Sustainability

Organizer: Department of Civil Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar

Venue: Department of Civil, Engineering, Annamalai University

Description:
Water is a vital natural resource essential for life and a precious national asset. It is a scarce resource which has to be planned, developed, conserved and managed on an integrated and environmentally sound basis; keeping in view the socio-economic aspects and needs of mankind. It is one of the most challenging tasks to ensure adequate water and food to our present and future generations. The availability of water in our country is highly variable both in space and time. Climate change, failure of monsoons, population explosion, urbanization, rising demands and anthropogenic factors lead to significant water stress. Agriculture is the mainstay of Indian economy and an assured irrigation water supply is of utmost importance for food security. Hence water resources are to be managed judiciously to guarantee adequate supplies of dependable quantity and quality, which is of major concern today.

River stories from Maharashtra: Many morals to learn 

Parineeta Dandekar’s presentation began with an account of some statistics related to Maharashtra, the third largest state in India. Regarding the state of water resources in Maharashtra, she noted that of the five river basin systems, 55 percent of the dependable yield is available in the four river basins (Krishna, Godavari, Tapi and Narmada) east of the Western Ghats. These four river basins comprise 92 percent of the cultivable land and more than 60 percent of the population in rural areas. 45 percent of the state's water resources are from west flowing rivers which are mainly monsoon specific rivers emanating from the Western Ghats and draining into the Arabian Sea.

With 1821 large dams and more in the offing, Maharashtra has the maximum dams in the country (35.7%). However, the proportion of gross irrigated area vis a vis the gross cropped area at 17.8 percent is much lower than the national average of 44.6 percent. The contradictions from the state, which is home to the highest number of dams, were discussed. In nearly 70 percent of the state’s villages (around 27,600 villages), water is either not available within 500 metres distance, or within 15 metres below ground level or when available is not potable (World Bank, Promoting Agricultural Growth in Maharashtra, Volume 1, 2003).

Dandekar discussed the World Bank funded Maharashtra Water Sector Improvement Project (MWSIP) initiated in 2005 whose main components were establishment, operationalisation and capacity building of Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA); establishment of river basin agencies in Maharashtra; and restructuring and capacity building of the Water Resources Department. The MWRRA Act (2005) has been amended, taking out the clause for equitable water distribution, and granting the Cabinet the rights to have the last say about water entitlements. This has led to a diversion of water for irrigation from the vulnerable, suicide-prone Vidarbha region to thermal power plants. According to Prayas, “entitlements of more than 1500 MCM have been changed from agriculture to industries and cities”.

This presentation by Arghyam includes the results of doctoral study done by G Sridevi under the guidance of Prof.

Accordingly, the book is written as a technical manual that remains accessible to people seeking to gain necessary expertise in the planning, design, installation and maintenance of lift irrigation systems (LIS). 

It describes the efforts undertaken by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board to launch a programme to monitor the water quality of some of the lakes in Bangalore so as to focus the attention of concerned governmental organisations to take up remedial measures to safe guard the water bodies of the "Garden City". 

The sources of pollution in lakes are mainly identified as:

It makes some suggestions on the way in which it may be useful to proceed. The article argues that a new case has now been added to the existing list of river-water disputes and that the issue has turned very crucial as feelings are running high on the Mullapperiyar issue in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and that there is a risk that the dispute might become intractable. The article warns that wisdom is needed to avoid a serious deterioration of the relations between the two states.

Guest post: Ramaswamy R Iyer

This is in response to the comments made by Rahul Banerjee (“National Water Policy”, 13 August 2011) and Chetan Pandit (“Alternative National Water Policy: A Critique”, 10 September 2011) on my article “National Water Policy: An Alternative Draft for Consideration” (25 June 2011).

Epigrammatic Style

Content and Media Courtesy: Video Volunteers

This interactive session with NGOs working on water and river issues was held in continuation of the “Living rivers, dying rivers” series at the request of AusAid. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Ramaswamy R. Iyer, Honorary Professor, Centre for Policy Research and an author of books and articles on water while the lead speaker Dr.