Faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth – An approach to the twelfth five year plan – Draft report by Planning Commission

This draft report by the Planning Commission, which presents an approach to the twelfth five year plan among other things outlines some of the challenges related to agriculture, natural resources management and water resources management. The concerns related to water resources management discussed at length in the report have been summarized below -

• It is necessary to match our use, through improvement in efficiency, with the annual replenishable water supply that the country receives. Available evidence suggests that we are resorting to increased use of water, mostly on an unsustainable basis, pushing the country towards a grave water crisis.
• Lack of any coordination between competing uses and the complete absence of regulation has aggravated the problem inherent in the anarchic drilling for groundwater. The fact that neither power nor water is adequately priced has only promoted the misuse of our groundwater resources.
• Over the last several years, many rural habitations have been provided drinking water supply. However, the number of “slipped back” habitations has increased every year because the same aquifer is also being tapped for irrigation.
• This has also led to wetlands and rivers drying up due to reduction in base flows which had historically sustained them.
• The lowering of water tables has also caused, in many cases, contamination with arsenic, fluoride and other harmful substances.
• Water quality issues also arise due to chemical pollution through excessive fertiliser use and reckless dumping of untreated waste into our rivers.

Some recommendations provided in the report are -

Maintenance of Surface Water Bodies: Concerted efforts are needed to engage in the process of de‐siltation and restitution of the water bodies, through treatment of their catchment areas so that they can play the fruitful purpose of providing capacity to store rainwater, provide water for drinking and other purposes and lend themselves to fisheries.

Ground Water Management: Ground water management would entail expansion of the scope of rainwater harvesting and ground water recharge by converging the MGNREGA with the Integrated Watershed Management Programme.

Aquifer Mapping: Since groundwater is the main source of water in India, special emphasis is needed on obtaining an accurate picture of groundwater resources, including a comprehensive mapping of our aquifers at a watershed scale, with their storage and transmission characteristics.

Stakeholder Aquifer Management: Based on the aquifer mapping exercise, we need to develop sustainable groundwater management plans for each aquifer. This requires action on the ground involving partnerships of stakeholders at the village‐level with hydro‐geologists and social mobilizers, who would guide collective sharing and sequential use of groundwater.

Reforms in Major and Medium Irrigation

• Although large investments have been made in major and medium irrigation, including through AIBP, irrigated area served by canals has not increased significantly in the past decade.
• Several have run into inter‐state disputes. This reflects the chaotic state of affairs in the development of irrigation schemes across the country.
• The utilization of irrigation potential created has also been poor and the gap between potential created (IPC) and potential utilized (IPU) has been increasing steadily over time.
• A major problem with most irrigation systems is the erosion of the financial capacity of the State Governments to channel resources to complete and maintain projects and this needs to be addressed.
• It is of the utmost importance that the Command Area Development Programme (CADP) is fully integrated with the AIBP and the two must proceed on a common timeline. Considerable changes are also required in the staffing pattern of the irrigation departments to include people from a wider profile including social mobilizers who can bridge the gap with the users.

Pricing and Regulatory Changes for Ground Water

• There is a great need for significant changes in the way we price both water and electric power required to pump up groundwater. It may not be possible to levy a charge on the use of ground water for agriculture but the power used for pumping ground water can and should be economically priced. At the very least, State governments should levy a cess on all power for agricultural use earmarking the cess to fund ground water recharge programmes in the same aquifer.
• The programme of feeder separation has to be carried through across the country.
• There is an urgent need to come out with a clear legal framework governing the use of ground water. There is also a need for an overarching Water Framework Law that would give teeth to the New National Water Policy. It is also necessary to create regulatory bodies in different States to resolve conflicts across different kinds of uses of water and between users. The Centre should formulate and facilitate the adoption by States of a model Water Resources Regulatory Authority Bill.
• There is also a need to set up a National Water Commission (NWC) that would monitor compliance with the national water strategy.

Water Requirements of Industry and Urban Centres

• Use of water by industry and urban areas needs to be made much more efficient. This requires reducing dependence on fresh water, especially groundwater (which is increasingly being over‐exploited across the country) and ensuring safe disposal of waste.
• A major hike is required in investments in water recycling or waste‐water treatment, which would simultaneously help reduce dependence on fresh water and make a positive impact on water quality.
• Water and environmental issues are also critical to sustained and high quality urbanization. A key element of this has to be planning for safe disposal of waste. Reform of the urban water sector must follow good international practice, which involves reducing dependence on fresh water and relying much more on treatment and recycling of waste‐water, which also reduces pollution.
• Attention should also be given to low cost ways of treating waste water. Technologies based on biotic processes exist which can substantially reduce the level of pollution in water bodies based on different strains of microbes.

Download the report here -