Bridging water deficit

The projection by the international water resources group that India will have a water deficit of as much as 50 per cent by 2030 is a wake-up call for policymakers. As early as in 1999, the National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development had issued a similar warning, albeit without assigning any numbers, and had called for urgent measures to cope with the emerging crisis. The report of the “2030 Water Resources Group”, a consortium of private and social sector bodies, forecasts that India’s annual water demand in 2030 will be 1,500 cubic km against the likely availability of 744 cubic km. However, the report forecasts that India’s annual water input through rainfall will be 3,840 cubic km. In short, double the water needed will be potentially available but would have to be tapped, stored and supplied to bridge the water deficit. The key to the problem, therefore, would be harvesting and management of rainwater.

Monsoon-dependent India’s perennial problem is that nearly 80 per cent of the total annual rainfall is received in four monsoon months, from June to September, and ways have to be found to conserve and utilise this nature’s bounty. This, unfortunately, is not happening to the desired extent. A sizable part of rainwater flows down wastefully to the seas, eroding precious soil on its way. The rampant denudation of vegetation has retarded the percolation of water into underground water reserves. Unchecked silting of rivers, major reservoirs and numerous other surface water bodies, on the other hand, has lowered their water-holding capacity. Widespread water pollution and quality degradation, moreover, has rendered a part of the available ground and surface water unusable. The government had launched various missions aimed at water harvesting, and these have to be scaled up and implemented with utmost zeal. The historic blunder of listing water as a state subject in the Constitution has limited the Centre’s ability to deal with this problem at the national level. Most of the country’s major river systems cut across state boundaries and even international boundaries. Hence any long-term strategy has to have a national plan and purpose.

Inter-state disputes, lack of fiscal resources with states and misguided civil society actions have come in the way of new major and medium irrigation-cum-hydel power projects in the past two decades. Further, indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater has compounded the problem. The archaic statutory provision that grants unrestricted access to groundwater to landowners has to be scrapped. Free or subsidised power for running water pumps has done more harm than good by encouraging over-use of water. Low or absent water charge in irrigation command areas has also encouraged this trend. The National Water Policy adopted by Parliament some years ago has mandated that water charges should be indicative of the finite nature of this resource. This should be followed strictly. The nation needs a national strategy for water conservation and utilisation.