Water Crisis: Are our concern justified

1. INTRODUCTION
Water has become the most commercial products of the century. This may sound bizarre, but true. In fact, what water is to the 21st century, oil was to the 20th century. A major fresh water crisis is gradually unfolding in India. The crisis is the lack of access to safe water supply to millions of people as a result of inadequate water management and environmental degradation. The crisis also endangers the economic and social prosperity of the country. Water stress is becoming acute in both urban and rural situations. Not only the quantity but also the quality of water supplied or available is being questioned. At one extreme, water is being wasted in urban areas and by industries; at the other, the rural poor lack access to safe water. According to experts, the usable water resources in several river basins will eventually be exhausted, most surface water will be polluted, and environmental deprivation will be universal. Water scarcity has led to the emergence of the bottled water industry worth over Rs 1,000 crore.
The virtually dry and dead water resources have lead to acute water scarcity, affecting the socio-economic condition of the society. The drought conditions have pushed villagers to move to cities in search of jobs, whereas women and girls have to trudge further. This time lost in fetching water can very well translate into financial gains, leading to a better life for the family. If opportunity costs were taken into account, it would be clear that in most rural areas, households are paying far more for water supply than the often-normal rates charged in urban areas. Also, if this cost of fetching water which is almost equivalent. to 150 million women days each year, is covered into a loss for the national exchequer, it translates into a whopping 10 billion rupees per year [1].

2. OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY
The main aim of the study is to find out the present condition of rural India with respect to demand, supply and availability of water. For this we have tried to see this aspect from macro and micro point of view. The section three gives the macro view of the total available water and our requirement. Section four tires to give a micro level view of the existing water crisis taking example from different part of the country. It includes states from all geographical direction. Section fifth gives an overview of the steps taken by government starting from First five year plan to the present tenth plan. It tells about the important milestone like the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme and the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission. Section Six gives a projection of the future water requirement and the emerging issues which may have a drastic effect on the socio-economic condition of the country if the problem of water crisis further increases. Finally the section seventh comes up with the analysis of the present situation and the policies of the government and gives suggestion to improve the condition.


3. DEMAND AND SUPPLY WITH RESPECT TO AVAILABLE RESOURCE
With an average annual rainfall of 1,170 mm, India is one of the wettest countries in the world. At one extreme are areas like Cherrapunji, in the north-east, which is drenched each year with 11,000 mm of rainfall, and at the other extreme are places like Jaisalmer, in the west, which receives barely 200 mm of rain. Though the average rainfall is adequate, nearly three-quarters of the rain pours down in less than 120 days, from June to September. The country gets about 420 million hectare-metres (mham) of precipitation annually, of which 20 mham is contributed by rivers flowing in from neighbouring countries. Net evapo-transpiration losses are nearly 200 mham. About 135 mham is available on the surface and the remaining recharges groundwater. Although India is endowed with sufficient water, there are significant variations in the spatial and temporal availability of this resource. Consequently, at any given time, there are areas of both water excess and water stress in the country. There are significant variations in water availability even within a river basin [2].
There is little consensus on the issue of exploitable precipitation. Estimates range from 85 to 105 mham. Even if the lower value of 85 mham is taken into account, domestic consumption is no more than 10 mham. The remaining goes to irrigation. But, with demand outpacing the exploitable potential, the maximum usable water supply of 105 mham will be inadequate to meet the growing demand by 2025 [3].
If per capita water availability is any indication, water stress is only just beginning to show. The annual per capita availability of renewable freshwater in the country has fallen from around 5,277 cubic metres in 1955 to 2,464 cubic metres in 1990. Given the projected increase in population by the year 2025, the per capita availability is likely to drop to below 1,000 cubic metres. If the availability falls below 1,000 cubic metres, the situation is labelled one of water scarcity [3].
Rural water schemes have remained the scourge of planners since Independence. Despite massive resource allocation during the last nine Five-Year Plans, there were as many as 61,747 problem villages in the country towards the end of 1997. If there is no source of potable water in 2.5 kilometres, then the village becomes no source water village or problem village. Interestingly, the country started out with a figure of 150,000 problem villages in 1972; this rose dramatically to 231,000 in 1980. According to the latest statistics, about 15,000 habitations in the country were reported to be without any source of potable water; some 200,000 villages were partially covered by drinking water schemes; and 217,000 villages reported problems with the quality of water [4].

4. CONDITION IN DIFFERENT PART OF THE COUNTRY
Water is the biggest crisis facing India in terms of spread and severity, affecting one in every three persons. The government has accorded the highest priority to rural drinking water for ensuring universal access as a part of policy framework to achieve the goal of reaching the unreached. Despite the installation of more than 3.5 million hand pumps and over 116 thousand piped water supply schemes, in many parts of the country, the people face water scarcity almost every year, there by meaning that our water supply systems are failing to sustain despite huge investments.
In India, there are many villages either with scarce water supply or without any source of water. In many rural areas, women still have to walk a distance of about 2.5 kms to reach the source of water. She reaches home carrying heavy pots, not to rest but to do other household chores of cooking, washing~ cleaning, caring of children and looking after livestock. Again in the evening she has to fetch water. Thus a rural woman's life is sheer drudgery [5].
Harrowing midnight for a precious bucket of drinking water is a regular feature for many families of Vypuri, an Island off the mainland of Kochi. Women have to queue up in front of the public water taps, being at the lag end of the pipeline system, they get water only after the users ahead in the pipeline finish collecting water. There are nights when water pressure dips so low that some women get it after midnight. They split their day between household chores and collecting water. Apart from the water scarcity caused by Coca-cola in Plachimada, the other districts in the state are facing a water crisis. For instance, in Kottayam district at some places, the water scarcity is so acute that people hesist to offer a glass of water to the visitor, which hitherto was a common custom. In the upper Kuttanadu area of the district during summer people collect water from a distance of 3-4 kms. Water supply from public taps is erratic and very often even after standing for an hour in the queue; people are not able to get a bucket of water [6].
Most women and girls in Rajasthan find themselves searching water for much of the year with little time for other productive work. They trudge bare foot in the hot sun for hours over wastelands, across thorny fields, or rough terrain in search of water. On an average, a rural woman walks more than 14000 km a year just to fetch water. This impact on the education of the girl child, if the girl is herself not collecting water, she is looking after the home and her siblings when her mother is away. At some villages water from tubewells is too saline to drink. Even animals particularly cow gets indigestion after drinking this water, so the villagers add water from the dug well. The entire life of women in rural areas like Jaisalmer is spent on water collection and cooking [7].
Titlagarh, orissa is the hottest town of India. As the highest temperature, is recorded here 52 degrees centigrade which is also the highest temperature in India. In Titlagarh water problem is so acute that people are buying water throughout the year for drinking and cooking purpose. In the month of May and June the rate of water increase three times, from Rs 2 per Dabba to Rs.8 per Dabba (container). Due to the water problem some villagers are migrating to other places [8].
In Uttranchal women are suffering a lot in every village where water problem is severe. Natural sources are drying up which adds the kilometers for women everyday to quench the thirst of their family as well as animals. During the survey in Jaunsar area of district Tehri Garhwal, in villages such as Nagthat, Duena, Vishoi, Gadol, Jandoh, Chi tar, Chichrad and Gangoa, it was observed that water in the region is mostly acidic in nature. The water problem in Chi tar and Gangoa villages is very severe, where men and women carry water on mules from 8-10 Km to the village. Because of the poor water quality, most of the villagers in the regions are suffering from many diseases related to skin and teeth. Natural resources of water in the area are very few and they are also disappearing very fast [9].
In Bundelkhand, women have no work but to collect drinking water on their heads from long distance. The grim situation of water may be best illustrated by one Bundelkhandi saying which roughly translated as "let the husband die but the earthen pot of water should not be broken [10].
The Water crisis is same in West Bengal. In all the districts, the water commons have ceased to exist, and have become open-access resources, with hardly anyone responsible to take care of the resources. The absence of the community from the management of the water resources is indeed a tragedy, because now the resources are at the mercy of either the market or government officials.
Punjab; the name stands for abundance of water, but the present situation of water resources in the state is highly critical. The ground water availability is drastically hampered. The village ponds are drying day by day. Women In Talwandi Sabo, for some villages, the source for drinking water is about 8 km away. In Jajjal due to contaminated water, women are suffering from a number of diseases including cancer. There have been several deaths attributed to polluted water [11].
For Maharashtra, water is an abiding concern. In many villages women have to walk more than 3 kilometres everyday to fetch two huge vessels of water illegally from a government reservoir. They have to make at least three trips everyday. The state government do not send tankers to the villagers. At some places, women spend Rs 5 for two canes of water. Images of women carrying the pots of water, walking miles and miles for one single pot are common in the state of Maharashtra [12].
Karnataka is facing the worst kind of water crisis. In Bangalore, only 35% of the city gets water on daily basis, the rest on alternative days. In addition to the scarcity, erratic water supply is another problem. In Samadhanagar area, water generally comes in the morning at 11 A.M or in the middle of the night. In Doddanagar slums in the city, women and children who are also breadwinners of the family spend 3-4 hours filling water, losing their wages. In Hosapalya locality women get severe joint pain in their shoulders, hips and knees due to carrying water pits from water sources outside their colony. In Peenya industrial area, many street fights occur among the women over water. Social conflict and tension is high due to water crisis [13].


5. POLICY AND PROGRAMME
The evolution of the national Policy and Programme to take care of water supply and drainage for urban and rural areas after independent as part of the planning commission is as follows [14].
The first five year plan (1951-1956)
The National Water Supply and Sanitation Programme was included as a part of the health plan. 133 rural water supply and sanitation schemes for a total estimated cost of 13.5 crores were approved for inclusion under the plan for implementation by the state govt. Actual expenditure under the first plan was about Rs.5.6 crores on the rural schemes [National water supply and sanitation programme]. About 1,07,000 wells were constructed or renovated under this programme. The expenditure under local development work programme was Rs.7.25 crores and the number of wells contructed or renovated during the period was 29,650.
Second five year plan (1956-61)
The schemes included in the first plan did not make satisfactory progress on account many factors. The magnitude of the problem in regard to rural water supply and sanitation was estimated to be about Rs. 600 crores, the idea being that such a capital outlay would be necessary to cover the entire rural area of the country with a satisfactory measure of safe water supply and minimum sanitation facilities.
The third five year plan (1961-66)
The plan provided Rs.89 crores for urban water supply and sanitation schemes and Rs.67 crores for the rural water supply schemes, comprising Rs. 16 crores under the national water supply and sanitation programme, about Rs. 35 crores under the local development programme, Rs 12 to 13 crores under the community development programme and Rs, 3 to 4 crores under the welfare of backward classes programme.
The fourth five year plan (1969-74)
An approved outlay of Rs. 125crores for rural water supply and sanitation was made in this plan. To assist the state and Union Territories for extending the water supply to village or areas where the problem was most acute the govt. came up with Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) in 1972-73. Here preference was given to Tribals and Harijans and other backward classes.
The fifth five year plan (1974-79)
In addition to the general programs, the govt. initiated a special activity in 1975, the 20 point programme. Point no.8 of the 20 point programme is vital to the water supply and sanitation sector and this particular point has been assigned, the highest priority in the state and union territory sector programme.
Sixth five year plan(1980-85)
The ten year 1981-90 were designated as the international drinking water supply and sanitation decade. India being a signatory to the resolution came up with a “National Master Plan for India” highlighting the sector position and decade coverage programme policies. The provision for rural water supply in the sixth plan was 2135 crores.
Seventh five year plan (1985-90)
For the first time ARWSP for Desert Development Programme areas was introduced. 5%of the annual plan allocation was embarked for DDP without matching provision under MNP. Technology mission on drinking water later renamed as National Water Drinking Mission (NDWM) and again renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission was initiated to provide scientific and cost effective content to the ARWSP.
Eighth five year plan (1992-1997)
Keeping in view the constraints of resources and other competing demands the plan provided for rural drinking water supply programme an outlay of Rs. 10054.52 crores of which Rs.4954.52 crores is under state/UT plans and Rs. 5100 crores under Central plan which includes ARWSP and RGNDWM.
Ninth five year plan (1997-2002)
In order to cover the backlog in rural drinking water supply, an amount equal to aproximately Rs.40000 crore was spent for operations and maintenance and funds to tackle quality problems. It aimed to achieve the norms for rural water supply of 40 litres of drinking water per capita per day (LPCD) and a public standpost or a handpump for 250 persons. Further, the sources of water supply should be within 1.6 km.horizontal distance in plains or 100 metres elevation distance in hills.
Tenth five year plan (1997-2002)
In line with the National Agenda for Governance, safe drinking water is to be provided
in accordance with the stipulated norms on a sustainable basis to all habitations by March 2004. This is also one of the monitorable targets in the Approach Paper for the Tenth Plan.
The Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) which was introduced in 1972-73 by the Government of India to assist the States and Union Territories (UTs) to accelerate the pace of coverage of drinking water supply was given a Mission approach with the launch of the Technology Mission on Drinking Water and Related Water Management in 1986. The NDWM was renamed as the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) in 1991. The following are the objectives of the Mission :
To cover the residual Not Covered (NC), Partially Covered (PC) and quality affected rural habitations.
Evolve appropriate technology mix.
Improve performance and cost effectiveness of ongoing programmes.
Create awareness on the use of safe drinking water.
Take conservation measures for sustained supply of drinking water.
In 1999 Department of Drinking Water Supply was formed to give more emphasis on Rural Water Supply programme.
The National Water Policy (NWP) has been adopted by the National Water Resources Council in its 5th meeting held on 1st April, 2002. The salient features of the NWP-2002 are water is a precious national resource and its planning, development and management should be governed by national perspectives. A well developed information system for water related data at national/state level should be established with a network of data banks and data bases integrating and strengthening the existing central and state level agencies. Planning for water resources to be on the basis of the hydrological unit such as a river basin or sub-basin. Appropriate River Basin Organisations (RBO) should be established for the planned development and management of the river basins. Water should be made available to water short areas by transfer from other areas including transfer from one river basin to another, after taking into account the requirements of the areas/basins. Planning of water resources development projects should, as far as possible, be for mutli-purpose projects with an integrated and mutli-disciplinary approach having regard to human and ecological aspects including those of disadvantaged sections of the society. Drinking water has been assigned the first priority in allocation of water. The exploitation of groundwater should be regulated with reference to recharge possibilities and consideration of social equity. The detrimental environmental consequences of overr-exploitation of ground water need to be effectively prevented. Careful planning is necessary to ensure that construction and rehabilitation activities proceed simultaneously. A skeletal national policy on resettlement and rehabilitation needs to be formulated so that project affected persons share the benefits through proper rehabilitation. Adequate emphasis needs to be given to the physical and financial sustainability of existing water resources facilities. There is need to ensure that the water charges for various uses should be fixed such as to cover at least the operation and maintenance charges initially and a part of the capital costs subsequently [15].
A new initiative " SwajalDhara "was launched on 25th December, 2002, to open up the reform initiatives in the rural drinking water supply sector throughout the country. The strategic elements of the Scheme are: (i) demand driven and community participation approach; (ii) panchayats/communities to plan, implement, operate, maintain and manage all drinking water schemes; (iii) partial capital cost sharing by the communities upfront in cash; (iv) full ownership of drinking water assets with Gram Panchayats; and (v) full operation and maintenance by the users/Panchayats. The unique feature of the scheme is that the rural people should feel as the owners of the Scheme.
In addition to the above Centrally Sponsored Schemes, several state governments are also implementing their own state-level schemes for soil and moisture conservation on a watershed basis; Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh being the notable ones in this regard . A number of international donor agencies, including the World Bank, DANIDA, GTZ, DFID and EC, also support watershed development programmes in several parts of the country. Numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as AKRSP, MYRADA, Tarun Bhagat Sangh, etc. are also actively involved in various watershed development activities and programmes all over India, especially after the shift from the regulatory to the community-based approach that has taken place in the last decade.
In the international front the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 55/196 proclaimed the year 2003 as the International Year of Freshwater. It encourages Governments, the United Nations system and all other actors to take advantage of the Year to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable freshwater use, management and protection. The recent world bank released report “India’s Water Economy: Bracing for a Turbulent Future” warns of a severe water crisis unless the country changes the way it manages water – and changes it soon [16]. The report examines the challenges facing India’s water sector and suggests critical measure to address them.
Rural Water Supply Coverage Status as on 01/04/1999
A survey of drinking water supply in rural habitations was conducted in 1991, which was validated in 1994. A Comprehensive Action Plan, 1999 (CAP 99) was prepared by updating the habitation survey results validated in 1994. The coverage position as on 1.4.99 at the time of formulation of CAP 99 was as under :
Category
Number of Habitations
Fully covered (FC)
1116103
Partially Covered (PC)
268496
Not Covered (NC)
38065
Total
1422664
It was envisaged in the Tenth Plan that during the first two years of the Plan, i.e. 2002-03 and 2003-04, the emphasis would be to cover the remaining ‘NC’ and the ‘PC’ habitations of CAP 99. As a result of these efforts, 96.13% habitations have become fully covered, 3.55% are partially covered; and the NC habitations are 0.32%. In absolute terms, the coverage status is as under :
Category
Number of Habitations
Fully covered
1367216
Partially Covered
50479
Not Covered
4588
Uninhabited / Urbanized etc.
381
Total
1422664
A fresh Habitation Survey has been conducted in 2003 and the results of the same are being validated at present. The number of slipped back habitations will be known after the completion of the validation exercise. The Tenth Plan Working Group has estimated the number of slipped back habitations as 2.8 lakh. It is proposed to cover the slipped back habitations on the basis of list of habitations to be provided by the State Governments which would be a web-enabled computerized list.

6. ASSESSMENT OF FUTURE WATER REQUIREMENTS
In recent years there have been several studies of India’s water requirement in the future years. The below shown estimates are made by the Working Group on Perspectives of Water Requirements (WG) of the National Commission for Integrated Commission in its report to Government of India ( September 1999) [17].




Purposes
2010
2025
2050
Irrigation
1156.6 millions
1286.3 millions
1345.9 millions
Domestic Use (Rural)
55 liters capita per day(lpcd)
70 lcpd
150 lcpd
Industry
37 billion cubic meter (BCM)
67 BCM
81 BCM
Power
19 BCM
33 BCM
70 BCM
Inland Navigation
7 BCM
10 BCM
15 BCM
Environment and Ecology
5 BCM
10 BCM
20 BCM
Evaporation Losses from Reservoirs
36 BCM
42 BCM
65 BCM
Total Water Requirement
710 BCM
850 BCM
1180 BCM



The report also highlights some emerging issues
The probability of a decline in per capita water availability and of the emergence of water-stress conditions;
Huge disparities in availability among the regions and states;
Increasing pollution (which may become massive) of both surface and groundwater;
The likelihood of serious conflicts between different uses of water, different areas, different states;
Inequities in water availability and in payments for waters with the poor often paying more than the rich; and


7. ANALYSIS AND SUGGESTION
The stress on the multiple water resources is a result of a multitude of factors. On the one hand, the rapidly rising population and changing lifestyles have increased the need for fresh water. On the other hand, intense competitions among users in agriculture, industry and domestic sector is pushing the ground water table deeper From our study of the existing condition in different part of the country and looking into the policy’s and programmes of the government we found that:
The main causes of water scarcity are overuse of water sources under the ground (groundwater), and the absence of measures to recharge these groundwater supplies. Groundwater is used for both drinking water and irrigation, and there is little control over its use in many areas.
There has been a focus on short-term relief measures rather than long-term solutions.
Most schemes have not addressed water service issues. This is despite the fact that people find lack of water and a lack of sanitation as the most important issues.
Sanitation has not been a priority: defecation outside remains common even where watershed development projects have been running for several years.
To mitigate the water crisis; we suggests the following measures.
Restore the conventional methods of water conservation like Baolis, Jhods, Ponds, Tankas.
Introduce rainwater harvesting.
Change the cropping pattern of agriculture.
Instead of growing water intensive crop like paddy and sugarcane, introduce crops like millet, ragi, which consume less water.
In cities instead of Public Private Partnership (Privatisation of water) Public-Public partnership (Public and Government) is an alternative for water crisis.
Proper water conservation measures should be used. People should be made aware and trained on the techniques of water conservation.
Government schemes should be implemented properly.
Involve Public Raj Institutions (PRIs) and NGO in the management of rural water supply.
Women should be trained as water managers for the better utilization of water.
Future programmes/projects should be designed, keeping in view the women as water users.





References
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(2) Rao, K.L. (1975), India’s water wealth: Its Assessment, Uses and Projections, Orient Longman, New Delhi.
(3) Roy, Arundhati (1999), “The Greater Common Good” India Book Distributors.
(4) Evaluation of Rural Water Supply Schemes in India By NEERI, Nagpur sponsored by CPHEEO, MUD, Govt. of India – 2002.
(5) Shah, Mihir (2002), ‘Water Policy Blues’, The Hindu, 7 June 2002
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(11) Singh, R., (2001), ‘Water crisis forces migration’, The Tribune, 29 Sep 2001.
(12) Sharma, K (2003), ‘Monsoon failure worsens crisis’ The Hindu, 26 Oct 2003.
(13) ‘Water crisis deepens in Bijapur, Bagalkot’ The Hindu, 3 May 2004.
(14) Planning Commission, Government of India
http://planningcommission.nic.in/
(15) National water policy, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, 2002
http://wrmin.nic.in/policy/nwp2002.pdf
(16) Briscoe, J (2006), ‘India’s water economy: Bracing for a turbulent future’,
The World Bank http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:20742157~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html
(17) Iyer, R.,(2003), ‘WATER Perspectives, Issues, Concerns’, Sage Publications,
New Delhi