E1324 V 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS of Rural Water Supply & Environmental Sanitation Sector Project for the State of Uttaranchal Public Disclosure Authorized . a 'AWAI Public Disclosure Authorized -7~~~~~~- Submitted to Uttaranchal Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Project (UARWSES) Project Management Unit Deh radu n Public Disclosure Authorized SEPTEMBER 2005 BYp Surabhi-Lok for making an enabling environme nt Uttaranchal Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Project ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE BACKGROUND Sustainable Development of water resources is full of complexities. The problem of water availability in the State of Uttaranchal (UA) can be summarized as "Water an abundant, yet scarce resource". Though the state receives abundant rainfall and is the source of many major rivers of the Northern India, yet the complex environmental factors like geology, seismicity, high seasonal variations in precipitation & runoff, steep & inaccessible slopes, changing land use in the watersheds, population pressure, degradation of land & forests, creates tremendous constraint on the sustainability & conservation of water resources, which has direct influence on the RWSES sector. Together with this, unavailability of long term, reliable hydro meteorological data for different watersheds, pose a serious threat. Under such circumstances, planning and sustainable management of water resources for quantity and quality is a challenging task for the state and the whole Himalayan region, in particular. Uttaranchal is the 27'h state of the Union of India, created in the year 2000, which comprises of 13 districts, which are split into two divisions, Kumaon and Garhwal. It covers an area of 53483 km2 between latitude 28° - 43' N to 3I°-27' N and longitude of 77°-34'E to 81°-02'E, bounded by China in North-East, Nepal in East, UP and Himachal Pradesh in the South. The Government of Uttaranchal with the assistance of the World Bank implemented the first phase of Integrated Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (RWSES) Project, known as the SWAJAL in 12 Districts of the State (excluding Haridwar District). This was an innovative experiment in water sector, covering 857 villages. Currently, the Government of Uttaranchal is seeking World Bank's assistance for a follow-on project, to be known as Swajal Panch Pariyojna. Due to the sector-wide approach of the proposed project, the Environmental Analysis of the state in respect of RWSES sector has been done. The analysis has helped to understand, describe, analyze and disseminate information on environmental conditions, with emphasis on quantity and quality of water resources & sanitation conditions with trends. The key objective of the Environmental Analysis (EA) was to identify the critical environmental concerns for the Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Sector and address them, as an integral part of the project design. It seeks to document the condition of natural resources and the environment, assess the effect of any change on it & to propose mitigation measures. The field-based analysis of the environmental issues on quantity and quality of drinking water and sanitation conditions, have provided the insight required for developing the platform for promoting the mission. As per World Bank's safeguard policies for the RWSES sector, the proposed project would be covered under category B. The methodology followed for conducting environmental analysis, comprised of collection and collation of secondary data on environmental parameters, which includes atmosphere, physiosphere & biosphere, with emphasis on water resources availability & their utilization, problems of water quality and quantity, demographic, socio economic and health aspects, water supply and sanitation coverage, service levels and problems in 0 & M (operation and Management) of existing water supply system. The data was obtained from published, unpublished reports of all concerned departments of GOI/ GoUA. Information gap filling and data up-dating was done by personnel contacts with these organizations. Publications and research studies done by various research institutes on this subject in the state were scanned to bring out relevant case study information. Discussions with the NGO's, stakeholders, members of World Bank & Swajal Staff, have brought out certain useful suggestions and proposals to make RWSES sector a sustainable entity. Field Survey was done of 14- selected sample GPs to get primary data and bring out relevant issues. Site-specific issues, their possible mitigation proposals were discussed at site to get proper local perspective of the problem and its proposed solutions. The EA study report outputs include (i) Executive Summary of the EA study, (ii) Main Report with Appendices and (iii) Environment Management Framework (EMF). The Main Report has been presented in the form of various chapters, which are ten in number. The various chapters are, Chapter-I, which presents in brief, the background, objectives, approach and methodology I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ followed for the study, Chapter 2 deals with rural water supply and sanitation policy of the State including environmental linkages, applicable environmental regulations and analyzing key environmental and RWSES factors & issues at the policy level. Chapter 3 to 7 discusses the environmental analysis of Atmosphere, Physiosphere, Biosphere, Developmental activities, status of water availability & quality, as well as rural sanitation. Chapter 8 describes the results of field survey and Chapter 9 gives Environmental Issues and their Mitigation Measures. Environmental Codes of Practices for different major project activities are provided in Chapter 10. Most of the basic and detailed data has been given in Appendices keeping bare minimum consolidated tables in the main text, to ease the flow of reading. The Environment Management Framework (EMF) provided, is a roadmap, which shows how the key environmental issues would be identified, assessed, managed and monitored by the Program Implementing Agencies for incorporation of environmental management measures into the main program planning, execution, operation & maintenance (Table 1). It lays down a step-by-step methodology for activities that have to be undertaken parallel to the engineering and institutional intervention measures of the main program. It contains relevant matrix and checklists to be utilized for the above-mentioned works. It also elaborates framework and action plans, for various environmental key issues like water quantity, water quality, environmental sanitation, institutional arrangements, fund-flow mechanism, screening processes and environmental monitoring that need to be addressed. For EMF preparation, various studies undertaken by the Project Management Unit have been consulted. Some of them which need mention are RWSES Sector: Coverage, Policy, Financial Aspects and Medium Term Development Program; Roles and Responsibilities of Sector Institutions & PRls; Capacity Building Strategy and Implementation Plan for RWSES Sector Institutions; Designing of Monitoring and Evaluation System and Catchment Area Conservation and Management Program. Public Consultations & Disclosure Public Consultations constituted an important activity of the EA Study and preparation of EMF. Public disclosure of the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) in context of Sector Wide Approach in RWSES sector, was done in two workshops in which representatives of PRIs viz. Zila Panchayat, Block Panchyat, and Gram Panchyat, User Water & Sanitation Committee members, sector institutions, related line departments, State Project Management & District Management Units, NGOs & Community based Organizations (CBOs) were also present. POLICY AND GUIDELINES ON ENVIRONMENT The Environmental Policies enacted by the Govt. of India (GOI) and GoUA, having direct or indirect impact on RWSES have been analyzed. The National Water and Sanitary Policy guidelines and various state government orders, which have been considered, are as follows: i) The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1974; ii) The Water Policy 1987; iii) Guidelines for implementation of Rural Water Supply Programme 2000; iv) Hariyali Programme 2003; v) Guidelines on Swajaldhara 2003 and vi) Guidelines on CRSP and TSC 2004 vii) State orders on the water and sanitation sector like Draft Water Policy, and apportioning of funds of IWDP, NWDPRA and Total Rural Employment. The State of Uttaranchal is in the process of finalizing the Water Policy for the State. The major issues covered in the Draft Water Policy are: - i) The ownership of water is with the State and is not vested in an individual. ii) For sustainable recharge of shallow groundwater aquifers, the government would regulate the extraction of water. iii) Water allocation priorities, in planning and operation of systems, are prescribed, which are as follows: - * Drinking & domestic use and animal husbandry. * Energy (Hydro projects, without disturbing ecology and human habitation) * Irrigation for sustenance agriculture. * Preservation of wetland ecosystems and bio-diversity spots. * Agro-based and non-agricultural based industries. * Recreation and other uses. iv) In the planning, implementation and operation of a project, the preservation of the quality of ::2:: environment and the ecological balance should be a primary consideration. In projects where water is to be diverted from