How to make our water use sustainable

Amarjit Singh
Former Union Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation 

According to a report by the NITI Aayog (CWMI, 2018), 600 million people in India face high-to-extreme water stress. Critical Ground Water (GW) resources, accounting for 40 per cent of the total water supply, are being depleted at an unsustainable pace. Three-fourths of the households in the country do not have drinking water at their premises. As much as 70 per cent of our water is contaminated; India is ranked 120th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index. The poor water quality causes around two lakh deaths every year. The added morbidity, due to contaminated water, takes a huge toll on the earning capacity of the population as well as their quality of life.

The food security that our country has enjoyed thus far appears to have been at the cost of water insecurity. By 2030, our water demand is projected to be twice the available supply. This would mean severe water scarcity for 40 per cent of the population. The metropolitan areas of New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad are likely to be severely affected. The water crunch is likely to cost India 6 per cent of the GDP. There is, therefore, a need to deepen our understanding of our water resources and usage and to put in place interventions that make our water use efficient and sustainable.

More ‘crop per drop’ needed

Agricultural productivity appears to be a fundamental part of the solution. Agriculture today consumes around 80 per cent of the water resources of the country. Our consumption for domestic use and industry is abysmally low. In the days to come, 400 million additional people are likely to live in the urban areas. This would mean an added requirement of water for domestic and industrial use. As a result, there would be lesser and lesser water for agriculture in the face of spiraling demand for water for food, feed and fiber.

India, would therefore, have to focus on enhanced agricultural productivity, where there are huge variations within the country. Punjab produces 48.48 quintals of wheat per hectare, vis-à-vis 24.05 quintals in MP. Similar is the case with rice; MP produces only 14.38 quintals per hectare of rice as against 39.52 quintals in Punjab. These gaps will have to be plugged. More "crop per drop" could come through a mix of improved efficiency of water application and the net water gains through crop yield enhancement. These include drip and sprinkler irrigation; no-till farming and improved drainage, utilisation of the best available seeds, optimising fertiliser use, and innovative crop protection technologies.

MP shows way forward

The Madhya Pradesh irrigation reform model of accelerated irrigation expansion (PMKSY), through effective canal management by restoring irrigation management protocols; last mile investments; reducing deferred maintenance; constant monitoring and benchmarking of the districts; animating irrigation bureaucracy to ensure accountability to farmers and revitalisation of the Water Users Associations shows the way forward. More so, for the states like Maharashtra, which have the largest number of major dams in the country but the least percentage of area irrigated!

In addition, there is a real possibility of shifting India's rice and wheat cultivation eastwards. Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh today export 56 BCM of virtual water; water-rich states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha ironically import 29 BCM of virtual water! There is a real possibility of a second green revolution if the wheat and rice economy can be shifted to the east through apposite procurement policies, solarisation, and appropriate support to the farmers. This would be a game changer in the 95 irrigation deprived districts, where fortunately ground water is available. A well thought-out policy on solarisation could generate 10,000 MW of power, energise 2.7 million pumps, and irrigate18 to 20 MHA, in the irrigation deprived districts.

Gujarat’s reforms

In the GW sector, the way Gujarat has tackled the water-energy nexus through its Jyotir Gram Yojna is illustrative. It has ensured rationing of energy for agricultural use through separate feeders, metered supply and time of use charge. This has been complemented by greater vigilance to prevent power thefts. Though highly political and challenging to implement, the benefits of these reforms have far outweighed the effort in addressing feeder-level chaos, reducing power thefts, as well as subsidy on free and unmetered energy supply. 

This, along with other initiatives of the Government of Gujarat such as rain water harvesting, check dams (bori bandhs) and micro-irrigation have helped Gujarat arrest the decline in ground water. 

Ground water development, which was 75.3 per cent in 2002 and in the semi-critical category, came down to 67.92 per cent in the safe category in 2013. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) assessment shows that the number of safe blocks increased from 105 to 177 and over-exploited blocks came down from 30 to 23 during the same period.

Fix leakages

The other possible interventions to supplement these efforts are fixing leakages in the municipal areas, and optimising the use of water in industries and thermal power plants, as per international norms. 

Our country generates 42 billion litres of waste water per day. Currently, it pollutes our rivers. There is a real possibility of recycling this for conjoint use in agriculture and industry. Above all, we have to ensure that there is an economic return on water. The low-priced water for various sectors is actually wasteful and expensive.

Audit water use

The effective operationalisation of the above agenda would only be possible if we have the ability to audit our water on quality, area and sector-wise use, over-exploited and underserved sectors, consumption trends, and tradeoffs between economic and social benefits. 

We also need greater research to assess the impact of water policies on our consumption trends to optimise the use of water. This would require appropriate governance reforms in the Water Resources Ministry as well as the key professional bodies in the sector: the Central Water Commission and the CGWB. 

The experience of Israel shows the key role of public awareness and advocacy in ensuring sustainable use of water. Amongst other things, one way of doing it would be to present a water budget in our Parliament and the state legislatures, especially during the lean period. May be, this would force our elected representatives to think deeply about this issue and come out with well thought out plans for sustainable use of water.