"Awareness building is the most important tool to preserve water" - Rudresh Kumar Sugam, Researcher at CEEW

Rudresh Kumar Sugam, Researcher at the Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) tells Business Today that a combination of interventions would be required to address the complex nature of India's water woes.

BT: What are the major issues that need to be addressed on water use and allocation in India? And how should the government go about it?

Sugam: Drinking water will always remain the priority for any government, and in case of droughts/ water shortages, all other usages have to be reduced. Another important research to estimate ecological needs is to be carried out, also highlighted as the second priority in National Water Policy, 2012. In addition to estimating these needs, climate change impact on water economy is an area of significant importance to be explored. Under any circumstances, WUE enhancement would be the key to ensure a water-secured nation.

BT: Given the complex nature of water issues in India, what interventions could help address the water woes?  

Sugam: Better Data - The first and foremost step is to develop better data and a robust hydrological information system for developing precise information about the resource availability and planning. Thus, in addition to knowing the quantity, assessing water quality becomes crucial for decision making. Better data is also required on the usage front, as currently there is hardly any data that shows the volume of water being used by various sectors. We only have a rough estimation and therefore, for developing improved water resources planning, better data is essential.

Water Source Improvement - As per the 2014 CPCB report, 302 river stretches on 275 rivers across the country have got polluted due to discharge of both municipal and industrial waste water over the years. Also, the degrading ground water quantity and quality at an unprecedented rate needs an immediate response. India's water sources will have to be preserved for sustained growth.

Supply and Access Augmentation: Water resources are under tremendous pressure due to increasing demand, thus supply augmentation and accessibility improvement are crucial. On the supply side, waste water reuse and recycling, and rain water harvesting should be encouraged across the country without further delay. It has multifold benefits; the major ones being supply augmentation and reduced pollution of freshwater sources. On the access front, households and farms with poor access to water should be targeted on priority. The government should also look into decentralised solutions for topographies which are difficult to be connected to centralised systems. In urban areas, slums and low-income-group communities should be provided potable water supply for their overall livelihood improvement, as they struggle to get potable water in sufficient quantity.

Demand Side Management: Water use efficiency across sectors is poor in India, as compared to the available best practices. Government will have to come up with innovative policies and legislations that would enhance the WUE and, thus, lead to water savings. Pricing is definitely one of the tools which have been used to control wasteful use. Specifically for industries and residential areas, the pricing of water should discourage wasteful water use. For the agriculture sector, incentives and subsidy reforms are going to be the major tools for controlling water wastage.

Capacity and Awareness Building: There is no alternative to awareness building. It is the most important tool utilised across the globe to preserve and use water in an efficient manner. Capacity building of institutions involved in water resources management would encourage informed decisions. It would also trigger more interactions between such institutions, which are currently not so frequent. The water sector cannot achieve any set targets without public participation, thus making community awareness an essential intervention. It is required for connecting people to people, and people to the larger objectives such as that of national water policy and sustainable development goals.

Institutional and Legislative Reforms: Water is segregated amongst so many institutions that accountability is difficult to be defined. There is no umbrella agency that controls the governance of the water sector. We would definitely need such bodies as well as better legislations for controlling ground water extraction and pollution.

BT: Any international examples of pricing, use or allocation that India should be looking at and learning from?

Sugam: India should definitely learn from countries such as Singapore and Israel which have transformed themselves from being water-scarce to being water-sufficient. Their system of waste water treatment and reuse is exemplary. Penalising large-scale polluters is important to preserve rivers and wetlands.

Incentive policies promoting use of efficient water fixtures in buildings are being encouraged by several states in the US. India, too, should adopt such policies, especially for the new buildings. Innovative approaches such as the one employed in San Diego, where the community is involved in complaining against wasteful use of water, is desirable for better water regulation.

Water pricing policies basically have to serve two needs - one is accessible water to all and second is cost recovery by the service providers. Unquestionably, the minimum threshold for meeting basic needs can be kept free, but anything above that should be priced rationally. Pumping, treating, supplying, O&M, revamping poor infrastructure and professional salaries all require money, and hence utilities should recover these costs from consumers. Also, providing subsidies is not having the desired impact, as several studies conclude that the poor end up paying high prices for water. Innovative approaches such as cross-subsidisation and output-based aids could be adopted by India.