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People And Their
Problems
New Delhi, 24 February 2007
Global Warming
Worries
Dimension
Of Water Crisis
By Radhakrishna Rao
A recent report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) points out the possibility
of progressively declining rainfall
and fast depleting snow in the mountain ranges by 2030. India is worried that the water
crisis arising out of the global warming could adversely affect the food yield
in the country. According to
researchers, a two degree increase in surface air temperature would mean a fall
in yields between 4% and 34% by mid-21st century.
The well-documented report highlights the fact that small
land holders and subsistence farmers are likely to suffer complex, localized
impact of climate change. In the ultimate analysis crops like sorghum and
millet could be at the greatest risk, both from drop in productivity and loss in crop genetic diversity.
As experts point out, agriculture irrigation demand in arid
and-semi arid regions of Asia is expected to
increase by 10% for a temperature increase by one degree centigrade. Whether the affected countries could be able
to meet the growing demand for water for the farm sector, none is sure as yet.
Meanwhile, a recent report compiled by the Stockholm-based
International Water Management Institute (IWMI) states that the growing demand
for irrigation to produce food and bio-fuels is likely to aggravate scarcity of
water. “One in three people is enduring one form or another form of water
scarcity” says IWMI. Going ahead the
report observed, “conquering hunger and coping with an estimated 3-billion
extra people by 2050 will result in about 80% increase in water use for
agriculture on rain-fed and irrigated land”.
Interestingly, water resources management expertise opine that
solutions for such a problem include helping poor countries in Africa and Asia
to grow more food with available fresh water via simple, low cost measures in a
shift from past policies that favoured expensive dams or canals. Prof. C.H.
Hanumantha Rao, a well-known agriculture economist drives home the point that
there is an immediate need to regulate water usage by involving local
communities in the water management. He advocated immediate, stringent measures
to conserve water in order to avoid a major water crisis in the future.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), progress in meeting the water needs of the world in the
years ahead would depend on a shift from what the FAO calls, “a culture of
supply management”. Says the FAO: “While the specific objective is to provide a
more reliable and adequate water supply for crops, proper management of water
resources will always have significant impact on economic activities,
environmental processes and people’s
health”.
Indeed, the FAO stresses
that the environmental concerns must be a part of the modernization in water
use and management. Clearly and apparently, extraction from rivers and the
construction of irrigation infrastructure invariably displaces natural
wetlands, which are highly productive components of agro-ecological systems.
Abundant and sustained availability of fresh water is vital
for industrial and economic growth, as well as for the well-being of the
community. However, uneven distribution of water resources due to a combination
of climatic and geological factors makes for water deficient and water surplus
areas within a country. Indeed, as water
resources experts point out, transfer of water from surplus zones to deficit
zones in an environmentally-sustainable and economically-viable manner holds
the key to ending the cycle of droughts and famines haunting many parts of the
country with recurring regularity.
Studies carried out by various agencies show that in the
past 35 years, water table has come down to as much as 30-60 metres in several
parts of India. In particular, the green revolution Punjab has witnessed
the decline in water table by around 30 metres on account of the sinking of
around a million tubewells. At this rate, the Washington-based think tank,
World Health Institute warns that underground aquifers in India could go
dry by 2025.
On the other hand, in the coastal State of Gujarat, sea water incursion and increase in
salinity level in several areas have made water unfit for human consumption.
Indeed, studies by the IWMI point out that a large part of the western and
peninsular India
is all set to face a serious water crisis in the coming 25 years. According to
the IWMI studies, marginal and small farmers operate only 15% of India’s total
farmland but are saddled with 73% of the abandoned tube wells due to lower
water tables and higher energy costs.
As it is, ground water continues to support more than half
of the country’s irrigated farmland. Inefficient use of irrigated water leads
to low water productivity even in crops that have higher water use
efficiency. Sunita Narain, Director of
the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) advocates water
harvesting as an important tool to manage water scarcity. The thesis of the
World Bank is that tubewells play an important role in preventing social
conflicts and political upheavals over water in India.
A study by John Briscose, a water resources expert with the
World Bank, observes that urbanization and changing patterns of cropping are
putting severe pressure on the fast
declining ground water table in the country. He is of the view that investment
in water infrastructure will provide some respite to the excessive exploitation of the ground water resources.
The water usage trend, Briscose said, suggests that while
irrigation from underground aquifers has gone up, canal irrigation has not made
much headway. The future, he observes, will also witness
major transformation in the way public water services are provided to the
farmers, households and industries.
Briscose also points out that issues
concerning water entitlement, financial sustainability, accounts and regulation
will assume importance in the days
ahead.
Clearly and apparently, the World Bank report forecasts that
India
might face a turbulent future in so far as water availability is
concerned. Unless
drastic changes are made and made soon, the way in which the Government manages
water, India
will have neither the cash to maintain and build a new infrastructure nor the
water required for the economy and the people” says the World Bank study. The
study highlights in a very clear cut manner that failure of India to build
sufficient water storage capacity will prove to be undoing of the country.
While the rich countries have built over 5000 cubic metres
per capita storage capacity, the middle income countries like Mexico and China have a per capita capacity to
store 100 cubic metres of water. In contrast, the Indian water storage capacity
per capita is at a low of 200 cubic metres. As such the World Bank argues that
the role of the State must change from that of a builder and controller to the
creator of enabling environment for the water supply system. ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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