Water: Missing the real point

Govt must augment storage and reduce wastage in agriculture

The blueprint for water management policies and the supportive legal framework being contemplated by the government to avert water distress in the near future seem inadequate. The core principles underpinning the strategy have been outlined in two Bills drafted by the water resources ministry – the National Water Framework Bill and the River Basin Management Bill – as well as in the recent report of an expert committee on water sector reforms headed by erstwhile Planning Commission member Mihir Shah. No doubt, these documents suggest several need-based measures to protect, conserve and preserve water, and these are welcome. Yet, very few of them are breakthrough ideas. Notable among these are: Treating water as a common resource and not as personal property; making the entire river basin a unit of planning; proper pricing of water; reducing the water print of industries; and reusing wastewater after treatment.

The suggestions in these documents fail on two specific aspects and crucial counts: These documents neither lay adequate stress on the judicious use of water in agriculture, a sector that not only consumes the most but also wastes the most amount of water; nor do they focus on augmenting the water-holding capacity to store surplus rainwater for use during the lean period. Some of the other institutional reforms suggested by the panel have evoked sharp reactions. The most controversial one is the recommendation to dismantle the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and replace them with a single new entity to manage both surface and groundwater. Much of the criticism is justified since there is little assurance that the new entity will not inherit the inefficiencies of its predecessors.

When it comes to water resources, the fundamental point to note is that India is not an inherently water-starved country. It has been pushed into this state because of mismanagement and misuse of available supplies. The average annual rainfall of around 120 cm, including 89 cm during the four-month monsoon season, is far higher than the world average of 98 cm. But a sizeable part of it runs down wastefully to the seas, eroding the biologically precious top-soil layer in its wake. The total water holding capacity of the 90-odd major reservoirs and countless smaller surface water bodies is insufficient to meet even a year’s requirement. What makes it worse for India is that even the benefits of the existing reservoirs have not been fully tapped because of the wide gap between the creation of irrigation potential and its actual utilisation. In contrast, many other countries have put in place enough water storage capacity to take care of two or more years’ needs.

For its part, the Mihir Shah panel has equivocated on this very important issue of augmenting storage, especially via new dams. Another solution that has been ignored is on guiding the surplus flows of rainwater into the underground water repository. This can be done by improving the vegetative cover of river catchments and constructing special rainwater harvesting structures. Equally important to augmenting water availability is the need to economise the use of water in agriculture. Better agronomic practices that help raise healthy crops with less water hold the key to cutting down agriculture’s water print. Otherwise, water sector reforms will be meaningless.