Groundwater extractivism in India : Mapping ‘deforestation’ of watersheds in Pune by pramada jagtap

GROUNDWATER EXTRACTIVISM IN INDIA mapping ‘deforestation’ of watersheds in Pune PRAMADA JAGTAP

The decline of groundwater is a global concern. Drier climates like US high plains, Ganges basin, and parts of Australia are known to have depleted groundwater by 2050s[1]. The rampant deforestation of watersheds call for an urgent need to relook at our relationship with water. In the specific context of India, the water tables are as deep as 10 to 40 m below the ground level. Due to the large scale agrarian shift from share crops to cash crops, and an unprecedented rate of urbanisation, availability of groundwater has reduced manifold in 20th and 21st century.

01 American geophysical Union, ‘Ground water resources around the world could be depleted by 2050s’, 2016, Online

The paper looks closely at man’s evolving relationship with water that result in the diverse water systems that exist today in Western India. It looks at factors that construct the narrative of groundwater extraction in 21st Century Pune. The paper begins by mapping the geomorphology of the upper Bhima basin to highlight natural factors impacting groundwater recharge in the basin. It then looks at the influence of man-made water management techniques such as large scale ‘formal’ infrastructure(20th century) and traditional systems(18th century), on the groundwater table. The paper narrates the stories of vulnerable communities impacted by groundwater extraction and introduces decentralised modes of water management that have existed for centuries, but now lie in a state of decay and despair. 2

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The landscape of Pune is mainly comprised of rivers, the Mula and Mutha; tanks and lakes such as the Katraj and Pashan; canals constructed in the Peshwa era(1674-1818); stepwells, and water tanks; natural springs; large scale reservoirs; various urban, peri-urban, rural settlements; and railway and highway networks. Geomorphology of the Upper bhima basin 02 Ground water yearbook, Groundwater surveys and department agency, Government of Maharashtra, 2016.

03 Kulkarni, Himanshu, and Manoj Bhagwat. “Pune’s aquifers: Some Early Insights From A Strategic Hydrogeological Appraisal.”, 2019.

The issue in Upper Bhima basin, within which sits the Pune district, is the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, along with the manner in which reservoirs are operated throughout the year[2]. Pune starts at the end of the Western Ghats, which is a hilly region along the coast. This means that 20% of the area is a run off zone preventing percolation of groundwater. More than 90% of Maharashtra is underlain by igneous and metamorphic rocks, including the Deccan basalts.These rocks not only have relatively low porosities and permeabilities, but they have local features that give rise to local aquifers that have differing properties defining highly variable conditions in the accumulation and movement of groundwater.[3] This makes groundwater recharge in the area difficult. The only exception to this are areas next to river bodies such as the Mula and Mutha rivers and their tributaries. Here, alluvium occurs in small areas along the banks and flood plains. In alluvium, the granular detrital material like sand and gravel usually occurs as a thin layer, allowing percolation of water. According to the South Asian Network on Dams Rivers and People, Pune has four rivers running through the city with total length of 53.92 km. Riparian areas and green belts along these stretches, fresh water springs, along with the Pashan and Katraj lake need to be protected as recharge areas.

Water and the anthropocene

The green revolution of 1968[4] converted agriculture into an industrial system hence increasing the use of chemical fertilisers, and groundwater for the purpose of higher yield. This led to indiscriminate groundwater use through irrigation bore wells and excess groundwater pollution due to ‘chemicalisation’ of agriculture. India’s aggressive pursuit of the green revolution for achieving food security may have been founded on the theory of large dams becoming the backbone of the country’s irrigation development, but its groundwater story, crafted out of the ingenuity of millions of farmers, emerged as the symbol of decentralised irrigation development in India. In the words of Paul Virilio, “To invent the sailing ship or steamer is to invent the shipwreck”. The introduction of informal methods of water extraction, primarily groundwater was the first sign of the disappearing groundwater table. Matthew Gandy writes, “The urbanization of nature, and of water, in particular, is inscribed with these rival sources of social and political legitimacy: a fragile secular modernity must contend with powerful ideological conceptions of nature and culture as essentially fixed and nonnegotiable entities, so that the power of nature within Indian modernity is deeply contradictory. The marketization of water, for example, evokes opposition not just on grounds of social justice as articulated within a modern public sphere but also as it threatens traditional understandings of use, entitlement, and social organization.”[5] As shown in the image on the right, watersheds in the region lost more than half of their forested area prior to 2000. What was once covered by forests, less than 3 percent of these trees remain today as a result of urbanization and cropland expansion. Communities in the area suffer from frequent droughts and floods, as well as high levels of water pollution from agricultural runoff. Sedimentation is a recurring challenge to reservoirs and dams.[5]

04 The green revolution was a period when agriculture in India was converted into an industrial system due to the adoption of modern methods and technology. It was associated with chemical fertilizers, agrochemicals, and controlled irrigation, and mechanisation of cultivation. All of these together were expected to supersede ‘traditional’ technology. Above: MS Swaminathan, the father of Green revolution.

05 Matthew Gandy. “Water, Poverty, and Urban Fragmentation in Mumbai.” The Fabric of Space. The MIT Press, 2014. 138–. Print.

PUNE

A Watersheds lost more than half of their forests prior to 2000. 90% of this land is now cropped or urbanised. Image source: www. globalforestwatch.com 06 Qin, Yiyuan, and Todd Gartner. “Watersheds Lost Up to 22% of Their Forests in 14 Years. Here’s How It Affects Your Water Supply.” World Resources Institute, 2016. JAGTAP | 5

06 Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources, ‘ Ground water information Pune district Maharshtra’ 2013. Online. http://cgwb.gov.in/ District_Profile/Maharashtra/ Pune.pdf

The net irrigated area in Pune district is 3,20,000 Ha out of which 1,45,500 ha is irrigated by dug wells and tube wells, and a mere 12,440 Ha of the area is irrigated by canals. This suggests that groundwater is the major source of irrigation and it accounts for 46 % of net irrigated area. It is reported that there were 91,669 dug wells/tubewells in the district for irrigation in the years 2010-11.[6]

07 Gandy, M, “Water, Poverty, and Urban Fragmentation in Mumbai”, The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination, 2014. Print.

Matthew Gandy writes for Mumbai, but is also valid for Pune and for numerous cities in the subcontinent, “The increasing frequency and ferocity of these extreme weather events—probably connected with anthropogenic sources of climate change and certainly exacerbated by the concretisation and destruction of the city’s natural floodplain—add another facet to the city’s seemingly intractable challenge to modernise its water infrastructure.”[7] Politics of water and systems of management

08 Acciavatti, Anthony, Aleksandr Bierig, and Duncan Corrigall. Ganges Water Machine : Designing New India’s Ancient River . First edition. San Francisco: Applied Research + Design Publishing, 2015. Print.

In the Ganges water machine, Anthony Acciavatti talks about society’s obsession with management almost to the point of paranoia. [8] He questions this need to regulate and ‘manage’ natural water resources. Water distribution pipes have become the focus of bitter conflict between middle classes and urban poor. The water supply by Pune Municipal corporation is unreliable for many that cannot afford to store water for long durations. The urban poor receive water for a mere 2-4 hours a day. Many businesses, construction industry and wealthier communities rely on thousands of wells and bore holes drilled into the landscape along with private tankers(which also rely on bore wells) and illegal connections. The absence of a detailed aquifer map for the city of Pune is also a major hindrance In trying to establish a balance between ground and surface water use.

Colonialism ensured that complete autonomy of water management and distribution lied with the state. Neo-colonialism further ensured that power was no longer only in the hands of the state, but with those that accumulated wealth, this prioritised access to water for industries and large scale corporations that sold bottled water. This systemic erasure of the right to water for the urban poor and indigenous communities created a metaphysical divide between the people and resources. As the city grew in size, dwellings were built over numerous natural springs that emerged from the Pune ground, rendering them invisible and hence unusable. Spirn writes, “There is a common tendency to focus on natural features (e.g. rivers and trees) rather than the processes that shape and structure them (e.g. flow of air, water, and materials; plant reproduction and growth). Ignoring natural processes leads to harmful consequences, including the failure of planners to accommodate dynamic change, their failure to make connections among seemingly unrelated issues and phenomena and to realise opportunities”.[9] In speaking about Cairo’s systems of water management, Noura Wahby calls for equitable and just access to urban water. Water shortages in the 21st Century have led to multiple stakeholders being involved in the process of water access and repair. The complete control of water supply and management with the state forces the emergence of various informal methods of access to the resource.[10] This is a major challenege to global policymakers.

09 Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Ecological Urbanism: A Framework for the Design of Resilient Cities (2014).” The Ecological Design and Planning Reader. Washington, DC: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics. 8. Web.

10 Noura M. Wahby, “Urban Informality and the State: Repairing Cairo’s Waters through Gehood Zateya,” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space , 2021, Online

In the specific context of Pune, Kulkarni and Bhagwat emphasise on the right balance of aquifer protection and moderation of its use. They call for a much sharper focus on Urban (ground)water governance, given the pressures of ever-increasing demands of water supply, the vulnerabilities stemming from scarcity and contamination of civic water supply and the large-scale ignorance of groundwater in JAGTAP | 7

11 Kulkarni, Himanshu, and Manoj Bhagwat. “Pune’s aquifers: Some Early Insights From A Strategic Hydrogeological Appraisal.”, 2019.

mainstream urban water policies. The Pune case clearly demonstrates all of these challenges and therefore makes it relevant to focus specifically on institutionalising groundwater management and governance as a part of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s overall water management system. In the absence of a protocol of including hydrogeology in urban planning, the concept of “protecting” recharge areas is largely missing, although recent initiatives have provided promising approaches to springwater management and “spring-shed development” activity.[11]

that were dependent on agriculture along the fertile river basins. Water distribution pipes have become the focus of bitter conflict between the middle classes and the urban poor. The water supply by Pune Municipal corporation is unreliable for many that cannot afford to store water for long durations. The urban poor receive water for a mere 2-4 hours a day. Many businesses, the construction industry and wealthier communities rely on thousands of wells and boreholes drilled into the landscape along with private tankers(which also rely on bore wells) and illegal connections.

Marginalised communities

All instances of water management bring to the forefront loss of livelihoods for certain communities. Ground water extraction has contributed to farmers becoming the most deprived sections of the community. Since a farmer’s income relies on the difference between input and selling cost of produce, while the input for using pumps or constructing wells to draw out water in drier areas is increasingly high, the profit made from crops is declining. 12 Acciavatti, Anthony, Aleksandr Bierig, and Duncan Corrigall. Ganges Water Machine : Designing New India’s Ancient River . First edition. San Francisco: Applied Research + Design Publishing, 2015. Print.

B The Mavla community, is arguable the oldest development-displaced community in India. The effect of the Mulshi dam construction Image source: https:// medium.com/@AnoshMalekar1968/the-mavlas-of-mulshifdb57a8e65a8 8

Irreversible destruction of the Nonhuman

“A key effect of infrastructures is that they hasten the world. Architectures of circulation, whether road networks, shipping, railways or air freight, have received considerable attention in scholarship on infrastructure.”[13]

“the introduction of a deep Z- coordinate reorients how people develop fields, homes, towns, and cities. No longer reliant on the proximity of tanks and step-wells, or state sponsored water distribution systems, wealthy urbanites and farmers develop “compact oases” off the grid.”[12]

This hastening of the world, has had a significant effect on the non-human. Paolo Tavares writes that the concept of nature as a rights-holder tends to be criticized as being at best a naive idea that belongs to a premodern form of social contract in which the ontological distinction between things and persons was not yet clearly demarcated.[14] However, the effect of infrastructure on nature, particularly water infrstructure in the case of Pune needs to be addressed.

The extensive concretisation and overflow from dams also results in loss of livelihoods owing to flooding. For instance, Mulshi is a major dam on the Mula river in Western India. The Tata power company’s building of Mulshi Dam in 1920 near Pune displaced 11,000 people and triggered large scale protests against forcible displacement. The post independence era saw construction of large number of dams, four in the Pune district- Temghar, Varasgaon, Panshet and Khadakwasla Dam. These led to the displacement of huge sections of community

Most surface water tanks in Pune are known to be centres for garbage dumping. In addition to rivers and lakes, the tanks and stepwells constructed from the 1600s are also hotspots for industries to dump untreated chemical waste. Construction industry, domestic chores, idol immersion, fractures in septic tanks and oil pipelines are major causes for ground water pollution. With repect to surface water, the regular garbage dumping and idol immersion is respnsible for the growth of the invasive specie, water hyacinth.

Acciavatti writes,

13 Harvey P and Knox H (2012) The enchantments of infrastructure. Mobilities 7(4): 521–536.

14 Paulo Tavares, “Non-human Rights,” in: Forensis: the architecture of public truth, edited by Forensic Architecture (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2014), 564

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C Water hyacinth at Katraj Lake, Pune. Image source: https:// www.hindustantimes.com/ pune-news/pune-municipalcorporation-served-noticeover-katraj-lake-pollution/storydgL5WTNPFI63jWPeG4Pg7O. html

This has resulted in a huge loss of marine habitat and has a direct socio-economic effect since it presents problems for many human uses. Growth of water hyacinths is the primary cause of concern for most of the man made water collection/storage tanks and lakes. Water hyacinth invasion impacts phytoplankton productivity and reduces oxygen concentrations beneath these mats. According to the study conducted by department of fisheries and wildlife sciences, Virginia polytechnic institute and state university, blacksburg, water hyacinths are known to cause major ecological and socioeconomic changes. They can alter the clarity of water and block sunlight from entering the surface hence reducing the possibility of marine life below the surface. The Katraj lake has faced major issues due to invasion by the specie and removal has been impossible till date. State of traditional water systems in Pune

D Images of the Kondhwa Budruk stepwell

A lot of these Peshwa era constructions lie defunct, have been erased by concretisation or rendered dysfunctional by pollution. On the left, is one instance of built water heritage that may be key in addressing social, ecological distress caused by depletion of ground water- a temple tank. Traditionally, temples in this region were accompanied by water tanks that lied facing the east. One would enter the temple complex after having dipped their bodies in what was considered holy water. The tank could either have water from a natural spring, or be a surface water collection tank. Some would have steps on al sides leading to the central water feature, where people could assemble in large numbers. Their proximity and association with the temple and regular use ensured the cleanliness of water being used. In the photographs below we see Kondhra Bundruk step well. It is located very close to the Katraj lake, at a high lying level as compared to the rest of the city. One can also observe a sacred tree right at the mouth of the step well, which perhaps assigned the well its holy significance and ensured regular maintenance by locals.

Designed Maintenance

There are numerous institutions studying issues related to the governance of rivers, displacement caused by annual flooding, as well as environmental and social impacts of large scale water infrastructures like dams like ACWADAM, SANDRP, WRI, Arghyam. [15] While this is critical within the emerging political dynamic and bringing rights to vulnerable communitites, there hasn’t been significant organised effort in mapping built heritage around water systems, that ensured the continued conservation of water. Deo and Gokhale, authors from Deccan College Post Graduate research institute along with ACWADAM have done valuable study entered around digital reconstruction of Peshwa era water systems in Pune. Ont he right you see the visual reconstruction which may be valuable in creating visibility and awareness of these water systems within the people. Biome Trust in Bengaluru is leading the initiative that includes restoration of the shallow unconfined aquifers in the city, thereby also reviving the traditional large diameter dug well, which has a long history, culture and heritage going back centuries, possibly millennia in the region. ‘Stepwells of Ahmedabad’ is a selfdirected initiative of a group of students and architects from India. Set within the framework of a non-Western context and an unforgiving climate, it presents extensive data on structure, size and construction of the step-wells built in and around Ahmedabad. [16]Both these attempts are towards making visible traditional systems of water management to ensure its continued survival. In the words of Kian Goh, “it is not that one project changes much—but that one project is successfully embedded in a broader process of organising for social and political change.” She stresses on the power that resides with people from the community to create their own social change.”[17]

15 SANDRP- South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People WRI-World resource Institute ACWADAM: Advanced centre for water resources development and management

E The digital reconstruction of Peshwa era aqueduct Image source: Pallavi Gokhale, Sushma Deo, “Digital Reconstruction and Visualisation of Peshwa Period Water System of Pune” Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 4 (2016): 666. 16 Riyaz Tayyibji, et al. Stepwells of Ahmedabad: A conversation on water and heritage. AhmedabadAnthill Design: Anthill Design, 2016.

17 Kian Goh. “Disparate Yet Interconnected Cities” and “Nature of Contestation” in Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice , 2021

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18 Purdy, Jedediah. After Nature : a Politics for the Anthropocene . Cambridge, Massachusetts ;: Harvard University Press, 2015. Print.

In discussing a politics adequate to this moment, Jedediah Purdy writes, “The Anthropocene finds its most radical expression in our acknowledgement that the familiar divide between people and the natural world is no longer useful or accurate. Because we shape everything, from the upper atmosphere to the deep seas, there is no more nature that stands apart from human beings. There is no place or living thing that we haven’t changed. Our mark is on the cycles of weather and seasons, the global map of bioregions, and the DNA that organises matter into life… in a world, we can’t help shape, the question is what we will shape.… We shape the world by living. Our lives knit into a kind of collective landscape architecture.”[18] To engage the community seems to be the only way forward for ground water conservation. Making visible systems of water management and a multi-partner approach may be key in addressing the challege of ground water extactivism in India.

Goh, K. “Disparate Yet Interconnected Cities” and “Nature of Contestation” in Form and Flow: The Spatial Politics of Urban Resilience and Climate Justice , 2021 Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency, GoM & Central Ground Water Board, Central Region, Nagpur, GoI , “Dynamic ground water resources of Maharashtra”, 2012, i-iii Kulkarni, Himanshu and Bhagwat Manoj et al. Pune’s Aquifers: Some Early Insights From A Strategic Hydrogeological Appraisal, Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management, 2019 Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. 2013, “Ground water information Pune district, Maharashtra”. Online. http://cgwb.gov.in/District_Profile/Maharashtra/ Pune.pdf Calogero, P. “Clay” in Planning Kabul: The Politics of Urbanization in Afghanistan , PhD Diss., U.C. Berkeley, 2011, 139 South Asian Network on dams rivers and people, “Ground water of Pune”, 2016. Online. Shah, T. Taming the Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia, Resources for the Future, Washington DC, and International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 2019 Smith, N. Urbanization by Other Means: Planning Under Urban-Rural Coordination in The End of the Village: Planning and Urbanization of Rural China , 2021, 40

Select References American geophysical Union, “Ground water resources around the world could be depleted by 2050s”, 2016, Online. Acciavatti, Anthony, Aleksandr Bierig, and Duncan Corrigall. Ganges Water Machine : Designing New India’s Ancient River . First edition. San Francisco: Applied Research + Design Publishing, 2015. Print.

Tayyibji, R, et al. Stepwells of Ahmedabad: A conversation on water and heritage. AhmedabadAnthill Design: Anthill Design, 2016. Wahby, N.“Urban Informality and the State: Repairing Cairo’s Waters through Gehood Zateya,” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space , 2021. Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Ecological Urbanism: A Framework for the Design of Resilient Cities (2014).” The Ecological Design and Planning Reader. Washington, DC: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics. 8. Web.

Gandy, M, “Water, Poverty, and Urban Fragmentation in Mumbai”, The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination, 2014. Print. Gokhale, P and Deo, S. Digital Reconstruction and Visualisation of Peshwa Period Water System of Pune, Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 4 (2016): 653-669 12

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Global map The areas in darkest grey have the highest annual ground water depletion. India and the United States have more than 18 cubic KM of annual depletion. [Below] Map of India showing Pune that has a high amoount of rainfall but low ground water reacharge post monsoon.

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Map The landscape of Pune is mainly comprised of rivers, the Mula and Mutha; tanks and lakes such as the Katraj and Pashan; canals constructed in the Peshwa era(1674-1818); stepwells, and water tanks; natural springs; large scale reservoirs; various urban, peri-urban, rural settlements; and railway and highway networks.

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Diagram Hydrogeological formations and their percentages along a strip in Pune district [Below] Map of Maharashtra, highlighting the high percentage of volcanic formations in the state.

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Section Diagram Sectional study of the Pune landscape highlighting the presence of older lakes like Katraj at high lying area of the city, from which canals flowed to lower areas. It also shows the presence of stepwells at lower lying areas of the city.

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Diagram A study of water management systems, highlighting the extractivist nature of the borewell.

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Section diagram The water table in Pune depleted by 10m post the greenrevolution of 1968. The drawing maps the progression of ground water table over a span from 758 AD-2014

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Section diagram Most surface water tanks in Pune are known to be centres for garbage dumping. In addition to rivers and lakes, the tanks and stepwells constructed from the 1600s are also hotspots for industries to dump untreated chemical waste. Construction industry, domestic chores, idol immersion, fractures in septic tanks and oil pipelines are major causes for ground water pollution.

DEEP AQUIFER

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Diagram the regular garbage dumping and idol immersion is respnsible for the growth of the invasive specie, water hyacinth. This stops sun from penetrating below the surface of water, and reduces the amount of rotifer bacteria required for sustenance of catfish and water purifying weed species like cattail typha.

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Diagram Distribution of land cover elements on aquifer reacharge areas for Pune.

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