INDIA THIRSTS FOR BETTER WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

By P. Srivatsan, Financial Times Information, July 6, 2005

WATER scarcity has become a serious problem. Much of the water supplied to
the urban areas is sourced from underground wells or river systems. These
run almost completely dry in summer. Inter-State tussles over supplying
water further exacerbate the problem.

Even in the capital city of Delhi, poor distribution and loss of water
through leakage from tanks and pipelines reduce the quantity that reaches
the consumer by 10-15% or even more. Delhi depends on the neighbouring
States of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for water for its treatment plants.
But against its demand of 900 million gallons per day, the capital gets
less than 700 million gallons. The story is pretty much the same in other
major cities.

To focus the attention of Governmental authorities and civic society on
the emerging water scarcity crisis, the United Nations declared 2003 the
International Year of Freshwater. About 75% of the world's water
requirement is frozen in ice caps and glaciers. The remaining 25% is found
in soil moisture.

Water usage has grown at twice the rate of population during the past
century. Currently, 1.1 billion people in the world lack access to
freshwater. In addition, 40% of the world's population does not have
access to adequate sanitation facilities. Approximately 6,000 children die
each day due to some water-related disease or the other. In developing
countries, as much as 90% of waste-water is released without treatment.

Overexploitation of groundwater resources has depleted the water table
drastically in the past 10 years. As much as 50% of potable water is
wasted through leakages and illegal supplies. According to a UN
projection, India would reach a 'catastrophically low' benchmark by 2025;
now it is in the 'very low' category. Rising population growth compounds
water stress. Linkages between fresh water and population show that
population dynamics cause an increased demand for water for agricultural
and industrial purposes, domestic use and waste disposal. Further, there
is wide discrepancy in water usage between rural and urban regions.
Ninety-five% of urban India has access to fresh water against only 79% of
the rural community. Due to this uneven distribution, there is an urgent
need to identify those regions that face water scarcity and those that
have an abundant supply. States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan face
acute water shortage. According to a UN study, in Raichur and Bikaner
women have to walk long distances for water.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the impact of high density of population on water
stress manifested itself in at least two ways. One, it increased the
pressure on limited supply of piped water, and, two, the poor sanitation
facility worsened the living conditions. In Bikaner, it was further found
that the tradition of the nuclear family also impacted the availability of
water. Metropolitan cities such as Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi have their
own peculiar problems, many of them politically created.

There has often been the question whether water shortage would seriously
impact food production in the coming decades. Some people argue that the
world's renewable water is fixed and cannot be increased. Consequently,
per capita water resources dwindle as population grows.

Streamlining internal distribution systems and taking measures to recharge
groundwater resources need urgent attention. Rainwater harvesting must
also be widely practised. Farm irrigation systems need special attention
to reduce wastage and high rates of drawal of groundwater.

The highest yields that can be obtained from irrigation are more than
double the highest yields that can be obtained from rain-fed agriculture.
Increasing the productivity of rain-fed agriculture, which still supplies
some 60% of the world's food, would significantly impact global food
production. In dry areas, rainwater harvesting is needed, which can
increase yields.

There are various forms of rainwater harvesting, using micro structures in
the field to direct the water to the plant or to plant rows; capturing and
directing external water from the catchment area to the field in which
crops are grown and collecting external water from the catchment area and
storing it in reservoirs and ponds for use during dry periods. These also
do not need sophisticated technology. It is more a case where
public-private cooperation will yield rich dividends. So, people's
participation at the local level needs to be encouraged. However, the
difficulty of introducing real participation and transparent
decision-making in societies accustomed to centralised and bureaucratic
methods should not be underestimated. Changes are required from both
institutions and the people in control of the resources.

(The author is a Delhi-based freelance writer.)