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Conseruation: lnitiatiues and Future Strategies Avinash Mishra and Dr. Namrata Singh Panwar

Ihe responsibility of plonning und implementing wuter und sonilolion proiecls, primurily lies with the slote governments. The Centrol Government, ploying on ndvisory role, hos formuluted severul policies ond the Model Bills to develop ond monuge proiects, ond its uses in vorious seclors of eronomic developmenl. These inlerventions hove brought phenomenol thonges in the overoll scenorio of woter ond sonitotion in lhe counlry ond olso provided o wuy forword obout the needs of the settor whirh hove to be fulfrlled in coming fulure to moke lndio o woier secure ond hygienic tounlry.

n last few years, numbers of reports crores in 2OI7 with deaths ranging from 2,520 in and ground level realities have reflected 2016 ,2,334 tn 2017 and 1",917 in 2018 .ln contrast, that lndia right now is going through Observatory data repository of World the hard times where Health Organisation (WHO) quotes number of and poor facilities are bigger diarrhea deaths from inadequate water, sanitation challenge than the economic development. With and as2,43,55L (total of all age groups) and a country generating 140 BCM of water number of diarrhea DALYs from inadequate wateL annually, mismanagement of waste water which sanitation and hygiene as t,!7,31-,606 (total of all also contaminates , lacking liquid waste age groups) in 20L6. These stats clearly indicate the management, poor sanitation conditions and poor need of swift action on the part of Government and hygiene habits have contributed to a major portion it is heartening to see that Government of lndia has of population suffering from water-borne diseases. taken several actions in this direction. The per person disease burden due to unsafe water Water and and sanitation was 40 times higher in lndia than in As per the lndian Constitution, the and 12 times higher than in Sri Lanka in 2016. Sanitation are state-subjects under List ll of Unsafe water, sanitation, and hand-washing are Seventh Schedule. The responsibility of planning, responsible for 4.6 percent of the disease burden funding and implementation of water through diarrhoeal diseases and other infections. and sanitation projects, primarily lies with the state The disease burden from unsafe water and sanitation governments. The Central Government plays an was 5 percent of the total in 2016. Total number advisory role, and therefore, with the formulation of cases of water borne diseases (, Acute of various policies and the Model Bills, the Centre Diarrhoeal Diseases, Enteric Fever (Typhoid) and is making efforts to develop and manage the Hepatitis A & E) were 1.65 crores in 2016 and 1.53 projects and its uses in various sectors of economic

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development. Along with the centre, many states Ministry of Jal Shakti also launched the Jal have also come up with innovative measures to Shakti Abhiyan on 1't July 201.9,in 256 water stressed encourage and better sanitation districts across the country. This Abhiyan is a mass practices in their respective jurisdictions. The next movement to bring all the stakeholders under one sections of the article are going to elucidate some ambit of water conservation drive, and last year it had interventions/schemes of centre and states which a nationwide impact. Under this Abhiyan, more than have brought phenomenal changes in the overall six and a half crore people became a part, comprising scenario of water and sanitation in the country and of State Governments, Central Governments, Civil provide a way forward about the needs of the sector Society Organisations, Panchayati Raj lnstitutions which have to be fulfilled in coming future to make and Communities. More than 75 lakh traditional and lndia a water secure and hygienic country. other water bodies and tanks were renovated and Government lnitiafives around one crore water conservation and structures were created. Encouraged On 15th August 2019, Prime Minister Shri by the response, Jal Shakti Abhiyan is geared up to Narendra Modi launched the Jal Jeevan Mission combat current health emergency by focusing more (JjM) worth Rs 3.6 lakh crore to supply piped water on and water conservation works with the to every rural household. The vision of the JJM is caution that all works are undertaken with strict "Every rural household has drinking implementation of , use of face in adequate quantity of prescribed quality on covers/ masks and other necessary precautions. regular and long-term basis at affordable service delivery charges leading to improvement in living Relentless and unplanned extraction of standards of rural communities". The programme groundwater exceeding the average annual recharge also implements source measures as has resulted in widespread decline of the water mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuse tables, reduced availability of water in the wells and through grey water management, water conservation degradation of the manifested through and water harvesting. The Jal Jeevan Mission is with (iron, arsenic, based on a community approach to water and will chromium etc.) and fluoride. Keeping these facts in include extensive IEC as a key component of the the mind and in order to provide special emphasis mission. JJM looks to create a jan andolan for wate; on groundwater conservation, in 2O2O Budget, thereby making it everyone's priority. Since the Rs. 200 Crore has been allotted for Atal Bhujal inception of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the percentage Yojana (ABHY). ABHY envisages sustainable ground of rural household having access to safe management, mainly through convergence water increased from 18 percent to 28.41percent. among various on-going schemes, with emphasis on Figure: Progress of Jal Jeevan Mission

Sou rce : https://ejalshakti. gov.in/lfUtSReports/MlS. html

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demand side measures through active involvement Beside these Central Government lnter- of local communities and stakeholders. This aspect ventions, some of the states have initiated state makes the ABHY a unique centrally sponsored level programmes which have effectively solved scheme which will endeavor to facilitate efficient the local water problem. Some of such schemes are implementation and convergence of various ongoing Jalyukt Shivar in Maharashtra, Mukhya Mantri Jal Central and State schemes in the participating States. Swavalamban Abhiyan in Rajasthan, Neeru Chettu ABHY will also play a key role in drought proofing, in Andhra Pradesh, Mission Kakatiya in Telangana, thereby improving climate resilience in select water Sujalam Sufalam in Gujarat, lntegrated Water stressed areas, create better job opportunities Resource Management and Artificial Recharge through improved skill development, etc., all leading Structures Scheme in Karnataka. Other laudable ultimately to sustainable management of ground initiatives by States, having a positive impact water. on the ground include "Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009" which bans NlTl Aayog, as the premier think tank of early sowing of paddy nursery and transplantation of Government of lndia, has also developed a saplings and the voluntary scheme of "Pani Bachao, mechanism to compare the efforts of various states Paisa Kamao (PBPK)" by Government of Punjab to in water conservation. ln pursuit of competitive encourage farmers to save electricity and reduce the & cooperative federalism and keeping in view the use of ground water. The 'Maharashtra Groundwater criticality of water for , Aayog has developed Development and Management Act, 2009' prohibits a Composite Water Management lndex (CWMI). drilling of deep wells within the notified and non- The CWMI as a yearly exercise is an important tool notified areas, for or industrial usage. lt to assess and improve the performance of States/ also imposes total prohibition on pumping of ground Union Territories in efficient management of water water from existing deep-wells of depth 60 meters resources. CWMI compromises of 9 broad sectors or more in notified areas. with 28 different key performance indicators covering various aspects of ground wateL restoration Apart from these, there are some states which of water bodies, irrigation, farm practices, drinking have deciphered the use of technology in the water wateL policy and governance. The data for the 28 sector. The most striking works in these domains are key performance indicators are uploaded by the done by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Water States on the online web portal. lndex has been Resources Department of Government of Andhra quite successful in sensitising the states about the Pradesh along with the private partner Vssar Labs impending water scarcity in the Nation. Since launch has developed Andhra Pradesh Water Resources of round I ofthe lndex, 80 percent ofthe states have lnformation and Management System (APWRIMS). shown improvement with average change in scores APWRIMS is a Smart Water Solution platform being +5.2 points. targeting overarching objective of sustainable water

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Kurukshetra I October 2020 €, r3 management in the State. The APWRIMS collects L. Making Water as Part of Economic data from 1.,254 piezometers on real time basis Development across all the 1-3 districts of the state and correlates lmproved water supply and sanitation and the information with all 15,00,000+ bore wells used improved water resources management boost for agricultural purposes in the state. moisture countries' economic growth and contributes data is also collected from 900+ locations across greatly to poverty eradication. The economic the state. The platform has data related to l-00+ benefits of improved water supply and reservoirs, 40000+ Minor lrrigation tanks, 15 lakh sanitation far outweigh the investment costs. agriculture bore wells and more than 10 Iakh water Studies have revealed that the benefit-cost ratio conservation structures. Since its implementation, (BCR) is significantly greater than 1, recording APWRIMS has benefitted more then 60 percent values in developing regions of between 4 and of the population of the state. Groundwater levels 32 for water Millennium Development improved by 2 meter across the State, despite the Goals (MDG), between 5 and 46 for the WS&S receiving L4 percent deficit Rainfall and the Crop planning activities have resulted in increase of about MDG and universal basic access, and between 1.85 L ha of Horticulture crops. 5 and 41 for universal basic access with water disinfection at the point of use. The benefit- Government of Maharashtra has also taken an cost ratio for regulated piped water supply and innovative step by launching the Draft Maharashtra sewer connection ranges between 2 and 12. Water Resources Regulatory Authority Water Under base case assumptions the cost-benefit Entitlement (WET) Transfer and Reuse ratio is at least US$ 5 in economic benefit per Certificates (WRC) Platform , 2019. US$1 invested, and even under pessimistic data The main aim to the regulations are to encourage assumptions, the benefits per dollar invested wastewater recycle reuse and in large water remained above the threshold of US$1. More consuming industrial and urban centers go that importantly these are the results when non- beyond the stipulated water reuse targets set- health and non- financial benefits are not taken forth in the State Water Policy and creation of a into account. Therefore, it makes a strongest transparent water accounting process with the use case to increase the budget allocation to water of IOT metering at the water consumption, reuse and and sanitation sector, along with agriculture, environmental points with a repository of manufacturing and services sectol it should be water consumption maintained under a regulated a priority sector for investment. process. The regulations also envisage the creation of immutable distributed ledger-based repository 2. Introduction of Water Markets at Large Scale of wastewater reuse certificates which can be easily It is high time that along with the public good, marketable. water should be treated as the high value All these efforts of three tiers of lndian economic good. There is need to introduce Federalism have resulted in marvellous changes water markets to make more productive use in water and sanitation sectors of the country but of water and contribute to sustainable water still we are quite behind the targets envisioned ma nagement. The most successfu I water ma rkets by lnternational community through SuStainable are found in Murray Darling Basin of Australia Development Goals (SDGs). ln order to achieve these where Water trading has become a vital business targets we need some structural reforms in present tool and source of additional income for many regime. irrigators. Here water is traded on markets - within catchments, between catchments (where Way Forward possible) or along systems. This form of Growth and development are not the words trading allows water users to buy and sellwater in which we can afford to use in describing the economy response to their individual needs. Under water of the Nation but they have multi faceted aspects markets, during the yeal water is distributed including social, political, institutional well being. by the basin authorities (or 'allocated') against While talking about growth we cannot ignore the entitlements in response to factors such as existence of the dreadful phrases like water scarcity rainfall and storage levels. The entitlement and . ln order to achieve sustainable holder can make the effective and efficient use development in the country, we have to look for of the water and sell rest of the quantity to the solutions which may result in overhauling of the entities which is using more than their own present mode of operations in water sector. Some of allocation of water. When water is allocated to the changes suggested are as under: an entitlement holder, they are able to use it as

,:li: Kurukshetra I October 2020 needed - this is their business decision to make. support a longer transition and ample flexibility Water markets create incentives for water to be to set up long-term financing to promote state moved to higher-value uses. The similar trading and local self-sufficiency. Apart from it, the can be opted for treated waste water. public private approach to Themes Tideway 3. Tax as the Remedy to Decrease Tunnel (TTT) can also serve as the example for Pollution in Water Bodies the operating PPP in high risk and long gestation period water sector projects. The cost of has to be distributed to different stakeholders and the entities and All these structural reforms, if implemented communities which are harming the resources in phase and detailed manner, can immensly have to pay for their right to being polluter. benefit the existing programmes and schemes lntroduction of predetermined water pollution of both state and central government. They charges for surface and groundwater use or will decrease the overall dependency on the charges for wastewater discharge could have government sector and make the sector self a significant incentive effect to prevent and reliant, attractive and profitable for number of control pollution, maintain proper sanitation investors which is a crux for growth of not only and enhance water use efficiency. The any sector but the entire country. pollution tax should be regarded as the part References: of Extended Prouder Responsibility (EPR). Aayog, N. (2018). Strategy@75. New Delhi: Economic instruments such as pollution tax are L. Government of lndia. theoretically more cost effective than direct or subsidies to curb pollution, which 2. Australia, G. (n.d.). Water Markets and Trade. imposes the same controls on all polluters and Retrieved September 09, 2020, from Murray does not take into account the heterogeneity Da rl i n g Basi n Autho rity: https ://www md ba. gov. of abatement costs. Pollution taxes can lead to a u/m a n agi ng-water/water-ma rkets-a nd-trade significant investment in pollution abatement 3. Hutton, G., Haller, 1., & Bartram, J. (2008). and technological innovation, thereby Global Cost-benefit Analysis of Water Supply lowering the overall cost to society of meeting and Sanitation lntervention. Hournal of Water environmental targets. Apart from this, these and Health ,48L-502. taxes or charges not only reduce the pollution 4. OECD. (2016). Wateri Growth and Finance. and enhances the quality but also provide OECD. revenue to the government which can be used 5. SlWl. (2013, November). Making Water a Part pollution. to further abatement of of Economic Development: The Economic 4. New strategies to support Public Private Benefits of lmproved Water Management and Partnership in Water Sector Services. Retrieved from SlWl: https://www. Governments can play a role in helping to attract siwi. org/p u blicatio ns/ma king-water-a-pa rt- new investors by enabling public and private of-economic-development-the-econom ic- actors to earn returns commensurate to the risks b e n efi ts-of-i m p rove d -wate r- m a n a ge m e nt-a n d - they take. Governments may consider providing se rvi ces/# : - : text=Th e %20 poo r%20 gain%2O risk mitigation to long-term investment projects dir e ctly%2Of ro m,t h e% 2 0 h e a lth%20 of %20 where it would result in more appropriate the%20ecosystem. allocation of risks and their associated returns. 6. WSP. (2013). Path Way to success: Compendium Guarantees play a critical role in mitigating the of Best Practices in Rural Sanitation in lndia. risks financiers face. Similarly, public money can New Delhi: Government of lndia. be used to cover parts of the risks that private Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed financiers (debt or equity) are unable to take. in this article are those of the authors and do not ln the , state revolving funds necessarily reflect the official policy or position of provide examples of a sustainable NlTlAayog, Government of lndia. financing model. Set up with 'seed money' from US Congress, the state revolving funds (The outhors ore Sh. Avinosh Mishra, Adviser capitalise a state-administered financial (Water ond Sanitation), NlTl Aayog, Government assistance programme to build and upgrade of lndia, New Delhi, Emoil: [email protected] ond and dri nking water Dr. Nomrota Singh Ponwor, Consultont, NlTl Aayog, infrastructure, as well as invest in other projects Government of lndio, New Delhi, Emoil: panwor. to improve . ln doing so, the funds [email protected])

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