a single roof, but the initiative itself is sketchy in terms of execution. The convergence that was imagined only materialised at the ministerial level and cannot be seen on the ground. There are disagreements between the Centre and the state regarding the criteria and methods of assessment that seem to show in the final scorecard,” says Biswadeep Ghosh, programme director at Bengaluru-based non-profit Arghyam.

The city made rainwater harvesting in all buildings mandatory in 2008 and has legal framework for wastewater treatment and reuse. It is currently setting up 1,440 million litres per day (mld) of wastewater treatment capacity while another 270 mld is expected to be treated through decentralised units in apartment complexes. It also rejuvenated 90 lakes. Yet, the city scored

Migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh work on the post harvest of Bengal gram crop on the droughtproofed farm of Mahantesh Nagaral in Hungund village of Bagalkot district

The district officials of Katihar in north Bihar were perplexed when they were asked to implement water conservation structures under jsa, that too during the monsoon season. The district receives 1,022 to 1,210 mm annual rain; has the Ganga, Mahanadi and Kosi rivers flowing through it; and consequently underground water is available at a depth of just 0.5m to 5 m.

When dte visited the district in the first week of March, farmlands all around were well-irrigated. “Most farmers use borewells for irrigation. We have so much water that we grow paddy twice a year,” says Sanju Tuddu, who owns 0.2 ha in Ratnapur village in Dandakhora block. Vina Kumari, programme officer of Dandkhora, explains why the district ranks at the bottom of the jsa list. Between July and September, when officials visited for inspection, the block was flooded and not a single water conservation structure could be constructed.

8 PALAKKAD

In spite of a few summer showers, the Kerala Water Authority (kwa) has initiated a door-to-door campaign in this Kerala

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17/03/20 3:30 PM

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WATER

ANALYSIS

district, reminding people that misuse of drinking water is a punishable offence. It has also ensured round-the-clock police protection for 15 check dams and regulators in the Bharathapuzha river basin for the second consecutive year, anticipating water plunder during night, especially by the brick kiln and large plantation owners. Police protection for water resources has turned into a novelty in the otherwise water-rich state known for its 44 rivers, numerous streams and backwaters. “Groundwater in the district has depleted alarmingly over the years. Water scarcity may turn severe in April and May,” says R Jayachandran, senior executive engineer with kwa, adding that eastern regions of Palakkad are the worst sufferers. This is the region where Plachimada is located. Several years ago, the village had drawn global attention because of indiscriminate water plundering involving a bottling plant of aerated drinks major Coca-Cola. Since then, agricultural activities have been badly affected in the entire locality, says farmers’ leader Vilayodi Vengopal. Disputes related to water sharing have also become common. So when jsa was launched, it was implemented to do justice on all parameters, says district collector D Balamurali. “We have renovated and desilted over 800 traditional tanks. A massive watershed development initiative was undertaken on the banks of the Bharatapuzha and its feeders. Intensive forestation works were undertaken in the eastern forest regions of Walayar and Chittur from where the rivers originate,” he says. Though Balamurali thinks it will take a few more years to know the results of jsa, Palakkad has already been ranked 219th on the jsa scorecard.

Analysts say implementation of water conservation programmes alone would not help the district. “What worsens its situation is the presence of a large number of waterguzzling industrial concerns in Chittur and Palakkad taluks. They include beer bottling plants and packaged drinking water companies. Bottling plant of Coca-Cola’s business rival Pepsico India Limited is still 30

functional in Kanjikode industrial belt, which is under extreme water scarcity,’’ says activist Arumughan Pathichira.

Malampuzha dam, the largest reservoir in the state built across the Bharathapuzha, meets daily drinking water needs of Palakkad municipality and five gram panchayats. The dam authority is now under pressure from half-a-dozen liquor manufacturing and bottling units in Kanjikode. The upcoming Indian Institute of Technology at Kanjikode and a mega food processing park at adjacent Puducherry are also eyeing water from the dam.

WHAT AILS PALAKKAD IS THE PRESENCE OF A LARGE NUMBER OF WATERGUZZLING INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS LIKE BEER BOTTLING PLANTS AND PACKAGED DRINKING WATER COMPANIES

9 HAPUR

Though located along the river Ganga, categorises groundwater level in all the four blocks in this Uttar Pradesh district covered under jsa as critically low. jsa, too, ranks the district as one among the 10 worst performers. However, district groundwater board officials say they notice a rise in the water table by 1.5 to 2 metres over the past six months, following jsa. And this has been largely made possible because of a willing district administration which followed a simple strategy. “We made sure that the projects are in place. There are around 280 gram panchayats in Hapur and projects are in place all across the villages. In Hapur block only, rainwater harvesting structures have been installed in all the 65 government schools,” says Sanjay Kumar, district development officer, Hapur. These structures were built under jsa at an average cost of `1.5 lakh per school which was made available through mgnrega and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Suraj Pal, executive engineer, Hapur block, says, “Around 100 ponds have also been renovated and soak pits set up along 80 per cent of the handpumps.” cgwb

10

CHITRADURGA

This district of Karnataka receives 294 mm of rainfall against the national average of 870 mm. Most agriculture in the district is still rainfed. Between 1901 and 2000, it faced 59 droughts. Answering a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 22,

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17/03/20 3:31 PM

WATER

ANALYSIS

district, reminding people that misuse of drinking water is a punishable offence. It has also ensured round-the-clock police protection for 15 check dams and regulators in the Bharathapuzha river basin for the second consecutive year, anticipating water plunder during night, especially by the brick kiln and large plantation owners. Police protection for water resources has turned into a novelty in the otherwise water-rich state known for its 44 rivers, numerous streams and backwaters. “Groundwater in the district has depleted alarmingly over the years. Water scarcity may turn severe in April and May,” says R Jayachandran, senior executive engineer with kwa, adding that eastern regions of Palakkad are the worst sufferers. This is the region where Plachimada is located. Several years ago, the village had drawn global attention because of indiscriminate water plundering involving a bottling plant of aerated drinks major Coca-Cola. Since then, agricultural activities have been badly affected in the entire locality, says farmers’ leader Vilayodi Vengopal. Disputes related to water sharing have also become common. So when jsa was launched, it was implemented to do justice on all parameters, says district collector D Balamurali. “We have renovated and desilted over 800 traditional tanks. A massive watershed development initiative was undertaken on the banks of the Bharatapuzha and its feeders. Intensive forestation works were undertaken in the eastern forest regions of Walayar and Chittur from where the rivers originate,” he says. Though Balamurali thinks it will take a few more years to know the results of jsa, Palakkad has already been ranked 219th on the jsa scorecard.

Analysts say implementation of water conservation programmes alone would not help the district. “What worsens its situation is the presence of a large number of waterguzzling industrial concerns in Chittur and Palakkad taluks. They include beer bottling plants and packaged drinking water companies. Bottling plant of Coca-Cola’s business rival Pepsico India Limited is still 30

functional in Kanjikode industrial belt, which is under extreme water scarcity,’’ says activist Arumughan Pathichira.

Malampuzha dam, the largest reservoir in the state built across the Bharathapuzha, meets daily drinking water needs of Palakkad municipality and five gram panchayats. The dam authority is now under pressure from half-a-dozen liquor manufacturing and bottling units in Kanjikode. The upcoming Indian Institute of Technology at Kanjikode and a mega food processing park at adjacent Puducherry are also eyeing water from the dam.

WHAT AILS PALAKKAD IS THE PRESENCE OF A LARGE NUMBER OF WATERGUZZLING INDUSTRIAL CONCERNS LIKE BEER BOTTLING PLANTS AND PACKAGED DRINKING WATER COMPANIES

9 HAPUR

Though located along the river Ganga, categorises groundwater level in all the four blocks in this Uttar Pradesh district covered under jsa as critically low. jsa, too, ranks the district as one among the 10 worst performers. However, district groundwater board officials say they notice a rise in the water table by 1.5 to 2 metres over the past six months, following jsa. And this has been largely made possible because of a willing district administration which followed a simple strategy. “We made sure that the projects are in place. There are around 280 gram panchayats in Hapur and projects are in place all across the villages. In Hapur block only, rainwater harvesting structures have been installed in all the 65 government schools,” says Sanjay Kumar, district development officer, Hapur. These structures were built under jsa at an average cost of `1.5 lakh per school which was made available through mgnrega and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Suraj Pal, executive engineer, Hapur block, says, “Around 100 ponds have also been renovated and soak pits set up along 80 per cent of the handpumps.” cgwb

10

CHITRADURGA

This district of Karnataka receives 294 mm of rainfall against the national average of 870 mm. Most agriculture in the district is still rainfed. Between 1901 and 2000, it faced 59 droughts. Answering a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 22,

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WATER

MGNREGA

Sync and align Delivering water to all by 2024 needs a complete overhaul of the country’s water regime. MGNREGA can be a handy tool

I

NDIA IS just four years from supplying tap water to every household. Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared this in his Independence Day speech last year, setting 2024 as the deadline. The target will be met through a new scheme—Har Ghar Nal Se Jal. This is not just a delivery challenge but a question of building and restoring water resources, which poses myriad challenges.

Almost four of five households (78.6 per cent) of the country do not have piped water connections, as per the National Sample Survey Office’s 76th survey round released in November 2019. The challenge becomes stiffer in rural India, where just 18 per cent households have tap water. In contrast, 40.9 per cent urban households get piped water.

By 2024, some 146 million rural households have to be provided with tap water. While the new target is for drinking water—the category with the lowest share in water use at 9 per cent, as per a 2009 unesco report— there are other dominant water uses. For instance, 80 per cent water in rural India goes to irrigation while 8 per cent is used by industries. Meeting all of these requirements would need an overall change in the country’s water regime.

The Union government has fixed the cost of providing water to all at `3.5 lakh crore till 2024. This will be shared equally by the Centre and states, barring the Northeast and the Himalayan states that will foot 10 per cent of the bill. The scheme is flexible and participatory because it allows gram panchayats and local bodies to decide water usage charges for supply of potable piped water. This step is crucial in planning, 32

implementation, management, operation and maintenance of in-village water supply systems, including drinking water sources.

As a first step in the overhaul, in May 2019, the government integrated different ministries and departments dealing with water into one—the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

Within two months, it had launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan ( jsa), the flagship water conservation campaign and the Jal Jeevan Mission ( jjm), the part of jsa that would ensure Har Ghar Nal Se Jal. “Essentially, jsa is an awareness generation and mobilisation campaign for water conservation to make water everyone’s business,” says Bharat Lal, additional secretary,

P H OTO G R A P H . S R I K A N T C H AU D H A R Y/C S E

SUSHMITA SENGUPTA & RASHMI VERMA

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department of drinking water and sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. The programme was implemented in 1,592 blocks of India’s 256 water-stressed districts identified by the Central Ground Water Board in 2017. Teams were constituted in all the districts, and engineers and technical staff were placed in blocks to take stock of groundwater levels, aquifers, ponds and waterbodies. The first phase of the campaign was undertaken from July 1, 2019 to September 15, 2019. The second phase ran from October 1, 2019 to November 30, 2019 for states receiving retreating monsoons. As of October 2019, a total of 263,825 projects have been completed, of which the maximum are on watershed development (91,864), followed by water conservation (70,180, rainwater harvesting (53,697), afforestation (41,000) and renovation of traditional and other waterbodies and tanks (7,017).

IS IT POSSIBLE? Implementing jjm, however, is not this simple. The most crucial hurdle jjm faces is availability of water. An audit of the erstwhile National Rural Drinking Water

More than 10 million water conservation structures have been built under MGNREGA

Programme for 2012-2017 by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that 0.46 million rural habitations (a cluster of households) slipped from full coverage of piped water to partial coverage in the assessed six years due to unavailability of continuous supply from the source and delay in expansion projects.

Even if the Centre manages to bring piped water to each household, ensuring a steady supply would be a task because of poor water infrastructure. According to an Asian Development Bank estimate, 48 per cent of water gets lost in public supply each day through pipe leaks. A 2018 research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production found piped water is associated with considerably greater per capita water use compared to sources such as hand pumps.

Another challenge is the volume of water to be supplied. At present, most rural households get 40 litres per capita per day (lpcd) which has to be increased to 55 lpcd, as per a 2014 announcement by the Union government. Realistically, rural households with toilets need at least 55 lpcd, if not more. Under the breakup of both 40 lpcd and 55 lpcd supplies, the government says 10 lpcd is for ablution. Every time a pourflush is used, at least 5 litres of water gets released, as per field research done by Delhibased non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (cse). This means, an individual in a household can use the toilet only twice a day. In case of 55 lpcd, every member in the household gets an additional 15 litres for washing and other activities. This 15-litre buffer can also be used in toilets. To ensure 55 lpcd to each rural household, which is also crucial for the Swachh Bharat Mission, the country urgently needs assured availability of water resources.

Tapped water is channelised through various primary (rivers, ponds, lakes, tanks and rainwater) and secondary sources (canals, dams, reservoirs, bottled water and tanker supplies). But there is acute stress in freshwater availability. The per capita annual freshwater availability in 1951 was 5,177 cubic metres, which came down to

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WATER

MGNREGA

1,545 cubic metre in 2011, as per the Central structures: mgnrega. Since its inception, the scheme has created at least 10 million water Water Commission (1 cubic metre equals conservation structures that are functional, 1,000 litres). In 2019, India’s projected spending some `2 crore lakh. It means every freshwater availability is 1,368 cubic metre village has now 20 water harvesting strucwhich is likely to dip to 1,293 cubic metre by tures. Since 2015, emphasis has been given 2025. Surface water sources are also to irrigation facilities and rural sanitation. recording widespread pollution, which is An ieg research published in 2018 says increasing the cost of treating water. Rural works related to irrigation increased from India has another unique problem. Besides 30.6 per cent in FY 2015-16 to 58.9 per cent depleting surface water, it is also exhausting in FY 2017-18 in 21 selected states. groundwater because of high dependency on A cse analysis shows farm ponds hand pumps, borewells and tubewells. constructed under mgnrega alone are Since rural areas are the key focus, enough to meet the demand of water for sustainability of groundwater needs to be the 2024 target. The volume of a typical addressed. “Over the past four decades, farm pond is 1,200 cubic metres. About 1.8 about 84 per cent of the addition to the million farm ponds have been created irrigated area came from groundwater,” under mgnrega in the past five years. This says Mihir Shah, member of the erstwhile means a storage capacity of 2,200 million Planning Commission.

At present, cubic metres. Considering there are 0.65 groundwater resources are used to meet 90 million villages in India, each village now per cent of rural India’s drinking water has 3,300 cubic metres (or 3,300,000 litres) needs. Despite annual average precipitation of storage capacity. On an average, of 1,170 mm, water resource the water requirement in a village is distribution is highly skewed due to INDIA HAS 1,287 55 litres per person per day. Hence, large spatial and temporal variability BLOCKS, TALUKAS, this storage can meet the requirement in rainfall. The scale of dependence on MANDALS AND of 6,000 people. rainwater for groundwater recharge is DISTRICTS WHERE India has spent `400,000 crore on evident from the fact that every GROUNDWATER 5,264 dams in different states till delayed monsoon means drinking EXTRACTION RATE IS February 2019, as per media reports, water crisis for half of India’s HIGHER THAN while `20,189.6 crore have been spent population, as per a study published in GROUNDWATER on mgnrega projects, which is 5.4 per the Journal of Hydrology in 2019. It cent of the cost of the construction of adds that erratic climate disturbances RECHARGE big dams. Big dams irrigate 49 per like droughts reduce the groundwater cent of the area, while calculation shows level and pose challenge to freshwater that the mgnrega projects are far more security in India. According to the Central effective because they are decentralised.

Groundwater Board, India has 1,287 blocks, A 2016 study by Hyderabad-based talukas, mandals and districts where International Crops Research Institute for groundwater extraction rate is higher than the Semi-Arid Tropics Development Centre groundwater recharge. Manoj Panda, shows there was a huge increase in director, the Institute of Economic Growth groundwater recharge due to mgnrega (ieg), Delhi, says, “We need to focus on drought-prone states. Solutions and plans works in the water-scarce Andhra Pradesh, are made by government but are not Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. In the implemented properly on the ground.” districts studied, there was an increase in To change the approach towards the crop yield by 30 to 50 per cent and the water sector—from supply-driven to sustaifinancial gain varied between `4,000 per ha nability-seeking—the government is using per year to `15,000 per ha per year the only scheme that is mandated by law to depending on the annual rainfall.

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35IonExchange Down to Earth_Full Spectrum_size 19.75 x 27.3CMS.indd 35

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WATER

MGNREGA

CONCRETE TRUTH

Jammu & Kashmir 80

The share of water structures constructed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has gone down from 20 per cent in 2014-15 to 10 per cent in 2018-19 %age of water-related works against total works completed under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Rajasthan 80 60 40

80 60

29

40

8

20 0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

60

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

84,291

100 80

20

17

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Goa

283,784

100 80 60

100 80 60

32

20

9

0

Maharashtra

8

0

48

Karnataka

847

100

47

60 40

20

20

0

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Kerala

Tamil Nadu

451,370

100 80

52

40

60

15

20 0

80

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

40 20

15

12

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Andhra Pradesh

418,689

100

448,920

80

40

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

36

12

0

40

11

20

60

28

20

60

40 31

40

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Gujarat

410,234

80

20

0

0

Madhya Pradesh 100

80 40

8

20

20

36

24,566

100 60

25

40

Punjab

17,714

100

60

Districts with water-stressed blocks

Haryana

243,075

100

00 Total water-related works completed since 2014-15

95,184

100

248,044

100 80 60

17

0

16

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

40 20

6

9

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

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Himachal Pradesh

117,2 9 3

100 80 60

Uttarakhand 80 60

45

40

23

40

20

20

0

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

80

21

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

40 20 13 0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

80 60

40

40

6

20

19

20

0

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

80

7

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

80 60

40

40

7

0

2,226

100

60 20 11

20

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Nagaland

Manipur

5,317

80 60

20

15

6

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Meghalaya

60

17

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Telangana 100 80 60 40 20 12

121,856

100 80

80

40 30

60

16

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

40 20 0

19

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

9

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

13,077

100 80

40

11

20 0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

100 80 60 40 20 0

22

0

16

20 13 0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Odisha

196,403

100

22

20

60

Chhattisgarh

425,377

40

Mizoram

60

20 13

80

Tripura

8,239

40

8,113

100

60

40

80

12

14

0

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

100

100

2

Arunachal Pradesh

29,935

100

79,887

100 80 60 40 20 0

8

Assam

2,612

100

60 53

20

80

Sikkim

421,741

Bihar

452,808

100

60

36

Jharkhand 100

Uttar Pradesh

93,556

100

West Bengal

112,371 20

100 80 60 40 20 0

534,437 29

3

5

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 14 015 016 017 018 019 20 2 2 2 2 2

Source: Jal Jeevan Mission and MGNREGA dashboard accessed on February 29, 2020 DOWNTOEARTH.ORG.IN 16-31 MARCH 2020 DOWN TO EARTH

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38

An incomplete check dam in Bagelgaon, Madhya Pradesh. More than 1.8 million water-related projects were abandoned or left incomplete in 2018-19

up the streams due to wrong planning.

“Mostly, 25 per cent of the works done under mgnrega are useless,” says Ashish Ranjan Jha of Jan Jagaran Shakti Sangathan, a Bihar-based trade union that carried out social audits till 2013. In fact, the share of water-related works under mgnrega has steadily gone down and stands at just 8.4 per cent. The downward trend is also visible in drought-prone states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh (see “Concrete truth”, p36-37). mgnrega incorporates three key policy strategies that are important avenues for providing support to vulnerable communities in the context of climate change—social protection, small-scale infrastructure development and a community-based planning architecture, states Harry W Fischer of Department of Urban and Rural Development, University of Melbourne, Australia, in his 2019 paper. Fischer has analysed asset creation under the Act in 798 projects of Himachal Pradesh. It shows that mgnrega is bringing benefits to the public by reducing exposure to climate and other risks in a variety of ways. Development projects are helping to mitigate key climaterelated challenges that area households face, while labour provides a critical contribution to the basic livelihood security of many marginal groups. Clearly, mgnrega is beneficial in more ways than one. D T E

P H OTO G R A P H . M OY N A /C S E

A 2015 paper in the Economic and Political Weekly studied 20 blocks of Maharashtra in 2014 to assess the impact of mgnrega works through a survey of beneficiaries.

Respondents felt the scheme provided more control over water and assured timely, adequate availability not only for agricultural and livestock purpose, but also for drinking purpose. The ieg 2018 study on the impact of mgnrega on 30 districts in 21 states between 2015-16 and 2017-18 found increase in productivity, income, fodder availability, acreage and even rise in the watertable. Gross annual income per household of all the 30 districts taken together increased from `85,000 to `95,000—over 11 per cent growth in two years.

It is beyond doubt that the water works created under mgnrega have a huge potential to irrigate fields and improve crop production. The Centre has earmarked almost 75 per cent of mgnrega for water related works in FY 2019-20 in comparison to 63 per cent in FY 2018-19. But there is scope for improvement. Creation of optimum structures will be possible only if discusssions are held among planners, hydrogeologists and policymakers. In several cases, structures were built without basin geometry analysis. These were either abandoned later or have become nonfunctional. Hundreds of check dams were constructed on streams, which later dried

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‘Traditional knowledge is not the only source of solutions’ Arguably, he is the most sought after minister in the Union cabinet.

GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT, minister for water resources, shepherds Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of tap water to all by 2024. He speaks to SUSHMITA SENGUPTA on how the government will achieve its target while ensuring water resource sustainability

P H OTO G R A P H : V I K A S C H O U D H A R Y / C S E

Past efforts to reach potable water to rural households have seen more failures than successes. Will the Jal Jeevan Mission (jjm) manage to bring tap water to all rural households?

All the former schemes, be it Central or state, only talked of making water accessible to the rural population through handpumps, standposts or ground-level reservoirs. They talked of availability of water in the periphery of households.

This is the first time we are talking about bringing water to 100 per cent households through pipelines. At present, only 18 per cent households in rural areas have such a facility. This shows the previous schemes did not have piped water supply to the households as a mandate.

The mandate was only making water accessible to households, which today stands at a high of 80 per cent.

We are sure that we will be successful in this initiative because we are focusing on public participation. We are also including non-profits and other organisations in this initiative. We have full confidence that we will achieve the target of 100 per cent before 40

the deadline, just like we did for sanitation programme.

How will the mission ensure sustainability of the source, be it groundwater or surface water?

Sustainability of the source is very important, and sustaining groundwater is crucial. We are also putting emphasis on sustainability and greywater

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[wastewater discharged from bathroom and kitchen] reuse and treatment in the schemes.

Greywater will be treated and used for irrigation and groundwater recharge. Sustainability of groundwater is ensured under Natural Resource Management projects of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (mgnrega).

Convergence with mgnrega has been given a priority.

Groundwater recharge projects will also be funded under the 15th Finance Commission.

Around `30,000 crore have been allotted for this.

In sanitation schemes, we saw the contractors had delivered low grade toilets.

How will the government avoid such malpractices under this mission?

Swachh Bharat Mission was a “people’s drive”. For the first time, we thought of women empowerment. Similarly for projects under jjm, the

Paani Samitis or the communities will be incharge of O&M [operation and maintenance] and initial execution of the projects. This also creates ownership among the communities and such projects become sustainable in the long run. The brackets for pricing of the projects, the quality of the structures will be set so that contractors cannot eye this as a profitable source.

Many villages that developed models for water management failed to sustain them due to loss of interest of the communities. How will you fix this nagging challenge?

Villages fail mostly if the technologies used are not correct. To plan a water management project, studying the aquifer below is very important. Of the total 2.5 million sq km groundwaterstressed zone, we have already mapped the aquifers for 1.1 million sq km. Once such mapping is done, the right technology is suggested. Once the right technology is implemented, the projects become impactful. The communities, village residents and districts become motivated in a cumulative way.

Experts say the solution to the water crisis is traditional knowledge. What is the Jal Shakti Abhiyan doing to promote such knowledge?

Traditional knowledge is not the only source of solution. But yes, our ancestors had years of experience and they used a particular technology for a particular area. Let us take the example of Bundelkhand, where

the Bundela and the Chandela kings created thousands of talabs. These provided water security to the region. But in course of time, these were destroyed. In recent times, there was rejuvenation of many such waterbodies which resulted in a great impact. We will find such examples in Jaisalmer, Barmer (in Rajasthan) where the technology specific to such areas was developed traditionally.

The Jal Shakti Abhiyan will work in 256 water-stressed districts. The work will include awareness on water-use efficiency, rejuvenation of waterbodies, water harvesting and also focus on capacity building of the communities.

Till date, millions of people have joined the mission and many traditional waterbodies have been rejuvenated.

Such momentum will create water security.

This mission requires huge investment in building the capacity of the communities. How does the Centre plan to work with states on this?

During the Swachh Bharat Mission, we worked on bringing behavioural change among communities. Once they are made aware about ownership of the projects, the power of society will grow on its own.

Additionally, the Atal Bhujal Yojana launched last year will be implemented through jjm with focus on areas with very low groundwater. It has almost `6,000 crore which can be used for capacity-building programmes apart from demand-based projects.

(For the complete interview, log on to www.downtoearth.org.in)

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SANITATION

Step up or lose

India cannot sustain its next round of sanitation campaign without managing its faecal waste

I

T WAS a generational leap forward for India last October when it declared itself Open Defecation Free (odf). But sustaining the success is harder than achieving it. So, before the euphoria even settled, the Union government declared the second phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission (sbm) called odf Plus. This campaign is all about flushing villages with adequate budget to take up solid and liquid waste management, a gigantic task given that 100 million toilets have been constructed over the last five years. Without proper waste management, the odf status would mean nothing in terms of containing contamination. There is also the threat of people slipping into their old habit of open defecation. odf Plus is ambitious. The government claims that a majority of toilets in rural India are “twin pit leach pit” type, built by arranging bricks in a honeycomb pattern.

They are self-contained treatment plants and do not require any additional black water or faecal sludge management.

However, by the government’s own admission in its report, “From odf to odf Plus Rural Sanitation Strategy 2019-2029”, the country still has thousands of toilets with single-pits or septic tanks that require desludging from time to time. These were either built during sbm-Gramin or under previous sanitation programmes. “To ensure sustainability in future, they may be retrofitted as appropriate,” says the report.

Under this, all single-pit toilets have to be upgraded to twin-pit and soak pits have to be constructed for septic tanks. The guidelines also call for desludging septic tanks every three to five years and treat the faecal sludge generated at these off-site 42

sanitation facilities either by setting up faecal sludge treatment plants (fstps) for clusters of villages or by providing cotreatment options at the existing stps sewage treatment plants in nearby areas.

For all these, the government has set up a development fund for each gram panchayat, which ranges from `7 to `20 lakh depending on the number of households.

In addition, up to `5 lakh per gram panchayat is available under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for solid and liquid waste management. Funds are also available under the 14th Finance Commission Grants which can be used for odf Plus activities,

P H OTO G R A P H S: V I K A S C H O U D H A R Y / C S E

SHAGUN KAPIL & RASHMI VERMA

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such as construction of concrete soak pits for grey water management and compost pits and vermi-compost pits for solid waste management. Now sum up these budgetary support for odf Plus. A rough calculation shows that a minimum of `17,856 crore should have been with the bank accounts of the country’s 255,098 gram panchayats to carry out works under odf Plus.

However, this does not seem to be the case on the ground.

In fact, thousands of gram panchayats that were declared odf much before the country attained this feat last October are now struggling to implement works under odf Plus. These are the villages that hold the key to the success of the next ambitious but critical phase of sanitation campaign.

Take for instance, the village of Pooth in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district. Sanitation is under special focus here as the village is on the banks of the Ganga. Soon after bagging odf status in 2017, community leaders have been motivating people to continue using toilets, maintain hygiene, keep the streets litter-free and segregate

In this visibly clean Pooth village, about 150 toilets urgently need retrofitting.

But the Uttar Pradesh government does not have funds for this

waste before disposal. Neatly paved drains dug alongside roads now crisscross the village carrying grey water from households to strategically located soak pits. A community toilet and a kuda ghar (waste management centre) along with two compost pits are under construction. “Being a model village under the Union government’s Ganga Gram programme (under the National Mission for Clean Ganga), our sanitation-related activities are always under scanner,” says village panchayat head Deen Mohammad.

“We also wanted to retrofit the ones with single-pits or faulty design and mentioned it in the initial detailed project report (dpr) for odf Plus works,” says Apar Gehlot, district consultant, sbm-g. In Pooth, only 100 of the 400-odd households have twin-pit toilets.

“But we were asked to remove the retrofitting component from the dpr.”

The consequences deride all goals of sbm.

In the first week of March, Mukesh Kewad, the swachhagrahi (foot soldier of sbm) at Pooth, informed Down To Earth that some 20 households are defecating in the open as their pits and septic tanks are full. A few days later, Mohammad called in a honeysucker for desludging the pits and tanks and claimed to have disposed of the faecal sludge in a pit dug on his farmland.

His farmland is barely metres away from the Ganga.

The practice is rampant in neighbouring Alamnagar village, located not far from the Ganga in Hapur. Here, every other electric pole has a mobile number written on it, asking people to contact for “latrine safai”.

Panchayat officials say only a handful of the 1,400 households in the village have septic tanks connected to soak pits for wastewater management. “Though the remaining have faulty design, the state does not have a provision under odf Plus for on-site or offsite management of faecal sludge,” says Gehlot, adding that a space should be dedicated at the gram panchayat level where faecal sludge could be stored and then converted into manure.

Sanjay Chauhan, Uttar Pradesh state

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WATER

SANITATION

kuin. But it’s difficult to persuade people to change their habit. Women here particularly prefer dhamaka kuin so that they can dispose sanitary pads and other garbage in the bore hole,” says Sunita Rathod, district coordinator of sbm-g at Hanumangarh.

Funds crunch has also started haunting the odf Plus campaign. Officials working on the ground cite this as the reason people are not willing to embrace twin-pit toilets.

Unlike Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan allows retrofitting of individual toilets under odf Plus, but it is applicable only for those built during sbm. Most people who installed dhamaka kuin much before sbm began would not be compensated for modifying their structures. And people are not easily convinced to spend their own money. At present, the officials have identified 7,422 houses under retrofitting in Hanumangarh FLAWS GALORE and have allocated `4,500 to each household.

Just like in Alamnagar, one can easily spot The situation is no different in Himachal in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh and Sri Pradesh’s Mandi district, which was among Ganganagar districts advertisements that the first to be declared odf soon after sbm was launched. In 2016, it was adjudged say “kuin khudwayen” and provide contact “India’s cleanest hill district” in a numbers of people adept at digging dhamaka kuin (literally, a well that country-wide cleanliness survey by UNLIKE UTTAR PRADESH, the Union government. But this makes resounding noise). This is RAJASTHAN ALLOWS typically a borehole latrine with a success now poses a threat to the RETROFITTING OF 7-12-metre (m) deep pit and has been district’s clean image. Most toilets INDIVIDUAL TOILETS named so because of the noise here have been built during previous produced when the faecal matter UNDER ODF PLUS, BUT IT sanitation programmes and have and water hit the bottom of the single-pits. There are households IS APPLICABLE ONLY borehole. Experts say these are which have been using such toilets FOR THOSE BUILT highly insanitary toilets. A pit for over 20 years now. It’s just a DURING SBM latrine, as deep as 7-12 m can matter of time before their pits contaminate soil and groundwater even in become full and start leaking. “We have desert areas. They not only emit foul odour, constructed a model toilet with twin-pit the drop holes and toilet seat remain covered technology at each block development office with flies, posing risk of microbial spread. so that people understand the design and its The government has been trying to functional advantages over single-pit toilet,” persuade people to switch to safer toilet says Mahesh Singh, project officer, District designs. Since 2015, Sri Ganganagar Rural Development Agency, Mandi, who is administration has put a ban on dhamaka responsible for implementing odf Plus in the district. “However, we are not able to take kuin. In Hanumangarh, the district administration is motivating people by up retrofitting exercise due to limited access providing them with latrine pans and water to funding.” seal traps to keep the squatting area free of “In 2017, the district was allocated `1,648 crore for undertaking solid and liquid microbes. “We have also installed twin-pit waste management projects under odf Plus. toilets in several houses that have dhamaka coordinator of sbm-g, informs that so far, the government has released `33 crore for implementing odf Plus works, primarily in the 1,058 gram panchayats near the Ganga.

However, there is no provision of funding retrofitting of household latrines. This decision has been taken at the state government level because all toilets built under sanitation campaigns before sbm have single-pits and need to be converted to twinpit toilets. For instance, 4-5 million singlepit toilets have been built under the Total Sanitation Campaign (1999-2012) alone. In western Uttar Pradesh, many people have set up septic tanks under sbm. They also need to be retrofitted with soak pits.

“Instead, we plan to make people aware about the right technology and encourage them to do it on their own,” he adds.

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The amount included the share of award money Himachal Pradesh received for being the second odf state. But so far, the district administration has released only `27 crore for the 50 gram panchayats,” adds Singh.

“Without incentive, we can only motivate people to switch to twin-pit toilets. We do not have even enough funds for solid and liquid waste management,” he adds. Using odf Plus funds, sbm officials in 2017 set up centralised composting facilities in parts of the district. “It has helped keep the district clean. But we do not have funds for setting up more such facilities,” says Singh.

Officials with the Union government insist that these are just teething problems and will be addressed once sbm Phase II kicks in from April 1 this year. “Earlier, we were not sure how to fund odf Plus,” says a highly placed official with the Ministry of Jal Shakti. But now the government has allocated `1.4 lakh crore for five years. sbm Phase II will help rural India effectively handle the challenge of solid and liquid waste management. Gram panchayats will have to mandatorily spend 50 per cent of the money they receive under the 15th Finance Commission on water and sanitation activities, he adds. The government also 46

Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district is known for its innovative management of solid and liquid waste. It is developing a treatment system to recycle greywater and use it for irrigation. But most of its toilets are single-pits and may start leaking anytime soon

plans to monitor the progress of odf on a real-time basis. “For this, we are preparing a dashboard on the basis of data provided by officials and gram panchayats. It will be in the same pattern as sbm and will be launched in April,” says the official. The government is also conducting training programmes, with the help of Unicef and other agencies, for those implementing odf Plus. Almost 6 million toilets are being constructed since January for those left out during the first phase of sbm.

But there are few plans, proposals and schemes for toilets that require retrofitting.

According to the official, only 40-45 per cent of toilets in the country have twin-pits. “If there are some old dilapidated toilets and people are not in a position to fund retrofitting, it’s the call of state government if they want to fund it. But ideally, if the government has given incentives to build toilets, people should bear all its future expenses. It should not be a perpetual demand.” Chauhan believes that sbm has managed to change people’s behaviour towards toilets, but not towards the appropriate toilet technology. That should be the focus under odf Plus. D T E @shagun_kapil

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47 IGL Corporate Ad.indd 47

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CLIMATE CHANGE

P H OTO G R A P H : V I K A S C H O U D H A R Y / C S E

WATER

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W

WATE R

ATER IS not just conditional to life, but is also a conduit to the biggest contemporary threat to life—climate change. Whether it is the planet’s changing wind patterns due to warming or the increasing extreme weather events, the climate emergency has disrupted the water cycle. It unfolds before us when we hear about water-related events like floods and droughts.

This is how Indians experienced the impacts of climate change on the water sector last year. Close to 200 districts in the country experienced both flood and drought in the same season. For a few days, it rained exceptionally high, but for a longer period, these districts endured water scarcity. More rain would have meant better storage for irrigation and drinking water. But it never happened as the rainwater drained off without giving the opportunity to percolate into the ground.

So, despite a more than normal monsoon and an extended winter rainy season, the already waterstressed regions of India continue to suffer acute water scarcity. Like any other impacts of climate emergency, the disruption of water cycle will invariably impact those areas that & CLIMATE E ME RGE NCY are already water stressed.

According to the United Nations’ World Water Development Report 2018, some 3.6 billion people across the world live in areas that witness water scarcity for at least a month in a year. By 2050, this number would rise to 5.7 billion. In recent years, scientific assessments—the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) and the 2018 ipcc special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.50C— have visualised a scary scenario of the impact of climate change on the water sector.

It is estimated that with every 10C rise in global temperature, 7 per cent of the world's population will experience a 20 per cent decline in water resources. Going by ipcc reports, if the world limits warming to 1.50C, instead of 20C as agreed in the Paris Agreement, the proportion of people exposed to water stress due to climate change would reduce by 50 per cent.

A simulation by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (iitm), Pune, has found that climate change will bring about a fundamental change in the country’s most important water supplier: the monsoon. The result, as the forecast says: “The hydrological cycle is predicted to be more intense, with higher annual average rainfall as well increased drought.” iitm study shows that India’s river basins are going to witness large-scale changes in water availability. India’s National Water Mission, under the National Climate Change Action Plan, has warned that climate change will impact both surface and groundwater sources in the country. In fact, its recommendation for adaptation involves a complete overhaul of our water infrastructure. Its expanse could be gauged from the fact that millions of our small water harvesting structures need to be retrofitted to endure the extreme weather events.

The strategy to adapt to this crisis needs to protect the worst affected victims—the poor and the marginalised. As they say, “Water is to adaptation what energy is to mitigation”. Down To Earth invites experts to take a deep dive into how this climate emergency will impact the water sector and how we should adapt to these threats.

A FLUID FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE IS DISRUP TING THE WATE R CYCLE AND SEVE RELY AFFECTING THOS E WHO LIVE IN ALREADY WATE R - STRE S SE D AREAS

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WATER

CLIMATE CHANGE

First victims Climate change impacts marginalised people differently

BY JULIE DROLET

C The author is a professor at the University of Calgary, Canada

LIMATE CHANGE is affecting individuals, families, communities, societies and systems around the world. The impacts of climate change are being felt across many social, economic, environmental and political systems. Climate change is contributing to more intense and frequent extreme weather events. Wildfires, floods, storms, extreme precipitation, drought, and extreme heat are among the most serious. Many extreme weather events contribute to increased stress on water supplies, particularly in drought conditions. Many local governments, civil society organisations, and private sector businesses are developing plans to better prepare for more extreme weather and their social, economic and environmental impacts. At the same time, individuals are being encouraged to become more resilient in the advent of environment disasters. Yet, resilience is not fixed or static, and can change over time depending upon the context and social environment. Governments will continue to play an important role in providing support for services and programmes that can help individuals adapt to the effects of climate change, participate in climate transitions and engage in climate change mitigation.

Wildfires have become annual events that result in the loss of critical infrastructure, people’s homes and community spaces with devastating social, economic and environmental impacts for communities. In Western Canada, it is proving very difficult for affected communities to rebuild and recover following wildfires, particularly as the recovery process intersects with the economy, health and mental health impacts, and social processes. Given the long-term impacts of disasters on individuals and communities, there is a need to rethink how communities are supported. The 20192020 bushfires in Australia, fueled by drought and high temperatures, captured the world’s attention as the impacts of climate change on humans and animals were portrayed in society.

The impacts of climate change and disaster are experienced differently by men and women due to their gender roles and relationships in society. Women’s caregiving roles in the household and community are affected by climate change effects on their livelihoods and resources. Women’s experiences and perspectives on climate change are critical to inform climate change adaptation and mitigation policies at the local and global levels.

The impacts of climate change are experienced in communities, and the role of place has emerged as an important consideration in developing sustainability

Research is needed to understand the social dimensions of the affected because it has the potential to shift the trajectory of the climate change debate

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I L L U S T R AT I O N S: R I T I K A B O H R A / C S E

policies and recovery plans. Community members value the natural and physical environment, which are changing due to the impacts of climate change and related disasters. People’s sense of belonging and attachment to place is an important consideration that can inform climate change policies and sustainable development initiatives.

Forced migration and environmental displacement due to climate change is taking place in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia, with implications for the most vulnerable and marginalised in society. While migration is a climate adaptation strategy, it also presents challenges for all involved, from those displaced to host societies. According to Springer Nature, 2019, “estimates for the number of environmental migrants by 2050 range from 25 million to 1 billion …” Thus, climate change as a push factor and driver of migration is expected to increase in the coming years. Small Pacific islands affected by sea level rise will face migration as fresh water becomes contaminated by seawater.

Acts of civil disobedience are on the rise due to climate change. In Canada, indigenous and non-indigenous people who oppose the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline through indigenous territory in Northern British Columbia have effectively used blockades to disrupt rail traffic. Ideological tensions have resulted in a polarised political and economic climate between oil and gas supporters, and environmental groups, during a time when climate change action is urgently needed.

The youth-led climate strikes in 2019-2020 represent a new voice in climate activism. The Global Strike brought thousands of participants into the streets on every continent for global climate protests. As children and youth demand action on climate change, the message is on the human—environment connection with a focus on the most vulnerable people in society. As the impacts of climate change are experienced, there is a need for greater collaboration and partnerships to explore how to better facilitate a “just transition”. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, 2019, indicates “the impacts of climate change will not be borne equally or fairly, between rich and poor, women and men, and older and younger generations.” It is critical to consider how social, economic and environmental justice can be advanced using a human rights approach.

Greater attention is needed on the social dimensions of climate change, which are related to the experiences of people and communities, and how to best meet the needs of those most vulnerable and marginalised. Research is needed to better understand and address these social dimensions, which has the potential to shift the current climate change discourse.

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WATER

CLIMATE CHANGE

Ripple marks People with lower socio-economic status, migrants and refugees are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change on water

BY K SHADANANAN NAIR

C

The author is a senior consultant scientist at the Nansen Environmental Research Centre-India, Kochi

HANGING CLIMATE has significant impact on water—direct or indirect— leading to serious social and economic issues in highly vulnerable countries such as India. Millions of poor are struggling to live with low adaptive capacity, fast diminishing reliable water resources, large-scale wetland degradation and unsustainable water management.

Water resources are fast depleting and deteriorating. Fall in surface water availability due to changing rainfall pattern increases dependency on groundwater.

Groundwater level has been receding at an alarming rate in many parts of India, as a result of over-extraction and changing seasonality and intensity of rainfall. In the coastal zones, this is leading to salinity intrusion in aquifers. Water scarcity causes conflicts over allocation and clash between people. Climate change impacts will have direct consequences for water security with its reflection on food security.

A recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute found that more than half the world’s population and approximately half of global grain production will be at risk due to water stress by 2050.

Failure in agriculture due to hydrological extremes affects rural economy. In large parts of rural India, life still depends on agriculture. Disasters like floods and prolonged droughts cause anxiety-related responses as well as mental health disorders. Thousands of farmers in India committed suicide in the last few decades.

By the late 21st century, climate change is likely to increase the frequency and intensity of drought and a large part of the globe may experience famine.

Food scarcity or food quality issues also can affect mental health. In addition to agriculture, possible crisis in the inland fishery sector is also a threat to food security. Aquatic species are generally more sensitive to water temperatures, and the stratification of water bodies can be impacted by climate change, affecting fish growth and viability.

Associated with hydrological extremes, water-related health issues are worsening.

Floods are increasing in frequency and intensity. Floods contaminate freshwater supplies, heighten the risk of water-borne diseases and create breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects. They also cause drowning and physical injuries, damage homes and disrupt the supply of essential services including medical and health. The World Health Organization warns that increasingly variable rainfall patterns are likely to affect the supply of freshwater. A lack of safe water can compromise hygiene and increase the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which kills

Migration, due to water shortage associated with changing wind and rainfall patterns, has accelerated in the last few decades in climate-risked areas

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over 500,000 children every year.

Shortage of reliable water often leads to disputes over water sharing in transboundary water resources. Existing water disputes are likely to worsen and new disputes are likely to ignite. The problem will become more serious in a country like India, with regional interests dominating national interests and vested political interests making solution and consensus difficult. There are several other socio-economic and environmental issues related to climate change impact on water that affect human life such us hiking prices of food and water unaffordable to the poor, competition and conflicts over the allocation of water and food, migration, violence, setbacks in tourism, wildfire and loss of species and large investments for adaptation and mitigation. Safe water is becoming a costly commodity. Even today, in certain countries, bottled water costs more than fruit juice. Human migration creates tension among countries and different classes of people within countries. Though migration due to water shortage associated with changing rainfall pattern has been happening for centuries, it has been accelerated in the last few decades with abnormal changes in global climate. Hydropower may become more expensive when the rainfall pattern changes.

Reduction in river runoff due to low rainfall or sedimentation in rivers and reservoirs due to erosion and sedimentation caused by intense precipitation can significantly affect hydropower generation. States such as Kerala are already facing this situation.

Some classes of people are more vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change, including children and elderly, the chronically ill, born with birth defects, pregnant and postpartum women, and people already suffering from mental illness. People with lower socio-economic status, migrants, refugees and the homeless may also be more vulnerable. In India, thousands of extreme poor may find it difficult to survive without safe water.

The World Economic Forum has ranked water crises as number one in global risks, with potential to cause damaging economic and social impacts across entire countries and sectors. Living with climate change will mean coping with the impacts on water, and taking the necessary steps to reduce the vulnerabilities of communities and economies. Even when water-related disasters are at our doorsteps, politicians rarely consider it as serious. The answer of Yudhishthira to the question of Yaksha in the epic Mahabharata, “What is the most wonderful thing you see around” is relevant today. “Even when countless creatures go to the abode of ‘Yama’ (god of death), those who remain behind believe it is not applicable to them and they are immortal”.

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WATER

CLIMATE CHANGE

RIVER BASINS UNDER PRESSURE Climate change will adversely affect the water balance in different parts of India. While river basins are expected to experience frequent droughts, coastal plains will be hit by flooding and erosion

Sabarmati 2010

263

2025

219

2050

186

20 million

n 41% increase in population dependent on river basins between 2010 and 2050

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

n 29% decrease in per capita average annual water availability in river basins between 2010 and 2050

Mahi 2010

761

2025

634

2050

539

Tapi

20 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

2010

731

2025

610

2050

518

29 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Narmada Krishna

2010

2,253

2025

1,878

2010

933

2050

1,597

2025

778

2050

661

29 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

48-58Water special_climate change.indd 54

118 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

12/03/20 1:15 PM

Luni 2010

496

2025

414

2050

352

Ganga

43 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050 Figures for West Flowing Rivers of Kutch and Saurashtra including Luni

2010

1,062

2025

885

2010

2,113

2050

753

2025

1,761

2050

1,497

Brahmani & Baitarani

698 million

19 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Mahanadi 2010

1,826

2025

1,523

2050

1,295

52 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Godavari

Pennar

2010

1,486

2010

472

2025

1,239

2025

393

2050

1,053

2050

334

105 million

19 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

FOR DATA IN MAP

Cauvery

Per capita water availability (in cubic metres)

2010

531

FOR MAP River basins

2025

442

Climate change vulnerability in bussines-as-usual scenario (IS92a)

2050

376

River basins

57 million

Population dependent on the river basin by 2050

Acute physical water scarce conditions

Constant water scarcities and shortage

Seasonal/regular water stressed conditions

Rare water shortages

Data not available Coastal areas High

48-58Water special_climate change.indd 55

Coastal areas

Medium

Low

Sources: EnviStats 2019 and India’s Initial National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

12/03/20 3:35 PM

WATER

CLIMATE CHANGE

Upside down Redesign the water sequence to bring equity in supply

BY I R ROB ROGGEMA

T The author is a professor at the Spatial Transformations Research Center for the Built Environment, NoorderRuimte Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, The Netherlands

56

HE SUPPLY of water for agriculture, drinking water and nature depends on human interventions, and increasingly climate change. The more humans intervene in the natural water system, the harder it gets to arrange sufficient water for basic functions. At the same time, the water system requires a higher flexibility as a result of changing rainfall patterns. These two contradictory movements end up in less water being available for people and nature. Thus, the consumption ladder firstly provides water to people that have always gained access to water easily, followed water for agricultural purposes, then the people that do not have easy access being the poorer part of the population, and ultimately water available for nature.

To increase resilience, the consumption ladder needs to be put on its head.

Imagine nature itself will be the first entry point for the water that is available.

Nature itself will shape the landscape, form the systems so that surpluses of water can be stored in the landscape. By increasing the water storage capacity, large amounts of water can be embraced as a resource, instead of being discharged into the sea. Being captured in reservoirs and canals, water can be used first by people that need it most—those who work in the fields and are dependent on water in their direct environment. This water, once it has been used, can be cleaned to a level that is suitable for use in agriculture, in rice paddies, fish farming or the growth of crops. The water that remains is suitable to be adopted in an artificial system, be cleaned and treated as drinking water for an urban population.

Turning the Water Supply Sequence upside down in this nature-based way serves everyone and creates a more resilient system, which can deal with higher fluctuations in rainfall, prevents flooding and provides fresh water to all uses in an area. But the coming of age of this thinking is not enough to implement it. The way to achieve a great outcome for everyone works best through a design-led approach.

The magic of design is that unforeseen and uncalculatable outcomes can be imagined, and new solutions can be envisaged. This gives rise to further explorations in practice and testing of these alternatives. This is often underestimated in the technical, engineering-led system we operate.

This can help us transform the way we respond to current water problems, often caused by the solutions of the past.

Designing unexpected futures is the only opportunity we have to turn the Water Supply Sequence upside down. This implies that it is also the only chance we have to create a more resilient future for all in terms of access to water. This will also reduce the inequality between the rich and powerful that often have a monopoly over access to clean water.

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Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062 Ph: 91-11-4061 6000, 2995 5124, 2995 6110 Fax: 91-11-29955879 E-mail: cse@cseindia.org Website: www.cseindia.org

Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi 110 062 Phones: 91-11-40616000 Fax: 91-11-29955879 E-mail: cse@cseinida.org Website: www.cseindia.org

Antibiotic resistant hospital infections

DROUGHT BUT WHY?

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Antibiotic residues in food and environment

During 2014-2017 India was shaken as severe spells of drought that hit over 500 million people across geographical regions. Unlike in the past, these droughts did not spare the urban areas; metropolitan cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru declared water emergency and several towns resorted to water rationing. Drought But Why? examines how an occupational hazard has turned into a humanmade disaster of unmanageable proportion since organised agriculture began some 10,000 years ago. The book also delves into the experiences of several villages in chronic drought-prone areas of the country that remain unaffected by the scourge. These experiences show that India is a victim of its own policy that revolves around drought relief instead of working towards relief from drought in the long run.

These villages offer the new commandments for drought management in the country.

Be Waterwise

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India faces a huge challenge in terms of compliance with tightening emission norms. Lord Kelvin, a 19th century Scots-Irish physicist, is said to have quipped, “To measure is to know—if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” This applies beautifully to the situation in India. Industries cannot control their emissions until they can measure and understand them. This new guidance document from the CSE builds on knowledge and expertise collated over decades of emission measurement in Europe and will. Therefore. allow Indian experts to make a technology leap and to start monitoring emissions with accuracy and reliability.

Dr Lesley Sloss Principal Consultant International Energy Agency–Clean Coal Centre

Whether it is a plant operator wishing to install CEMS which satisfy regulators while not being overly burdensome to maintain, suppliers taking responsibility for supplying, commissioning and servicing CEMS, or test houses calibrating and periodically recalibrating CEMS, this guide will be useful to all. For each one of them, it aims to provide an understanding of the key quality assurance steps, credible emissions data for compliance as well as valuable process feedback.

Dave Curtis Director Source Testing Association, UK A very comprehensive guideline for selecting and installing CEMS equipment.

CSE has taken the time to do research into all available technologies and evaluate which work the best. This is a work that focuses on installations in India but can be applied in other countries with a similar climate and infrastructure.

CEMS

CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING SYSTEM CEMS: CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING SYSTEM

This guide is for the evolving and growing professional community in India committed to obtaining long-term valuable and quality results from continuous emissions monitors. It is written based on the experience of plant operators, suppliers, test houses and regulators in the UK. William Averdieck Chairman, Source Testing Association, UK

04/07/19 1:19 PM

A TECHNICAL GUIDANCE MANUAL

Deborah Padwater Strategic Industry Manager Power | GIC Process Automation Strategic Industry Management

Centre for Science and Environment 41, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110062 Phones: 91-11-40616000 Fax: 91-11-29955879 Email: sales@cseindia.org Website: www.cseindia.org

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WATER

CLIMATE CHANGE

Wise old ways We need to tweak traditional methods to tackle climate change

BY BIKSHAM GUJJA

T

The author is the founder of AgSri Agricultural Services Private Limited.

He has written extensively on water management and improving agricultural productivity

58

RADITIONAL WATER management systems, such as tanks, wells and ponds, had inbuilt sustainability and stood the test of time. Sound on knowledge, these were designed for multi-functions but could not meet the growing human needs. Their inbuilt sustainability needs to be brought back through different designs and interventions. This is a challenge.

Growing water needs of humans led to rapid extraction of surface and ground water. This put pressure on the traditional systems and they started disappearing.

Where once wells, tanks and ponds stood, we now have apartments. Fragmentation of land, increase in land prices and urban expansion swallowed public and private spaces. Not that everything has been lost. But whatever has remained has been altered and is no longer traditional or serves the purpose for which it was built.

The realisation that these systems need to be revived led to many projects.

Governments allocated a lot of money to protect whatever remained. There are many support groups and lobbies to protect, revive and even expand these systems.

The results, however, have been mixed and it is difficult to say how much have the programmes contributed to solve the water crisis. Moreover, it is beyond the scope of traditional water management systems to solve the problems posed by climate change, which are of a different scale. Wherever they still exist, however, the systems can help communities adapt to the impact of climate change at local levels.

Thanks to the efforts of civil society organisations in the past two-three decades, there is awareness for protecting, restoring and revitalising traditional waterbodies across the country. In rural India, while the net area and role of traditional systems in meeting water needs has declined, there are many projects to restore them. Urban spaces too are increasingly creating provisions for water storage systems including treatment plants. There is an interest to protect the water structures that have survived in the neighbourhood. Households now want to build structures to store rainwater with or without government support. There are several products in the markets to help households save, treat and reuse water. These initiatives will contribute to reducing water demand and governments are incorporating them in the standard guidelines for high-end building projects. To what extent these will address the problems of climate change is difficult to say, but they surely reflect people’s awareness about the need of local water storage in addressing the global problem. The underlying concept of re-using and storing water built in the traditional systems can be a great help in designing interventions to deal with much bigger challenge of climate @down2earthindia change and its impact on our water resources. D T E

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Please write to Ramachandran if you have any queries at - rchandran@cseindia.org We are updating our Mailing list of DTE readers. Please send an email confirming your preferred emailing address to: cse@cseindia.org. Thanks a lot.

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