CHAPTER – 8 

SUSTAINABILITY OF SOURCES 

8.1     Control on withdrawal of groundwater  

As known, 85% of the drinking water needs are met from ground water, although only 5% of total groundwater extraction is needed for domestic water supply.  Irrigation accounts for  90% of all groundwater extraction, whereas industry takes the remainder 5%.   

The rapid development in groundwater based irrigation in many states has caused ground water depletion, because of which the life of drinking water supply source becomes short.  Highly subsidised irrigation electricity tariffs have led to an indiscriminate and disproportionate level of ground water extraction.  Although significant areas in States, such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (in all 144 districts in 10 States) have been declared `dark’ and `grey’ zones, there has been no let up in the depletion of ground water aquifers. 

Recently, it has been noticed that ground water depletion has aggravated water quality problems due to excess fluoride, arsenic and brackishness, in certain areas, forcing the Public Health Engineering Departments to abandon low-cost handpump based systems and to undertake costly and complicated piped water supply schemes. 

The need for regulating the extraction of ground water arises from the following considerations: 

·       Protection of resource against over exploitation

·       Protection of resource against quality degradation

·       To ensure social equity and to guarantee minimum provision to all sections of the society. 

In view of the above and to regulate and develop ground water resources in a scientific manner, a Model Bill was framed by the Government of India in 1970, and was circulated to the States.  Based on the experiences in the past two decades, the Bill was revised and circulated to states in 1992.  The Bill has again been recently revised and circulated to States in 1996.  Apart from ground water legislation, some of the other measures suggested for checking indiscriminate ground water development are (a) elimination of subsidies in electricity tariffs for irrigation and (b) formation of user groups on lines of joint forest management groups undertaking continuous monitoring of ground water to ensure that it is managed as a common property source.     

The status of the legislation in various states has recently been reviewed and it was seen that except for Maharashtra, the implementation of the provisions of the legislation was not satisfactory.  States have to consider this issue in all its seriousness and to avoid a definite shortage of safe drinking water in the immediate future, adopt appropriate measures to check over exploitation of ground water in the States/UTs and also take up such activities in a comprehensive manner to arrest the run off as well as to collect and store rain water. 

8.2       Possible strategies for conserving groundwater sources  

A number of steps need to be taken urgently in order to manage ground water in a more scientific manner, especially in dark and grey zones.  Firstly, there must be a Central legislation against subsidies on electricity tariffs for irrigation.  One may mention here that although the World Bank has approved a drinking water project in principle for Punjab, further processing was withheld by the World Bank because of the Punjab Government’s policy of providing free electricity and power for irrigation sector.  In fact farmers do not stand to benefit from this due to undependable power supply and consequent  disruptions in the supply of water.  Many of them are forced to operate diesel generating/pump sets for ensuring supply.  Studies have further indicated a reasonable power tariff with an assured power supply is beneficial and acceptable to the community.   Secondly, the Model Bill framed by the Government of India and circulated to the States in 1996 should be adopted by the States and implemented seriously.  Thirdly, user groups should be formed on the lines of Joint Forest Management Groups, who should do ground water monitoring and ensure that it is managed as common property resource rather than allow it to be over exploited as an open access resource. 

In fine, a two pronged strategy is the need of the hour, to regulate indiscriminate groundwater withdrawal and to adopt appropriate measures for augmenting its recharge through spreading  techniques in alluvial areas, check dams and percolation tanks besides direct injection methods utilising the abandoned structures available in large numbers in the hard rock region.  Before undertaking direct recharge into such abandoned structures, suitability of the structure for receiving recharge and also the quality of source water should be thoroughly examined to confirm  the technical feasibility.  Rainwater harvesting is another attractive feasible option for conservation of water.  Besides, ground water re-charge can be suitably dovetailed with watershed development programmes aimed at soil and water conservation by arresting the run-off.  

8.3      Earmarking of funds 

State Governments can utilise up to  20% of the ARWSP funds for implementing Sub-Mission Projects for tackling Water Quality and Sustainability issues. But the projects on sustainability of sources are very few and rare. In the wake of depleting ground water level due to a variety of reasons, including over drawl, it becomes necessary to focus greater attention on projects relating to source sustainability, through rain water harvesting, artificial recharging etc. Keeping in view the relevance of sustainability measures for checking the fast depleting ground water, the State Governments may ensure that 25% of the 20% of ARWSP funds permissible for taking up Sub-Mission projects be spent exclusively on Sub-Mission Projects relating to sustainability of water sources from the financial year 2000-2001. While planning/sanctioning Sub-Mission projects in the States, this requirement may kindly be kept in mind.

Index