Sustainable Water Management in India

The statistics show an alarming trend for India: rapid population growth, urbanization and
industrialization will lead to a greater demand for an increasingly smaller supply of water
resources in the area. How will India avert the looming crisis?

The needs of India, and indeed the South Asian region to which it belongs, are unique. Nowhere
else in the world does population growth and poverty play such a large role in affecting water
resource issues. To address the specific concerns of the region, the World Water Council formed
a Regional Water Vision 2025 for South Asia. A product of dialogue and debate between
organizations from the region, the Vision 2025 reflects the current position of South Asia on the
sustainable development of their water resources:

“Poverty in South Asia will be eradicated and living conditions of all people will be uplifted to
sustainable levels of comfort, health and well-being through co-ordinated and integrated
development and management of water resources in the region.”

This vision reflects the importance of providing for basic human needs to ensure that the
livelihoods of all can be improved. In the case of South Asia, poverty and reduced access to safe
water resources has limited the ability of the poor to improve their situation, which has only
served to perpetuate the poverty cycle especially among rural populations and women.
The South Asia Regional Water Vision 2025 identified a number of common issues for water
management in the region:

· Welfare for the people and equitable distribution of resources

· Economic growth and development
· Efficient use of water resources
· Sustainability and environmental aspects
· Policy and institutional aspects
· Increasing role of the market in water management

These issues affect both the region as a whole and the individual nations in varying degrees. For
India, the two most important issues are how to balance the country’s rapid economic growth with
the need to ensure equitable distribution to all sectors, in particular the urban and rural drinking
water supply.

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Factors limiting the adoption of SWM in India and the South Asia
Region
A study conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Devleopment (USAID) on water resource
issues in South Asia described the three issues limiting sustainable management of water
resources in the region, namely:

·Policy failures and institutional weaknesses, including cost recovery issues;

·Competition for water; and

.Health and environmental needs and effects.

Policy failures and Institutional Weaknesses

Inadequate policy and regulation, combined with a non-transparent and non-participatory
process, is at the root of many of the water management problems plaguing the region. Until
recently, water management projects have been the almost exclusive domain of government
agencies. Government led and funded water development projects have seldom involved the
private and volunteer sectors to ensure that the needs of the public are met. Furthermore, full
funding of the projects has resulted in low cost recovery and an unrealistic valuation of users’
willingness to pay, leading to continued abuse of water resources.

No or little cooperation exists between the various agencies responsible for the management of
water resources in different sectors such as environment, health and agriculture. The result is a
planning process which does not take into account the needs of these different interest groups
and a lack of accountability on the part of any given agency. Many of the pollution control
measures are based on “end of pipe” principles rather than a minimization/prevention approach.
Most of the current policies still encourage developing supplies of water resources rather than
encouraging demand management.

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Competition for Water

It has been said that the next wars will be fought over water. Increasing competition for dwindling
water resources will continue to pose a greater threat to national and international security.
Already, conflicts have arisen between a number of South Asian countries and also between
neighbouring states within these countries. But, competition for water occurs not only between
neighbouring countries or states, but also between different user groups within a given
watershed. Already, the urban, agricultural and industrial demands for water are greater than the
available supplies.

The traditional approach to solving competition issues has been to develop further water supplies
with the construction of dams, reservoirs or other engineered structures. However, even this is
becoming difficult since the remaining water resources are no longer easily accessible and readily
developed at reasonable costs. Therefore, there is a need to optimize the use and distribution of
the current supplies to meet the needs of all users. This would include implementing
conservation measures such as reduced wastage and leakage, demand regulations, low-flow
technologies, wastewater reclamation and reuse, etc.

Inadequate data on water resource availability and use has hampered attempts to accurately
determine water quantity and quality situation in South Asia. In addition, the lack of a
standardized indicator has made it difficult to evaluate performance and to facilitate reporting and
data collection. Improvements in both of these areas will assist managers in determining how
best to allocate water resources among the different users.

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Health and Environmental Needs and Effects

Almost one half of the population in South Asia lacks access to potable water and adequate
sanitation facilities. There is obviously a need to combat water supply and sanitation deficiencies,
as well as a need to prevent pollution and manage extreme events such as floods and droughts.
Yet, past development projects have come at a price. Negative impacts of these include:
increased prevalence of mosquitoes and other disease vectors, displacement and over-riding of
property rights/ownership, waterlogging and salinization of agricultural land, intrusion of salt water
into aquifers, destruction of wetlands and loss of biodiversity in riparian and coastal areas.

The poor success of past projects can be attributed to insufficient data on the links between
health and water quality, as well as little or no public involvement in the decision-making process.
In addition, the needs of the ecosystem to maintain its functions has often been omitted from
water-balance budgets. The result has been projects that do not fully address the needs of the
public or the environment.

Water Resources in India

The abundant water resources in India are sufficient for the water
supply in whole of India only if proper and efficient water supply
management is adopted. The water infrastructure in India includes
tapping of the available water sources by the water board and
department in India, proper water treatment and purification, water
storage facilities with regular cleaning of the water storage tanks,
usage of water, crisis in water supply, water pollution, problems due
to scarcity of water, Indian water policy for water conservation and
water harvesting etc.

Water Resources in India:

The water sources in India include the vast oceans surrounding the
Indian peninsula - Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, the
inland rivers - both the Himalayan rivers and the rivers in the south,
ground water and rain water available in plenty through the abundant
monsoons in India. The problem area here is the water resources
management, where India fails. The management of water resources
and sources in India is the responsibility of the Ministry of Water
Resources India. It looks after the water management services in
India, the issues and problems related to the water supply in India,
arrangement of abundant water supply facilities, methods all over
India, formulating the water supply policies and strategies for an
equated supply and division of water resources of India.

Water Management Policies of GoI

The Government of India (GoI) has formed various water

management systems and authorities in India. These include Central
Water Commission, Central Ground Water Board, National Water
Development Agency, National Projects Construction Corporation
Ltd. etc. for efficient water resources management. The policies thus
formulated include Irrigation Management Policy, National Policy
Guidelines to allocate water resources like rivers flowing through
 multiple states, National Commission for Integrated Water Resources
Development Plan, Water Information Bill, River Basin Organization
Policy, and many more. Various water reservoir projects were also
taken up by the Ministry of Water Resources like construction and
management of dams on various rivers.

Water Supply in India:

Continuous water supply is the requirement of every industry in India.

India being a primarily agriculture-based society requires huge
amounts of water sources for regular irrigation of the farms as the
monsoons are not a reliable water source considering the vast
geographical as well as climatic variations in India.
Also safe drinking water supply is another area where the government needs to
emphasize more as groundwater is not an everlasting water resource. The water quality is
tested at regular intervals and only if the water quality standards fulfill certain quality
parameters, the water is certified to be safe for drinking.

Water Conservation:

The Indian government provided the masses with adequate water supply but the
management of the water supply systems wasn't undertaken efficiently this has resulted
in deteriorating condition of the water supply network. Thus majority is forced to pump
out ground water to fulfill the water requirements that has in turn created a huge drop in
the ground water levels.
Thus an effective strategy for water conservation is the need of the hour. The steps taken
in this regard include water treatment plants, water pollution control so as to keep the
water resources safe for other usage, careful scrutiny of water supply division and
projects. The water supply department by adopting timely conservation methods can help
solve the water shortage problem in India and deal with the ongoing water crisis in India.

Rainwater harvesting can also provide a solution to the water crisis in India. Certain areas
in India receive plenty rainfall and thus creating huge rainwater harvesting water tanks
can help is accumulation of natural water and then after some treatment can be utilized as
a drinking water substitute.

Water Purification Industry

Large-scale water treatment is being undertaken so as to utilize the existing water

resources to an optimum level. Water purification has become an industry in itself. The
water purification industry in India deals in improving water quality standards of drinking
water, management and treatment of ground water, bottling of mineral water available in
various parts of the country and providing this bottled water throughout India as a safe
drinking water solution. The major water treatment plants owners and water treatment
companies in India products in the bottled water industry include Kinley, Bisleri,
Aquafina, and Kingfisher etc.

Water Reservoir Dams and Projects:

As a solution to the water crisis in India, the government took up building of huge dams
and water reservoirs that provided multiple solutions. The dams build on various rivers
provided safety against the floods that used to frequent these rivers, effective use of
natural water resource, providing irrigation facilities to the surrounding field and farms
and also in the production of hydroelectricity.

The major dams and water reservoirs in India include:

o Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Andhra Pradesh

o Sardar Sarover Project build on river Narmada, Gujarat
o Bhakra Nangal Dam build on river Sutlej, Himachal Pradesh
o Gobind Sagar and Maharana Pratap Sagar Dam, Himachal Pradesh
o Krishna Raja Sagara Dam on Cauvery River, Karnataka
o Tunga Bhadra Dam
o Neyyar Dam, Kerala
o Narmada Dam Project, Madhya Project
o Hirakund Dam Build on Mahanadi River, Orissa
o Farakka Barrage