Here's why India may be on the brink of an unprecedented full-blown water crisis

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Thirsty Nation THE GLOBAL DEMAND-SUPPLY GAP IS EVER INCREASING...

1.2bn 1.8bn people faced absolute water scarcity in 2014

billion are expected to face scarcity in 2025

Water requirements are expected to grow from

4,500 bn 6,900bn m3 today to m3 in 2030 That’s 40% above current available supply of 4,200 m3 Source: Water Resources Group and World Resources Institute

Unbridled consumption of water across India, with few ideas of how to fill a yawning demand-supply gap, is leading to an unprecedented crisis

...EVEN AS INDIA STRUGGLES FOR WATER...

PROJECTED WATER DEMAND IN INDIA

IRRIGATION DRINKING INDUSTRY ENERGY OTHERS

:: Rahul Sachitanand and Sandhya Ravishankar

A

steel wheelchair occupies pride of place in the home of A Swami, a resident of Kottala village in Nalgonda district of Telangana. When you walk into the small two-room dwelling, you immediately see why. Swami is barely a couple of feet tall, with an outsize head and a shrunken body. He contracted fluorosis as a baby and that stunted both his mental and physical progress.

The government’s balm has been a `1,500 monthly pension and the wheelchair, but he and his father (who has a debilitating neurological variant of the illness, which has forced him to give up his job as the village barber) are both prime examples of the hazards of overdrawing groundwater resources. The fluoride count in Nalgonda is as much as 100 times the permissible limit and the likes of Swami and his family have suffered for generations from this overuse of groundwater.

688

2010

A tour of villages in and around Kottala shows what can happen when water-hungry residents overdraw on limited groundwater. According to multiple estimates, there are some 25 lakh borewells in Nalgonda, three-quarters of which have run dry. Farmers say they have to dig to at least 400-500 feet to hit water — that too if they are lucky. One local, Panchakutla Suresh, says he struck water at about 400 feet, but in the neighbouring village farmers went as deep as 1,200 feet to only hit hard rock. “We have suffered for decades from locals overdrawing on water and the resultant fluorosis,” says Suresh.

“The local administration is now dealing with a full-blown crisis of water lev-

910

2025

els literally hitting rock bottom.”

According to water and fluoride expert Srinivas Chekuri, last year Nalgonda witnessed severe drought. “[There was a] shortage of rainfall by almost 42%… It only received 440 mm as against 758 mm average rainfall. Three-fourths of the area was declared as drought hit,” he says. “Ten years of rainfall data shows a steadily declining trend.” While forest cover is low [below 5%, according to government data] activists say in reality it may be next to nothing. “The demand for water for drinking as well as irrigation is at a peak and the rainfall situation is alarming,” claims Chekuri.

While the local administration has tried to convince farmers to consider using lesser water and alternative sources to groundwater (pumped over ground), there are dozens of farmers

2050

1,072

The US

India

Japan

Brazil

South Korea

Canada

23,842 9,265 5,102 3,116 1,392 1,305 1,166 ...AND CITIES AND VILLAGES OVER-EXPLOIT GROUND WATER RESOURCES Delhi

4.5 lakh

Number of borewells/ tubewells

Mumbai

4 lakh

Bengaluru

5 lakh

Chennai

3 lakh

South Africa

Spain

12

23 6

52 15 72 130 8 5

Source: CWC | Figures in billion cubic metres or BCM

WATER SUPPLY IS REDUCING Population (Million)

1951

Per capita water availability (m3/year)

1955

5,177 361

1,027 Turkey

1,114 1,082 976

Source: International Commission on Large Dams Source: Respective city water boards and estimates Note: India has over 2.7 crore tubewells and borewells, according to government data and marginal farmers own 66% of these wells

2,209 846

2025*

1,820

1991

4,732 395

2001

INDIA HAS THE THIRD LARGEST NUMBER OF DAMS GLOBALLY AS IT TRIES TO SUPPLEMENT MEAGRE RESOURCES...

China

56 73 102

2050*

1,341 1,394

1,640

1,140

Source: World Resources Institute *Projections

09

cover story JULY 05-11, 2015

losing their entire earnings in this desperate hunt. What’s worsened the scene is inconsistent rainfall. In the past five years, monsoons were above average only once.

Nalgonda town itself has around 40 operating reverse osmosis plants and there are some 150-200 in the district. “In a place with already severe water scarcity, wastage of more than 60-70% water from these plants aggravates… the skeletal fluorosis situation even more,” says Sunderrajan Krishnan, executive director at INREM Foundation, a water advocacy and advisory company.

THE PAIN POINTS AGRICULTURE Aggressive use of limited ground

water due to highly subsidised and even free power to pumps consumes two-thirds of all ground water in India

Residents of Nallan Kuppam slum in Chennai buy water for `1 for three buckets, spending `6-7 a day on water for their daily needs

Water Crisis Everywhere The villages of Nalgonda district are a microcosm of the water scenario in India. According to a World Resources Institute estimate, in 15 years, the national supply of water is expected to fall 50% below demand. According to the Central Water Commission, the demand for water will climb from 634 billion cubic metres (BCM) to 1,093 BCM in 2025, to 1,447 BCM by 2050.

Despite this rocketing rise in demand, India’s supply remains constrained. While agriculture accounts for around threequarters of all water used in India, rapid urbanisation and heavy demand from commercial and industrial users have placed undue stress on already fragile resources. According to the ministry of water resources, industrial demand is expected to rise four-fold by 2030 to 196 billion kilo litres. What’s worse, India Inc uses water inefficiently.

Over the past decade, Narayana Gowda, a small landowner in Devanahalli, near Bengaluru, has watched with a mixture of bemusement and alarm the drying up of the water table around his five-acre farm.

“We used to be able to hit water at 100 feet a decade ago,” says the 50-year-old, as commercial planes scream overhead. “Today, with some luck, you may hit water at 1,000 feet.” As Devanahalli has become a real estate magnet — rates have shot up 50% in the past couple of years — water levels have plunged. While some farmers have cashed out in this real estate boom, the ones who didn’t are now suffering.

“Borewell-drilling activity almost never

stops around here,” Gowda adds.

But the water woes plaguing such residents is hardly news to long-time residents of India’s technology capital; it’s just the heightened intensity that has knocked them off their feet. Water researcher S Vishwanath points out that there are some 30 million borewells across India and hundreds more being dug, only harming India’s limited groundwater. He adds that the 30 million borewells pump out some 250 million cubic metres of groundwater annually. “This makes India a groundwater civilisation… 65% of India’s water use is from groundwater,” he says. “We need to manage this precious resource better.”

“There are 3,600 irrigation tanks around Chennai in Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram districts,” says S Janakarajan, professorial consultant, Madras Institute of Development Studies and president, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERS). “80% of these two districts is already urban as per the 2011 census. So what will happen to these water bodies?

Who will regulate the buildings and industries? Only if we protect these water bodies will we be able to prevent thirst in Chennai,” he adds.

Janakarajan has spent over 50 years researching Tamil Nadu’s aquifers and deple-

Politically-sensitive, but water-guzzling crops such as sugarcane being pro-

moted at the expense of doughtier options like millets tion of water resources. “These estimates

by Water Resources Institute are based on the assumption that our water resources are clean, protected and unpolluted,” he added. “Therefore available water resources may be much less than estimated… We have thousands of industries, all of which are dumping solid waste, biomedical waste and effluent into the water bodies. It will not take 15 years; in another 10 years itself we may face a severe water crisis,” he says.

Forty-eight-year-old Rani Francis, a resident of Nallan Kuppam slum in Chennai, has been buying water from private tankers for the past two years. “Earlier we used to get water in the common pump in our street,” said Francis. “Not a drop is available in the past two years. Every day we buy water for `1 for three kudams [a kind of bucket that holds around eight litres of water], so we spend around `6-7 a day on water for our daily needs,” she said.

Francis is not alone in her lament. Most homes in and around Greater Chennai buy water from private tankers as government-supplied water is not available and borewells have run dry. In the tony neighbourhood of Old Mahabalipuram Road, home to Chennai’s IT corri-

URBAN Consultancy firm McKinsey states that in 10 years, 69 metros will house 78% of India’s population — putting more strain on an already stressed water system

70% of India’s water pollution is

currently caused by 36% of India’s population — its urban residents, according to

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)

38% of the urban population has

access to sanitation and 78% to drinking water, according to CPCB Cities spend heavily to pump water from remote resources — one source of water for Bengaluru comes from 130 km away

22 of 32 major Indian cities face daily

water shortages, according to data from urban development ministry

COMMERCIAL According to a FICCI survey, 60% of its members said they faced critical water shortages, with this number expected to rise to 87% in 10 years Several key initiatives such as a plan to produce 100 GW of solar power by 2022 could be nixed by growing shortages Industry executives complain that they pay the highest tariff, yet get no guarantees for water supply to their units Activists contend commercial businesses are often located in water-scarce places and

many factories only worsen the situation by spewing untreated water 90% of waste water discharged into rivers doesn’t meet environmental norms, according to CPCB

THIRST FOR MORE: FOUR TALES OF HOPE RAINBOW DRIVE, BENGALURU Over 200 residents of Rainbow Drive, a gated community in Sarjapur Road area, don’t have a municipal water connection.

When five of their private borewells dried up, they took to rainwater harvesting, community wells, an innovative tariff structure (with rates shooting up after consumption of over 20,000 litres per house) and most recently a waste water recycling system to keep them going

RAJENDRA SINGH In the early 1980s, Rajendra Singh, an Ayurvedic doctor, went to rural Rajasthan to try to serve the village folk and stumbled on to how critically short of water the village and its surroundings were. Rather than try to devise a new solution, Singh spent the best part of the past three decade revitalising local wells. While the going was slow initially, a sustained push from Singh and his associates saw aquifer levels rise enough to make seven dry rivers come back to life

BAOLIS IN DELHI

HIWARE BAZAR, NEAR PUNE Erratic rainfall, poor storage and the aggressive push to plant sugarcane (a water-intensive crop) have hobbled many rural communities across Maharashtra . Hiware Bazar, some 100 km from Pune, was no different. Hiware Bazar’s headman Popatrao Pawar launched a sustained programme of water renewal. Borewell digging was banned, intensive water harvesting programmes using trenches were launched and the village steered clear of planting sugarcane.

Instead, floriculture and onion cropping were mooted. In 2013 and 2014, when other villages were hit by a drought, Hiware Bazar’s residents were self-sufficient

At the turn of the century, there were some 100 or more active baolis or traditional stepwells in Delhi, but many of them have since fallen into disuse. A couple of them — like Agrasen ki Baoli — struggle to survive today. However, two initiatives from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and a team from Delhi University aim to revive these ancient stepwells. ASI revived two of them in and around Delhi last year. The Delhi University plan envisages removing the stone bottom of these wells

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cover story JULY 05-11, 2015

CORPORATES TAKE THE PLUNGE THE MOST AGGRESSIVE USERS OF WATER ARE DOING THEIR BIT—OR SO THEY SAY

PEPSICO

Soft drink makers are among the heaviestt users of water and have a spotty record of overdrawing and polluting groundwater. Between we een 2003 and 2006, PepsiCo faced repeated accusaations that its soft drinks were unsafe for consumpmption. The firm had then denied all charge. It says it has improved water efficiency by 20%, four yearss ahead of schedule. However, when the company claimed it was water positive in 2009, activists argued ued it used much more water than it claimed. PepsiCo proojects aimed at adding to the water table include the one in Nelemangala, Karnataka, where water harvesting structures have created the ability to recharge 1.5 billion litres annually, and 13 check dams near Aurangabad, Maharashtra

dor, residents of apartment complexes pay up to `2,000 a month simply to buy private water.

With the city’s expansion, Chennai’s demand for water skyrocketed too. According to data from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, demand for water has increased from 1,326 million litres per day (MLD) in 2006 to 1,481 in 2011 and is expected to hit 1,763 MLD in 2021. Over a decade ago, in 2004, the authorities initiated two projects, one to draw water from Veeranam Lake, 230 km away (to add 180 MLD of capacity) and the second to build check dams to stop rainwater running off into the sea and add another 20 MLD of capacity.

MONSANTO

SABMILLER

The preferred punching bag for antiGM activists, Monsanto is trying to repair its battered image with a series of initiatives to replenish water across India. Near Bengaluru, in Chikkabellapur, the MNC has built three water recharge units, which will add some 90 lakh litres of water, according to a company statement. A year ago, Monsanto said it will increase irrigation water efficiency across its seed production operations by 25% by 2020 — a saving of 135 to 360 billion litres of water per year. It will use more drip irrigation systems and sprinklers, the company said

It takes around 300 litres of water to produce a litre of beer. It is little surprise then that beer giant SABMiller is working hard to whittle this number down. In Neemrana, Rajasthan, SABMiller has initiated a programme with the likes of industry lobby CII in 2013, which has resulted in recharge of around 3,00,000 m3 of ground water annually, the same volume its brewery in Rajasthan uses annually. Elsewhere, in Cuttack, Odisha, the brewer has constructed six water harvesting structures, while in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, a community water management programme has resulted in 500 m3 of water conservation

TESTING THE WATERS FROM LARGE MULTINATIONALS TO FLEDGLING STARTUPS, EVERYONE HAS IDEAS TO FIX INDIA’S WATER CRISIS

GE

The industrial giant has been operating in the Indian market since 1994. Company officials say that in the past eight years, GE has executed some 125 water-related projects in the areas of water treatment and desalination. The firm has devised a range of decentralised sewage treatment plants specifically for the south Asian market and today counts the likes of TCS, JSW, Reliance and Infosys as its customers. The behemoth is also flexing its financial muscle by working with a private real estate developer to build water infrastructure on a build-operate-transfer basis

Much to Worry About Notwithstanding such initiatives, Chennai has much to be worried about.

At the entrance of the IT corridor is Pallikaranai, a small patch of preserved marsh in the midst of the city. “I remember when I was a boy, there was water everywhere,” said S Murugan, a resident of Pallikaranai since 1973. “We used to catch truckloads of fish from the kazhiveli [Tamil word meaning marsh] and samba rice used to grow to a height of 5 feet. We used to be able to scoop up fresh water from the ground just by digging with our hands but now we do not find water even though we sink borewells to depths of 120 feet,” he said.

Experts say that the destruction of Chennai’s wetland ecology by rampant concretisation, encroachment and pollution are the key causes for depletion of groundwater levels. “Out of 474 wetland complexes in Greater Chennai, only about 43 can be used today,” explained Jayshree Vencatesan, managing trustee of Care Earth, a non-profit which works with the state government in conservation of wetlands. “The rest have been converted for terrestrial use, encroached and silted. Wetlands soak in rainwater and hold it in like a sponge. They are the main cause for groundwater recharging in the city.

But now only a little over 10% of the original 5,500 hectares of marshes have been rescued,” she said.

A senior state government official told ET Magazine that the state wanted to graduate from rooftop harvesting to campus-level harvesting.

Chennai’s local water board wants to increase

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT Europe’s second largest water company has been in India in various forms for the past three decades and has installed some 150 water treatment plants.

The firm last year bagged contracts worth about $84 million to install wastewater treatment and drinking water units across the country. Recently, the firm has bagged deals to build plants in Pune and Bengaluru and is looking to expand its presence further, according to company officials

JALDHARA/ GREYWATER Backed by funding from Nexus Venture Partners, this Mumbai-based startup wants to reinvent the market for water treatment solutions in cramped urban cities. Their products, according to company executives, are 25% smaller than the competition and take significantly less power to operate—as much as 50% less

piped water supply to homes, to decrease reliance on tankers and improve the maintenance of tanks so that there are no obstacles in inflow channels and no leaks in sluice gates.

But Chennai is not alone in this battle for water. According to some estimates, while there are some 65 to 70 million people drinking fluoride-laced water in places such as Nalgonda, across Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, some 15-20 million people are consuming water with significant traces of arsenic. As more and more water is pumped out of limited reserves, experts think India is at the brink of a full-blown water crisis. “Indiscriminate ground water use, no controls on tariff, contamination of sources thanks to rapid urbanisation… the situation has become much worse,” says Hoshang Subawalla, APAC regional executive — Water and Process Technologies for GE Power & Water. “India’s water footprint no longer matches its human footprint and old best practices in groundwater discharge have disappeared.”

Rapidly urbanising India can’t only be blamed for the current state of affairs. According to experts, the agriculture sector not only accounts for nearly three-fourths of water use in the country, it is also an extremely inefficient user of the resource. The planting of water-intensive crops such as sugarcane in arid regions such as Marathwada in Maharashtra, leaning on vested political interests in the sugar industry, is just one example of the ineffective use of the resource.

As India races to try to right this water imbalance, some activists say priorities may be misplaced. “We have more than 5,100 large dams, many thousands of smaller dams, and are the third largest dam-building nation in the world,” says Parineeta Dandekar, associate coordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People. “There is hardly any post-facto analysis of how this infrastructure… is functioning.” Maharashtra is the largest dam-builder in the country, even though the average irrigated area is barely 17%, she contends.

Much of this spurt in demand from Maharashtra comes from the agriculture sector, especially for crops such as sugarcane — and is reflective of the strife facing Indian agriculture. In Beed region, there are 66 sugar factories in operation, fed by a sugarcane crop spread across 2.5 lakh hectares.

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JULY 05-11, 2015

Not Quite in Full Flow

Dandekar argues that this skew is hindering rather than helping the sector. “The issue is not about dams… but about using the available infrastructure effectively,” she argues.

“That’s not happening because of a number of reasons, most important being lack of democratic and participatory management in dam operations.” In August 2011, four agitating farmers were allegedly shot dead by the police outside of Pune, as they protested the diversion of water to a nearby industrial area.

A Dwindling Resource With 16% of the world’s population and barely 4% of its water, this squeeze is unlikely to improve anytime with the existing water infrastructure. Companies looking to target this opportunity say that rather than pour more funds into the existing infrastructure, India may need to consider alternatives. For instance, experts say cities need to consider alternatives to pumping water for hundreds of kilometres to reach its residents. Critics also say that the government’s policy — especially around the ambitious, yet contentious river-linking programme — needs plenty of work. A national water policy unveiled three years ago immediately attracted the ire of states for being too centrally controlled. More focus needs to be put on waste water treatment, recharge of aquifers and enhancement of storage facilities.

GE’s Subawalla says that the tradiWith industries tional focus has been on ground and dumping solid surface water, with scant thought for waste and alternative means. For example, he says India needs to expand the use of effluent into desalination units, enhance the use the water of recycled water and decentralise bodies, a severe its water infrastructure to make ends meet. GE, for instance, is hawking a water crisis range of low-cost decentralised sewmay hit us in age treatment plants and has bagged just 10 years some 125 deals to fit water reuse and recycle units across the country.

Subawalla adds that GE is also leveraging its expertise across power and water to provide cheaper and more efficient solutions for customers. “Producing a barrel of oil takes 3-9 barrels of water… desalination of water costs `50 per kilo litre, of which `32-35 is the power cost,” he explains.

And it isn’t the behemoths only hogging the headlines. Far smaller startups are proffering their own innovations to try and solve this vexing problem. Nexus Venture-funded Jaldhara, for one, offers plug-and-play water treatment units for companies. Others have also attracted investor attention — Waterlife India has raised money from Matrix Partners and Aavishkaar Ventures for its community water systems, water harvesting solutions and waste water management products.

Back in Nalgonda, district collector Satyanarayana Reddy is looking for drastic solutions to fix the region’s water woes.

Rather than try to fix the groundwater, the local administration is trying to give it a break. Water will be pumped from nearby reservoirs to provide water to houses and an ambitious afforestation programme, fed by some 450 nurseries, will try to stop leeching of water, in an attempt to stabilise water levels in the region. “We are going at 100 kmh to try to solve the water crisis facing this region… this is not just my focus, but the top priority of the state government,” says Reddy.

The close link water has with India’s economic fortunes was amply demonstrated on June 2. When Union minister for science & technology and earth sciences Harsh Vardhan forecast a poor monsoon, it triggered a two-day drop in the stock market indices, which shaved $23 billion off its value. While over 600 million Indians face a threat to their surface water supply, water-hungry businesses are pushing prime minister Narendra Modi for assured supply as he promotes his Make in India initiative. Trying to balance these delicate requirements for water may be India’s biggest development challenge yet.

India’s water security would be nothing more than a term if the problems plaguing the Himalayan rivers are not immediately addressed :: G Seetharaman | Dehradun/Srinagar, Uttarakhand

F

Devprayag to form the Ganga. or most pilgrims on their way to Kedarnath, SriIn a 2014 report by a committee set up by the nagar in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand is ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), just a town they might stop at for a cup of tea or a which said hydel projects in Uttarakhand — snack. Almost equidistant from Haridwar and home to the controversial Tehri dam — aggraKedarnath, there is nothing that marks it out. But vated the June 2013 disaster, there were conflictall you need to do is stop your car just outside ing views on the impact of the Srinagar project.

Srinagar before you enter it from Haridwar, near According to environmental activists and scienthe Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) training academy, tists, dams along with pollution and climate step off the road and take a few steps toward the change are among the biggest threats facing HimAlaknanda river. Almost immediately, the scars alayan rivers like the Brahmaputra, of the floods in Uttarakhand the Indus and the Ganga. These have a would be visible to everyone, Dams along with direct bearing on India’s water secuover two years after the disaster. rity because Himalayan rivers acThe SSB auditorium, damaged pollution and count for nearly two-thirds of India’s then, still stands askew with its climate change are national river flows, and 43% of Indome — a not so insignificant reamong the biggest dia’s population depends on just the minder of the havoc the river Ganga for their water needs. wrought between June 15 and 18 threats facing India has 4,857 large dams (more in 2013. As if that were not Himalayan rivers than 15 m in height or 10-15 m if it fulenough, what used to be a park fills some other conditions) in operatill June 14 now has mounds of tion and 314 under construction. While nine out muck the river brought from upstream, which of 10 dams in India have irrigation as their main from a distance gives one the feeling of impendpurpose, in the Himalayan region, which acing construction activity. Vijaylaxmi Raturi, a counts for 70% of hydel power potential, India, lawyer who stays across the road, says most of China, Nepal and Bhutan are in a race to build the muck is debris from GVK Power & Infrastrucdams for hydro power. Dams are increasingly beture’s 330 MW hydel power project a few kilomecoming a source of geopolitical tension between tres upstream, which was under construction countries, especially India and China over the then. “It had rained as heavily before as well but Brahmaputra, which originates in Tibet. Accordthere was never any muck,” says Raturi. The ing to an article in Science magazine, India also Alaknanda meets the Bhagirathi downstream at

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cover story JULY 05-11, 2015

THREAT 1 to Himalayan Rivers: DAMS According to an article published in Science magazine, India plans to build around 292 dams in the Himalayan region. If all these dams were built, the Himalayas would have one of the largest dam densities in the world, with one dam for every 32 km of river channel, about 1.5 times the average for US rivers.

2,72,503 MW*

India’s total installed power capacity:

Thermal

Source: Central Electricity Authority *As of May 31, 2015

1,89,314 MW (69.5%)

A committee appointed by the ministry of environment and forests in 2013

41,632 MW 23,444 MW 5,780 MW (15.3%)

(8.6%)

(2%)

Hydro

Wind power

Nuclear

(1.5%)

(1.4%)

Small hydro

Solar power

Hydroelectric Potential and Large Dams in Major Himalayan States# Identified capacity (in MW)

Capacity under operation and construction (in MW)

Large dams (completed and under construction)

Arunachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh

50,064

3,259 (6.5%)

4

18,820

11,524 (62.2%)

20

Uttarakhand

18,175

5,066.4 (28.2%)

24

Jammu & Kashmir

14,146

4,299 (31.7%)

17

4,286

3,291 (77.5%)

2

Sikkim

Source: CEA, Central Water Commission

SIGNIFICANCE OF HIMALAYAN RIVERS The Himalayan river basin is home to 1.4 billion people in India, China, Bangladesh and Nepal, about a fifth of the world’s population Himalayan rivers account for 64% of India’s national river flows, 90% of Bangladesh’s, 80% of Nepal’s and 39% of China’s

Ganga accounts for 26% of India’s land mass and supports 43% of its population

Himalayan rivers, unlike peninsular rivers, are perennial, getting their water both from rainfall and melting of snow in summer

found that hydel projects in Uttarakhand aggravated the June 2013 floods. The (1.7%) report also stated that of the 24 Other proposed hydel projects on the two renewable rivers which the Wildlife Institute of energy India had wanted reviewed, 23 would sources have a significant irreversible impact on the biodiversity of the region.

4,055 MW 3,744 MW 4,534 MW

Large dams are also the source of geopolitical discomfort between India and its neighbours. Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan and China have plans to build over 200 dams in the region.

“The design of hydel projects needs to be revised to focus on environmental flows instead of maximisation of power generation” Bharat Sharma, India coodinator of the International Water Management Institute

#Above 25 MW

Hydel projects in Uttarakhand have aggravated the June 2013 floods, according to a committee appointed by the ministry of environment and forests in 2013

preme Court which in 2013 gave a goahead to the project. has plans for 292 dams in the Himalayas to double hydel power by 2030 and that region could have one of the highest dam densities in the world.

Large hydro power projects (more than 25 MW) account for 15% of India’s installed power capacity of 2,72,503 MW, but it has identified hydel capacity to be developed which is two-and-a-half times the existing hydel capacity, the highest of which is in Arunachal Pradesh, followed by Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

The GVK project, which changed hands a few times since the 1980s before being acquired by the company in 2005, has faced opposition from the locals (it was commissioned in March). Bharat Jhunjhunwala, an activist and a former professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, contested in the High Court of Uttarakhand in Nainital in 2009 that the original capacity approved for the project was only 200 MW and that the environmental clearance given had lapsed. The case then went to the Su-

sociation of Power Producers, says there should be an objective scientific assessment of hydro projects in the Himalayas.

“No one wants to defile the environment.

Projects & Their Impact Locals say that ever since the project Every project will have an impact, but started operating, there has been severe there are mitigating measures. We first water scarcity. A GVK spokesperson says need to find out how much hydel power since it is a run-of-the-river project, “the can be developed in a sustainable manner flow in the river after the powerhouse is in the Himalayas,” he adds.

While those critical of large dams in Inthe same as the inflows before the dam”. dia cite the US’ policy to deHe adds that to meet the wacommission some large ter requirements of the Dams along with dams, Kameswara Rao, stretch between the dam partner, energy and utiliand the powerhouse, there pollution and ties, PricewaterhouseCoopare minimum environmenclimate change are ers, believes there is more tal flows of 5 cubic metres among the biggest to it: “Canada has continper second, which includes threats facing ued to invest in hydel [powpublic water supply reer] and the US imports hyquirements, as approved by Himalayan rivers dro power from Canada, the MoEF. Environmental and European countries flows, which refer to the quantity, quality and timing of water like Norway, Sweden and Switzerland conflows required for a river to perform its tinue to depend on hydro power.”

One of the proposed ways to regulate ecological functions, has gained credence. In the Indian context, given rivers’ development along the rivers is cumulareligious significance some people have tive impact assessment which, in case of a even added the socio-cultural dimension hydel project, does not look only at the impact of that project which is what envito environmental flows.

Ashok Khurana, director general of As- ronment impact assessment (EIA) does,

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cover story JULY 05-11, 2015

THREAT 2 to Himalayan Rivers:

THREAT 3 to Himalayan Rivers:

POLLUTION

CLIMATE CHANGE

For a river of immense religious significance to Hindus, the Ganga has been treated with disdain and negligence by those which it supports. Nearly 6,100 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage — both domestic and industrial — are discharged into the Ganga every day, while the treatment capacity is just a fifth of that. The actual sewage treated is much lower given that only about 60% of the sewage treatment capacity is utilised. Uttar Pradesh (UP) is the biggest polluter, followed by West Bengal.

The central government initiated the Ganga Action Plan in 1986 to clean the river. As part of phase-I, it selected 25 towns along the river in UP, West Bengal and Bihar.

Seven years later, in phase-II, the plan included four tributaries of the Ganga: Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahanadi. In 2009, the Ganga National River Basin Authority was reconstituted and the river was made the national river. The central government has so far spent over `4,000 crore on cleaning the Ganga. Activists complain that nothing much has happened in these 30 years and are not too hopeful of Narendra Modi’s government. His Cabinet in May approved the `20,000 crore ‘Namami Gange’ project. The Yamuna is in no better shape. The average discharge of sewage for the first 10 months of 2014 was 3,445 MLD. The government has spent over `1,500 crore under the Yamuna Action Plan.

but also the impact on the river of all the other hydel projects and other developmental activities like roads and irrigation projects in the region, the people living there and the biodiversity. “We need a river basin approach to rivers, similar to the landscape approach we have for forest and wildlife conservation,” says VB Mathur, director of Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India.

Jhunjhunwala, who fought an unsuccessful legal battle against the Srinagar project, says while he is not opposed to hydel power, a part of the river should be allowed to flow uninterrupted at all times, unlike now when sometimes the entire flow of the river is halted. Adds Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, “We have accepted we need to save tigers, but we have no law to save rivers. India’s long-pending plan to link 37 rivers has been criticised on the grounds that it could do irreversible damage to rivers.”

Saving India’s rivers, particularly the Ganga, is one of prime minister Narendra Modi’s pet projects. The Narendra Modi government has even carved out a separate ministry for river development and the Ganga rejuvenation. In 2009, the Ganga National River Basin Authority was reconstituted and the river was made the national river and the government has so far spent `4,000 crore on cleaning the Ganga, not to much avail.

The newest moniker for the government’s efforts is ‘Namami Gange’ under which the Centre has set aside `20,000 crore over five years. About 6,100 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage is discharged

“We need a river basin approach to rivers, similar to the landscape approach we have for forest and wildlife conservation” VB Mathur, director, Wildlife Institute of India

LESSONS FROM THE MEKONG RIVER BASIN India and its riparian neighbours have a lot to learn from the management of the Mekong river basin in south-east Asia.

Rising from the Tibetan plateau in China, the world’s eighth largest river in terms of run-off and the 12th longest, it flows 4,200 km through Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam into the South China Sea. The four lower riparian countries — Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam — first formally attempted to cooperate on flood control and river management through a UN body in the late 1940s.

Five decades later, in 1995, these four countries signed an agreement for the sustainable development of the basin by focussing on equitable and reasonable use of the river by the countries, the acceptable minimum monthly natural flow and a basin development plan, among others. While there is more on paper than on the ground thanks to the Mekong River Commission’s lack of legal powers, disputes between the countries and China’s infrastructure development plans upstream, it at least provides a framework for the Himalayan countries sharing rivers.

Snow and glacier melt account for 29% of the annual flow of the Ganga at Devprayag, and in summer, the figure goes up to 70%. With the glaciers and snow melting at a faster clip thanks to the rise in temperature, there will be an initial rise in the flow in rivers in the nonmonsoon months, but in the long term the flow will reduce, resulting in reduced water availability. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report, the Himalayan glaciers would shrink by 45% by 2100 if the average surface temperature of the earth rose by 1.8 degree celsius. In case the temperature rose by 3.7 degree celsius, the shrinkage would be 68%.

Also, the rapid melting of glaciers has led to the formation of a large number of glacial lakes, which discharge large amounts of water and debris downstream, causing glacial lake outburst floods. The duration of rainfall is expected to shorten while the intensity of rain is set to rise, leading to flooding.

into the Ganga every day, with sewage treatment capacity only a fifth of that. The National Green Tribunal earlier this week banned the use of plastic bags in Haridwar, which is on the banks of the Ganga, and imposed a fine of `5,000 per violation.

Others in Trouble too The Yamuna, which is a tributary of the Ganga, is in no better shape, with a sewage discharge of 3,445 MLD in the first 10 months of 2014. The government has spent over `1,500 crore to clean up the river. While India’s per capita water availability is expected to drop from around 1,500 cubic metres to 1,240 cubic metres in 2030, the actual figure could be much lower if the quality of the water available is taken into account.

While most people ET Magazine spoke to were quite skeptical of what the government can achieve, some are hopeful.

“If the Ganga, with all its complexities, can be cleaned up till Kanpur, any river can be cleaned up. We welcome the political attention on the initiative, and the PM’s personal attention,” says Suresh Babu, director, water policy, World Wildlife Fund-India.

A threat which is not as well understood as dams and pollution is that of climate change. While the impact of climate change on the Himalayas and the rivers there is yet to be extensively studied, it is clear that the

period of rainfall is going to get shorter but the intensity of rains is going to increase, leading to flooding. On the other hand, during the non-monsoon months, the water availability might go down eventually after seeing a spurt.

Snow and glacier melt account for 29% of the annual flow of the Ganges at Devprayag, and in summer, the figure goes up to 70%. With the glaciers and snow melting at a faster clip thanks to the rise in temperature, there will be an initial rise in the flow in rivers, but in the long term the flow will reduce. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report, the Himalayan glaciers would shrink by 45% by 2100 if the average surface temperature of the earth rose by 1.8 degree celsius. In case the temperature rose by 3.7 degree celsius, the shrinkage would be 68%.

People’s Science Institute’s Ravi Chopra, who headed the MoEF committee on the 2013 disaster, says since glacier melt accounts for less than a third of the Ganga’s annual flow at Devprayag, base flows, which are from the seepage of groundwater, contribute the rest and we need to ensure that continues: “In the last few decades, more and more of springs and underground seepages have disappeared throughout the mountains. One primary reason is the loss of forests.”

With the increase in India’s population, India’s water security is certainly not getting any less precarious. This combined with the fact that Himalayan rivers are central to ecosystems the loss of which cannot be reversed should get us to act with alacrity.

14

centrespread

Water

World Without Sub-Saharan Africa loses

Numbers that Shock More than

8,40,000

More than a third of the people lacking access to clean water live in sub-Saharan Africa

people die every year from water-related diseases That’s

82% 443

Million

TEXT: G Seetharaman

250 ml of tea Cheese

5,000

*where eight out of every 10 litres of annual renewable water supply are used, leaving these countries extremely vulnerable to the slightest change in supply

30

Goat meat

3,900

15,500

Potato Chocolate

250

United Arab Emirates

Rice

24,000

3,400

Antigua and Barbuda

200

860 8,000

l 250 m r e of be

75

A pair of jeans

250 ml of milk

Barbados

days of health

4,800 Cabbage

Banana

125 ml of coffee

Bahrain

Girls under the age of 15 are twice as likely as boys to get water for their families

Pork

700

Malta

413 Million

4,000

Chicken

Beef

Apple

Qatar

With just clean water, young children can gain

Two-thirds of households with no water source at home rely on women to get the water

Most Water Stressed Countries*

of illnesses in developing countries are attributable to water and sanitation conditions

For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, there is an economic return of $3-$34

of the people lacking access to clean water live in villages

Globally, about 783 million people — or every ninth person — do not have access to clean and safe water and one in every five deaths under the age of five is due to a water-related disease. Despite rapid technological progress, we have not been able to provide the most basic necessity to all.

The World Economic Forum earlier this year ranked water crises as the top global risk in terms of impact. In this context, ET Magazine brings you some startling facts about the debilitating water crisis afflicting the world and how much water we consume indirectly and unknowingly:

#Figures in litres utilised in the production of a kg of the product, unless specified otherwise

Half of the world’s hospital beds are collecting water every occupied by people year, which is a year suffering from of labour by France’s water-related diseases entire workforce

80%

people every day

JULY 05-11, 2015

Global Average Water Footprint# of Different Items

40 billion hours About

2,300

15

centrespread

JULY 05-11, 2015

250

Cyprus

140

t made A T-shir on of cott

2,700

Refined sugar

1,500

Singapore

Leather (bovine)

17,000

school days are lost every year due to water-related diseases

Trinidad and Tobago Jamaica

Water Crises are the Top Global Risk in Terms of Impact^

India Ranks Low on Access to Clean Drinking Water and Sanitation** Water and Sanitation Score

100 100 100 100 Rank

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Water crises

France

Israel

Germany

Qatar

#1

#1

#1

#1

86.5 The US

#36

50.4

45.2

36.1

33.2

26.3

Brazil

Russia

South Africa

China

India

#84

#92

#107

#109

#124

**Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index Source: Water Footprint Network, World Resources Institute, World Health Organization, United Nations, The Water Project, Water.org

Energy price shock

Spread of infectious diseases

Critical information infrastructure breakdown

Weapons of mass destruction

Fiscal crises

Inter state conflict

Unemployment or underemployment

Failure of climate change adaptation

Biodiversity loss or ecosystem collapse

^Part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2015 report