Water for thought

A new Niti Aayog report should occasion reflection and reform of systems of water governance in the country

By: Editorial | Updated: June 19, 2018 12:15:55 am

Since 1947, more than 4,000 major and medium-sized dams have been constructed in the country, about 250 billion cubic metres of groundwater is extracted annually.

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness in policy circles of the over-exploitation of the country’s water resources. The Atlas of India’s Aquifer Systems, released by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in 2012, highlighted the falling levels of groundwater in the country. Four years later, the Mihir Shah Committee argued that there is little “understanding of river systems or their interconnections with the health of catchment areas or groundwater”. Now, a Niti Aayog report, Composite Water Management Index, released last week, flags factoids which show how grim the situation is: Seventy per cent of the water resources in the country is polluted, 75 per cent households do not have drinking water and more than 600 million people in the country face high to extreme water distress.

The report should occasion debate on a major policy omission in independent India. Since 1947, more than 4,000 major and medium-sized dams have been constructed in the country, about 250 billion cubic metres of groundwater is extracted annually, but very little attention has been paid to the health of aquifer systems. Since 1971, the CGWB has mounted an aggressive search for groundwater without always recognising the limits posed by the country’s geology: Hard rock aquifers constitute nearly 65 per cent of India’s overall aquifer surface area. These aquifers have poor permeability that constrains their recharge by rainfall. In other words, the water in these aquifers is likely to dry out with continuous exploitation. Falling water tables render these underground storage systems vulnerable to pollutants. Last week, a Duke University study revealed uranium contamination in aquifers in 16 Indian states.

The Mihir Shah Committee had pointed out that “focus [of water policy in independent India] had been on augmenting supplies with little attention being paid to the demand-side management of water”. This policy direction played a major role in meeting the imperatives of food security, but as the Shah Committee pointed out, there has been little emphasis on institutional innovations in the water sector. That is why returns to public investments in the country’s water infrastructure have been poor. The Shah Committee had talked of a paradigm shift in the country’s water governance: From a predominantly engineer-centred approach of the CWGB to one involving hydrologists, geologists, agronomists, and ecologists. Two years after the committee submitted its report, there has been little action on its recommendations. The report needs to be pulled out of the shelves, especially after the grim figures thrown up by Niti Aayog’s survey.

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