National policies need to be aligned to ensure a sustainable future for India’s water needs, experts from across the board said on Wednesday at a `Water Security for All’ conference here that sought to find a way forward. The discussion saw expression of divergent views with water conservationists pitching for people-oriented, small and eco-friendly projects and officials vying for technical solutions to dipping groundwater levels and harnessing surface water that ``goes waste’’.
``Water cannot be manufactured. First, there is a need to take care of the source, that is, the ecosystem. Second, there is a need to allocate it judiciously, which is a bigger challenge and, lastly, there should be a formula that is acceptable to all,’’ said Union Minister Suresh Prabhu who had earlier headed the Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers.
Giving the example of Delhi where 906 ponds in 1911 have plummeted to a mere two to three, Gandhian and water activist Anupam Mishra said there is no other way to enrich the country with water than revival of de-centralised water bodies (ponds, lakes and step-wells).
Emphasising the need to catch up with indigenous knowledge systems and traditional wisdom, founder of Tarun Bharat Sangh Rajinder Singh feared that the third world war would be fought on water. According to him, the rise of migration and refugees around the globe is because people facing water scarcity in their own county were seeking greener pastures in water-rich European nations.
While Katherine Cross of International Water Association said that it has to be understood that water scarcity will impact energy and food security. ``It needs a systems approach and the earlier it is recognised the better it will be for South-Asian countries.’’
Shyam Khadka, the United Nations’ FAO representative in India pointed out that while India had done well in the agriculture production and production and productivity, it had not so well in water security. ``Ground water governance needs changes as also the some changes in the cropping patterns. Displacing millets with rice and wheat is not such a good idea for nutrition security. The way forward is to realign its food systems with natural resources and maybe, move north-east for agriculture production.’’
Chairman of Development Alternatives Ashok Khosla stressed the need to think in terms of holistic, systems-related, sustainable solution for India. ``We have to move away from the conventional, narrowly defined approaches that primarily focus on specific projects and activities like building of big dams, the large-scale transfer of big dams, river waters, the ill-conceived river action plans, unrestricted pumping of ground waters and wide-spread contamination of water from extensive use of agro-chemicals.’’
``Availability of water in India is skewed while demand is uniform,’’ said Central Water Commission A.B. Pandya asking the audience to consider the fact that average groundwater exploitation in the country is 3.5 times more than recharge rate.
A.K. Gosain of IIT focussed on the need for use of technology and revising policy in the water sector, while V.C. Goyal of the National Institute of Hydrology insisted on formulation of Water Poverty Index and Climate Vulnerability Index to keep track of water use and impact of climate change on it.
S. Ramadorai and Ranjit Barthakur of the Indian National Association of the Club of Roma backed sustainability-approach to water through strong coherence between viable economy, social equity and health environment.
The outcome of the conference in terms of a policy document—Securing Water for All-Critical Need for Coherence in Policies and Action will be given to the government of India and presented at a sideline event in the Paris Climate Change Conference towards the end of the month. (EOM).
