INDIA’S HYDROSPHERE SECURITY
Water security in India needs to be equated with India’s national security discourse.
By Synergia Research Team
No continent is spared from the modern Water scarcity crisis. Around 1.2 billion people are living in physical water scarcity, and 1.6 billion are teetering on the edge of a future with little or no water. With the global population expected to bloom to 9.4-10.2 billion by 2050, water requirement is estimated to increase by one per cent yearly, spurred by more mouths to feed and growing industrial development.
As the most populous nation on earth, India faces a serious challenge in ensuring a potable water supply to each of its citizens; by 2030, the demand is likely to outpace the supply by almost 100 per cent!
India, having only four per cent of global water, is well on its way to becoming a water-scarce country housing 18 per cent of the global population. By 2030, experts predict that 40 per cent of the Indian population will lack access to clean water sources. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that India’s water security is crucial for its national security. What we see in Bangalore today, a relatively pampered metropolis, with no rains for over 140 days and a shrinking water table, would become the norm for the bulk of the country, barring a few isolated patches blessed with excess water.
Why is India Running Dry?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agriculture is both a major cause and a casualty of water scarcity. Farming accounts for almost 70 per cent of all water withdrawals and up to 95 per cent in some developing countries. The choice of crop greatly impacts the amount of water needed. The table appended below will give an idea.
Extreme urbanisation, industrialisation, inefficient agriculture, excessive groundwater extraction, climate change, poor water management, and inadequate infrastructure have significantly intensified India's water scarcity.
On top of all this excess demand, there is the additional burden of wastage at a colossal scale—India maxed out its sewage capacity by producing 61,753 million litres of sewage water daily, with around 80 per cent of household water being wasted. 92 per cent of rainwater is wasted as current facilities and infrastructure for water are inadequate in India.
The scarcity is further aggravated by the fact that, like a herd of water-starved African elephants that trample water holes into an undrinkable sludge, Indians feel no guilt in polluting existing water resources, especially through religious rituals on a grand scale. Other factors include oil spills, industrial discharge, atmospheric deposition, mining activities, and much more.
Climate change has contributed to a mean temperature rise of 2.4°C to 4.4°C, deterring monsoons and disrupting freshwater availability and food security. Increased temperatures have also caused the rapid melting of snow caps, affecting soil moisture.
Expanding cities attract real estate mafias who ruthlessly seek out unoccupied land that can be converted into lucrative housing estates. Bangalore is a sad example of this. Writes Dipanker Khasnabish, Founder of the School of Governance Management, "While IT/ ITeS parks like Bagmane and Ecospace had their fair share of violations, the real encroachments of lakes and connecting drains (Raj Kaluves) started in the late 1990s/ early 2000s. Buoyed by higher personal disposable incomes and an outlook of ever-increasing compensation, people started buying dwellings much beyond their present earnings, and demand exploded. And so do the violations.As a result, the entire water storage and flow ecosystem was destroyed.”
Coal-based thermal energy conversion is a highly water-intensive industry, and India is heavily reliant on it. Water is required in large volumes for washing Indian coal, containing high amounts of ash, and as a coolant. Economic progress leans on a country's ability to offer a continued supply of adequate energy at reasonable costs. But this situation puts India in a predicament since conversions from present and indigenous resources become more challenging, widening the gap between the supply and demand of energy. Among the primary causes of this condition is inadequate water supplies, and with such large disparities, economic power and progress are rattled.
India's annual rainfall, totalling around 4000 billion cubic meters, accounts for less than half of the country's water resources. Unaccounted water resources are used up through evaporation, evapotranspiration, deep percolation, and sub-surface flows to oceans. 19.25 per cent of India's land is covered by forests, and two-thirds of cultivated land is rain-fed. Deep aquifers are included in India's 'unaccounted' water resources. Farmers in Gujarat are using groundwater mining to draw water, causing dysregulation in the hydrosphere. Maintaining a higher hydraulic head at the aquifer-ocean interface is crucial to prevent seawater intrusion.
India’s Water Security
Water security in India needs to be equated with India’s national security discourse to ensure that the government or administration is not taken by surprise when the crisis hits.
An integrated framework can address India's water security, taking into consideration national energy, health, and multilateral efforts. Securing water and developing innovative technology will equip India to combat water scarcity in the future.
However, the most important approach is to have fresh and innovative thoughts on water security and management essentials, including updating the National Water Policy. A comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach at all levels is absolute for water security. The convergence of multi-layer stakeholders like governments, academia, experts, the private sector, NGOs and international organisations could formulate a transparent mechanism for strengthening India's water security systems.
Some Immediate Measures
Shift from Grey to Green Infrastructure. Traditional human-built infrastructure dominates the current water management approach in India. Shifting from the city's grey infrastructure to green infrastructure could augment the water supply by capturing and treating runoff water to replenish the depleting groundwater sources in Indian cities. This approach can potentially reduce pollution by contacting waterbodies through separate sewer systems. Side effects include enhanced water availability, improved water quality, and reduced waterborne diseases and contamination. Green and grey infrastructure could work in tandem, provided the balance between human intervention and natural processes is an organic and appropriate blend. This infrastructure will also require green and grey investments to increase benefits and system efficiency, simultaneously reducing costs and trade-offs.
Reducing Losses. Evaporation, drainage, percolation, and excessive groundwater usage cause significant water loss in India. Increasing irrigation efficacy will greatly aid in water security. Governments and organisations should make city infrastructure conducive to a green approach. Ensuring underground water tables do not deplete, promoting rainwater harvesting in cities, and reusing treated surface waters could contribute to a holistic shift from grey to green infrastructure, ensuring water security. Chennai prides itself on being the first city to recycle wastewater while simultaneously reducing its freshwater consumption.
Combating over-exploitation of water has been adopted by the World Bank through the Atal Bhujal Yojana, enabling India's rural population to budget the water availability and their usage to budget their consumption.
Water Diplomacy
In the west, India is an upper riparian for rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Teesta on the east, while some rivers originating from China, Nepal, or Bhutan classify India as their lower riparian state. Collaboration is important to utilise South Asian countries' hydro-resources. The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960 oversees the Indo-Pakistani water relations and sharing agreement. India is allocated a very restricted amount of water from these three rivers, with a concession for non-consumptive and agricultural use without exceeding the permissible maximum.The IWT treaty has remained stable, promoting economic prosperity despite conflicts.
The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna megabasin is the world's second-largest hydraulic region. It is also one of the more densely populated areas. Within this basin, fifty-four rivers separate upstream India from downstream Bangladesh. In addition, the Brahmaputra River flows from the east into Bangladesh. It is worth noting that the Ganges Treaty of 1996, which allows the two countries to share surface waters at the Farakka Barrage, is their only bilateral agreement. India and Bangladesh have been at odds over river water issues. For example, the Teesta conflict is a significant issue between two countries. According to the interim agreement signed in 2011, India and Bangladesh will receive approximately 42.5 per cent and 37.5 per cent of the water from the Teesta River, respectively. However, West Bengal rejected it.
Conversely, China is the upper riparian, and its unilateral decisions have ripple effects on the lower riparian state's economic growth. These rivers could also be used as a weapon, causing large-scale damage to India's water-harvesting infrastructure and economics. Yangtse and Huang He (Yellow River), both major rivers in northern China, have decreased water availability, rippling the crisis. In response, China is attempting to divert water from the Brahmaputra River near the Great Bend in Tibet to help restore water in these starved rivers.
National Water Distribution Approach
The idea of moving flood waters from the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin to water-starved basins in western and peninsular India has long existed. The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) basin, which comprises 33 per cent of India's land area, supplies more than 60 per cent of the country's water. Similarly, catchments of west-flowing rivers cover only 3% of the land area yet account for 11% of water resources. It began in the late nineteenth century when Sir Arthur Cotton devised a scheme to connect rivers in southern India for inland navigation. The concept was partially executed but abandoned over time as inland navigation lost territory to railways. Dr. K.L. Rao, the then-Union Minister for Irrigation, suggested the Ganga-Cauvery link in 1972, and Captain Dinshaw Dastur invented the word 'Garland Canal' in 1977. While his concept was eventually rejected, the catchy phrase captured people's imagination and continues to be popular.
In 1982, the Government of India (GOI) formed the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) to assess basin-specific surpluses and deficits and look into storage, connectivity, and transfer options. It envisioned two components of a major river-linking plan: Himalayan and Peninsular, with 14 and 16 connections, respectively. In response to the court order, the government established a (now-defunct) high-powered task force tasked with completing an analysis of how the project will unfold by December 31, 2006, and then completing the project by 2016, which will cost approximately US$120 billion and connect 37 Himalayan and peninsular rivers.
Between 1999 and 2004, an ambitious effort to interlink rivers received new impetus. It focuses mostly on rivers that connect sub-basins within a larger basin or nearby basins rather than distant inter-basin river links. The National Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development (NCIWRD) envisions India in 2050 by calculating agricultural water use based on four important variables: food production requirement, non-food production requirement, water use efficiency, and land productivity. The commission anticipates that India will maintain food self-sufficiency and a steady ratio of land under food and non-food production. The commission's estimates of additional irrigated lands to feed the expanding population serve as a fundamental basis for the National River Linking Project (NRLP 26). The vision also contains a framework for 'water future' research, emphasising the significance of developing alternative policy scenarios and sensitivity studies for India's water crisis in 2050.
A potential downside of a national water distribution system is the high infrastructure development, maintenance, and operation costs. Environmental concerns may arise due to interlinking initiatives that change natural river flows and habitats. There may also be difficulties resolving water disputes between states or regions over shared resources. However, inter-basin water transfers are required to address water scarcity issues in the regions/basins. These transfers are required to improve water efficiency and reduce water waste in water-surplus locations.
Key Assessments:
Without government intervention, the situation is bound to get worse. Subsidies, policies, and implemented programs need to be seriously reassessed with the adoption of efficient technologies. The uncomfortable marriage between politics and legislation interrupts water security in India, reducing the ability for conservation. Decisions need to reflect the cooperation of transboundary waters within and outside India.
Establishing good rapport and relations with India’s neighbours is paramount to ensuring regional water security. Understanding the full potential of water sources and creating sustainable mechanisms to reach the sources is also vital for planned water security in India.
The entire hydrospheric cycle, from rainfall to water percolation into the deep groundwater aquifers, should be considered when strategising for India's Water Future.
A comprehensive accounting of regional and temporal availability of quality and quantities of fresh water for both local and decentralised needs should be developed, owing to changing water cycles. Any further developed systems must achieve
harmony
between humans, terrestrial ecosystems and the bio
sphere
.
