Hon’ble Madam,
 
Namaskar,  

Kindly accept my hearty felicitation for your Ministry’s Gazette Notification dated October 7, 2016 regarding Ganga Rejuvenation, Protection and Management. It is a very timely and bold step that reflects your personal deep concern for the rivers, particularly for Mother Ganga. The fact that the notification is rooted in the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986, provides its provisions enormous strength for their implementation. I sincerely hope that the State and District level Ganga Protection Committees will be constituted without delay and that the NMCG will start functioning as the Ganga Authority very soon.
 
Respected Madam,

I wish to draw your kind attention to two major errors and omissions in the Notification. 

First, the requirement of flows in the river and its tributaries has been mandated by several expressions such as ‘continuous flow’, ‘adequate flow’, ‘continuous adequate flow’, ‘ecological flow’ and ‘environmental flow’ which all have different meanings and hence cause confusion in the determination of the flow requirement. The problem arises because the term ‘ecological flow’ itself is not included in the long list of definitions in Para 3. Subpara (1) and (2) of Para 5 call for ‘uninterrupted flow’ and maintenance of ‘ecological integrity’ which again requires a clear definition. 

May I, therefore, suggest that the issue of flows be examined thoroughly and the flow requirements be expressed by a well-defined term that is used uniformly throughout the text. ‘Environmental Flows’ is today an internationally accepted and used term that take care of both water and sediments.

Second, the notification has direct implications for the Ken-Betwa Link project. Both rivers Ken and Betwa are direct major tributaries of River Yamuna and are covered by the para 3(1)(ze). Further, Para 6(3) clearly prohibits any construction of any kind for “any purpose in the River Ganga, Bank of River Ganga or its tributaries or active flood plain area of River Ganga or its tributaries”. Accordingly, the Ken-Betwa link project cannot be pursued further now without passing through various provisions in this notification. Each of the concerned District Ganga Protection Committees and the two State Ganga Committees (UP and MP) are required to deliberate and approve the project in accordance with the provisions of this notification for further consideration of the Empowered Task Force on Ganga.
 
Third, Para 20 read with para 2 (applicability) provides for the constitution of State Ganga Rejuvenation, Protection and Management Committees in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh among others. These two states contribute a significant share of flow and pollution to the river Ganga through tributaries of river Yamuna flowing through their territory. However, despite this fact, the notification does not provide for representation of the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh on the Governing Council of the NMCG. It is therefore of utmost importance that these two states should also be represented on the NMCG governing council. 
 
Hon’ble Madam,

I humbly request you to kindly consider the above-noted suggestions expeditiously in the interest of River Ganga for which this useful notification has been issued. I sincerely hope that appropriate actions will be taken at the earliest. 

With respectful regards

Brij Gopal
Coordinator, Centre for Inland Waters in South Asia
Chairman, SIL Working Group on Inland Waters of Tropical Asia

Views expressed by the author are personal.

An aerospace engineer from IIT, Kharagpur, Siddharth Agarwal could have been drawing a fancy salary like any other 25-year-old if he hadn’t followed his passion. Born and bred in Kolkata, his curiosity of life around rivers and his interest in knowing it first hand to form the right perspective of it inspired him to undertake a 3000-km walk upstream of Ganga as a part of Veditum India Foundation's moving upstream project that is working to document and dynamically map India's rivers.

Siddharth loves to walk and has been experimenting with slow travel in the last couple of years. Slow travel, where he converses with people during the walks, has replaced his old perspectives on society, environment, and people with new ones. 

On June 6, 2016, he started his journey from Gangasagar at the mouth of Bay of Bengal in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, where the trail of the Ganga ends. On his way to Gaumukh from where the Ganga begins her journey, he will make his way through some major points of interest at Kolkata, Farakka, Patna, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Narora, Haridwar, and Tehri. After completing 2000 km in October 2016, he took a break due to his back injury. He is planning to resume the rest of his journey (1000 km) in February 2017. 

Siddharth has undertaken two similar journeys in the past as well. In 2014, he travelled 2120 km from Kolkata to Mumbai on his bicycle. This was followed by a 700-km-walk across Rajasthan to raise awareness about its dying architecture.

He shares his experiences of the Ganga walk with India Water Portal. 

What is the purpose of your walk?

Rivers have always interested me. They are the lifeline for not just the humans but also for many other life forms. My interest in exploring the stories around the Ganga, its forgotten people and the culture that existed over several centuries has motivated me to undertake this walk. I wanted to know how humans have affected the river, how the landscape around the river has changed over a period of time and what we have lost in the process. 

Why did you choose the Ganga?

I have had a fascination for the Ganga ever since my childhood. The more I learned about the Ganga, my quest for knowing the river only increased. The Ganga is one of the most famous rivers in India known for its purity. But unfortunately, its water is not even fit for domestic use in several places. I want to do something to conserve the river and to do that, I needed to explore the critical issues affecting the Ganga and its environment.

What are your key observations during your Ganga walk?

I found less open spaces around the Ganga throughout my journey. In the last few decades, the open spaces have been taken for residential, industrial and commercial purposes. Along the banks of the Ganga, I found massive environmental and ecological destruction. I also found a drastic decrease in the faith of the people about the river as a symbol of purity. It has been replaced by talks on the increasing pollution levels in the river.

What is the perception of the people regarding the Ganga?

The talk around the Ganga is mostly religious in its context. It is rarely about the science of the river’s ecosystem. For example, most of the time, the people talked about the Hindu scriptures and told me that it was Bhagirath Muni (sage) who brought the Ganga to the earth and shared many other religious stories about the river.

Though the rural folks still maintain a strong cultural relationship with the Ganga and show interest in reviving the river, the citizens in the urban areas have little interest in improving the health of the Ganga. 

Do people know about Clean Ganga Mission? 

Most of the people along the banks of the Ganga have heard about the government’s Clean Ganga mission, but the people are also apprehensive about how the government will clean the Ganga without stopping industries from functioning around it and the faecal and other waste from entering the river.

Do you see any efforts from the government to revive the Ganga?

So far I have not seen any substantial efforts from the government to protect the Ganga. Instead, by allowing innumerable constructions and industrialisation around the river, it has severely compromised the health of the river system. The government has also not taken any substantial or visible measures to control the contamination of the river by the industries and the sewage. It has displaced lakhs of people for the development of roads, bridges, dams, etc. on the Ganga and has failed to rehabilitate them.

Do you feel that your walk can improve the condition of the Ganga?

I don't know, but I am sure voices of the people can have an impact on the government to act and provide better solutions to the people.

Noted environment lawyer Ritwick Dutta received the Bhagirath Prayas Samman at the recently concluded India Rivers’ Week. We catch up with him on his journey so far and how we can further expand the constituency of environment.

Q. Who was your idol and what did you learn from him/her?

I had no idols because there were no environment lawyers when I started. Most of the cases on environment protection were filed by lawyers themselves. So, they did not represent voices of common people but amplified their personal desires. Those who did represent others had a very little share of environment cases on their lists and they also appeared for violators in other cases. So, they were not concerned about the environment but only in the business of making money, whatever the source be. Another segment was of human rights lawyers taking up environment causes, which meant they had no specialisation. 

So there were multiple problems. We had to increase the volume of environment cases because violations were plenty, we had to be consistently on the side of the environment and avoid governments and corporates and we also had to free the subject from being a subset of human rights. I am proud that my group--Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE)--has been able to do all these over the years. We are pursuing 140 to 150 cases at any given time and the subject has moved out of the human rights umbrella to be an important field in itself.

Q. What got you interested in environmental law?

I was always fascinated by wildlife and forests. I had no interest in pursuing conventional law practice in courts, but since there was no other long-term goal, I got enrolled in law after a graduation in sociology. During the course, I volunteered with TRAFFIC, a joint programme of WWF and World Conservation Union. There, I investigated the legal aspect of wildlife trade. That was the first time I thought of combining my interest in the environment with my academic achievements in law.

Q. How can decentralisation of environmental law be achieved so that people from within the affected community can take up the cases to courts?

There are a few initiatives being taken at certain places but they are yet to gain a substantial momentum. People in villages and small towns know more about environment law than those in cities because they are directly facing the impacts of development projects like mining or hydropower. I am sure that with time, more environment lawyers from these places will emerge.

Q. At a time when environmental laws seem to be facing an imminent threat of dilution, what can be done?

I always tell people that law and courts should be the last resort. First, they need to unite, spread the word and protest. The government is planning to put the building and construction out of the purview of the environment impact assessment. People need to be vigilant about such changes and understand how these impact their lives.

Q. What role has media played so far in environment protection?

Media has a very important role to disseminate information to those far away from the place of action. But it mostly covers a topic in response to a crisis which may be forest fires in Uttarakhand or air pollution in Delhi or floods in Chennai. What we need is more consistency so that the issues remain in focus. Though I understand that media has its own limitations as it has to cater to the interests of the audience, but I also believe that you can make an engaging content to bring forth environment issues instead of waiting for a ‘breaking news’. Most importantly, media needs to simplify the process so that people connect the dots to know how submergence of forest in far off land will impact their lives or how an electric car is still running on power produced by a big plant running on coal. 

Q. What do you think about the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and how can it be improved?

I feel the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is trying its best despite limited government support. We definitely need to fill in the vacancies and form more NGTs in different regions, but the fact that people know and talk about the NGT means it has done something good. Even though the implementation of its orders will always be an issue, the NGT has made a great impact in a short time. If you look at it, no other authority, whether it’s the National Human Rights Commission or the River Ganga Rejuvenation Authority, is as famous for its strong work as the NGT. Thankfully, it’s protected by statutory law and the government will think twice before devaluing it.

Q. What message would you give to people facing the environmental crisis?

I would say one should not take the environment for granted. It’s not a luxury but a question of survival. And let’s stop this campaign about leaving a legacy for the future generation. We need to protect it for ourselves first. Our life is at stake whether it’s through air pollution or contamination of water bodies. We need to have a selfish interest in protecting the environment and play a much more vigorous role in it.

NGT seeks MP, Rajasthan's opinion on maintaining e-flow in Chambal river

The National Green Tribunal has ordered the Madhya Pradesh and the Rajasthan governments to give their opinion on parting with 10 percent of their water share of the Chambal river for maintaining the river's environmental flow (e-flow) in the lean period between January and June. Along with this, the tribunal has also directed both the states to work out further details pertaining to their water requirements and the amount of water that can be made available for maintaining the e-flow of the river. 

Water and environment ministries at crossroads over Ganga projects 

The water resources secretary, Shashi Shekhar has questioned his counterpart in the environment ministry on why the 10 hydropower projects and mining have been allowed in the Bhagirathi valleys as these projects will have their impact on the eco-sensitive zone of the area. However, as per the environment ministry, the projects will be approved only after a carrying capacity study is done by scientists. The 100-km stretch from Gaumukh to Uttar Kashi of Bhagirathi river was notified in 2012 as the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone.  

Delhi launches initiative to ensure constant water supply

In a bid to ensure a constant supply of water in the capital, the Delhi Jal Board has launched a ‘Walk the Line’ initiative which will deploy 800 junior engineers to audit city’s water utility infrastructure for leakage and contamination. Along with this, the board also plans to add 3,500 km of pipeline to the existing 14,000 km of pipeline in order to provide tap water to every household by December 2017. Also, for the clean-up of the Yamuna river, the Delhi government has recommended a special purpose vehicle along the lines of Delhi metro. 

Irrigation projects worth Rs 1,800 crore cleared in Odisha

The Odisha cabinet has given its approval for 54 mega lift irrigation projects worth Rs 1,800 crore in 23 blocks of five districts--Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Ganjam, Kalahandi and Nuapada. The projects aim to create an additional irrigation potential for nearly 62,000 hectares in the state. Also, the entire funding of the projects will be borne by both the state government and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). 

Plan to bring Bengaluru’s water bodies under MoEF purview stays on paper

It has been nearly three-and-a-half years since the water ministry has ordered the Karnataka government to bring all the water bodies in Bengaluru under the purview of the environment ministry. However, the order remains on paper as the state government has failed to take action in this regard. Along with this, the state government has also not paid any heed to the ministry’s order to include the water bodies in land records and form them an integral part of the town-planning process. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from December 19 - 24, 2016. Also, read the news this week.

Most of Hyderabad water bodies reduced to cesspools

Out of the 25 prominent water bodies in Hyderabad, 23 have failed to meet the water quality standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). With the presence of high levels of faecal coliform, all 23 water bodies fall below the class-E category, which means that their water is not even fit for irrigation and industrial cooling. The continuous flow of sewage into the water bodies is the reason behind this damage which is almost irreparable. 

Certain fish species in the country vulnerable to climatic changes

A first of its kind assessment by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has revealed that out of the 68 fish species in the country, 47 are vulnerable to climatic changes. The vulnerability in the fish species is higher on the east coast, especially in the waters of Odisha and West Bengal. The study also recommends tackling overfishing by reducing the number of fishing boats, regulating juvenile fish catch, and enforcing bans during breeding seasons and preventing further destruction of coastal habitats.

Negative impact of river interlinking shows up

Andhra Pradesh's much touted Pattiseema lift scheme that links the Godavari and the Krishna rivers has resulted in the spreading of alien invasive fish species--devil fish--in the Krishna river. The fish made its way into the Prakasam barrage across the Krishna river and has now invaded the Nagarjunasagar reservoir. Experts have warned that devil fish may soon spread to Srisailam reservoir which is upstream of Nagarjunasagar dam. Alien invasive fish species make the survival of native ones difficult as they compete with them for food and space. 

Yet again, Bengaluru's lake froths

After the rains in the city due to cyclone Vardah, Varthur lake has frothed again causing trouble to the residents and the passers-by. The lake which has not been desilted since 1970, is a victim of unscientific dumping of solid waste and discharge of untreated industrial waste. Taking note of the lake’s dismal state, a local group has written to civic authorities to take immediate action against pollution in city’s lake. 

Hindu Kush Himalayas could experience water flow alterations, thanks to climate change

According to a study conducted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), shifts in rain and snow due to climate change will have more impact on water supplies and groundwater recharge of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region than the glacial retreat. Moreover, the study states that at lower elevations, the glacial retreat is unlikely to cause significant changes to the region's water availability while the higher elevation areas could experience alterations in water flow due to the receding glaciers.  

This is a roundup of important news from December 19 - 24, 2016. Also, read the policy matters this week. 

A scarcity of something makes it special. That’s the reason why Rajasthan has always sanctified water much more than any other place in India. Low rainfall and saline groundwater turned people into great conservers who not only built beautiful and durable structures but also developed sustainable practices around them.

The book, Jal Aur Samaj by Dr Brajrattan Joshi, takes us on a journey through this set up as built by people of Bikaner. Dr Joshi has been able to bring complex historical and cultural connections of water to life in the city through detailed interviews and secondary research. The work also becomes important because it includes the voices and the wisdom of a generation we are losing fast. 

Jal Aur Samaj is inspired by Anupam Mishra’s Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talaab.  It takes the work forward by focusing on one city. Every town needs to similarly document and celebrate its water heritage as these structures are a good bet to tide over the present and future water crises. In the words of Anupam Mishra who wrote this book’s preface: “These ponds are not only history of Bikaner. They can also be its future.”

Of over 100 ponds in Bikaner at one time, not even 10 were fully funded by the rulers. The people themselves laboured and collected money and material to construct and preserve these nests of biodiversity as most of the ponds and their catchments also had a good tree cover and high density of medicinal plants. Thus, a pond was not just a water body but a link connecting trees, wildlife, and man, offering space to each one of them.

Swimming classes at these ponds and wrestling pits around them produced competitive divers and tacklers while intellectual, religious and musical events nourished the soul. 

Being thriving open spaces, ponds were well maintained and their water devoid of pollutants. The upkeep of some ponds was done through caretakers whose sustenance was the responsibility of the society. Gifts were offered to them on auspicious occasions, especially after the weddings when the newly wedded had to visit the community pond to seek blessings. 

Caste discrimination is often said to be the bane of traditional Indian society but as this book shows, the differences have become starker in recent times. Many ponds in Bikaner were built by certain castes and communities but were open for public use. So Kharnada pond, which was built by Brahmin goldsmiths, hosted various fairs which had everyone’s participation and management. Likewise, Sansolaav, commissioned by Samoji, was the resting place for Muslim devotees returning from the fair of Gemna peer and Brahmins of that area used to look after these pilgrims. 

Besides being a repository of all ponds big and small, Jal Aur Samaj tracks down the process of land selection through joint application of geological, geographical and astrological knowledge. The soil was tested for quality and water retention. Special tools were put to use for the construction of ponds and measurement of water levels. 

Jal Aur Samaj also carries the nuances of the local language through a ghazal written in 1975 by poet Uday Chand Jain as he describes the city, its markets, people and most importantly, the ponds. 

Sadly, of over 100 ponds in Bikaner once, not even one percent is in a good state now. Expansion of water pipeline network led to the negligence of the ponds and their catchment areas where encroachments flourished and mining industry gained a foothold. Moreover, most of the ponds were common properties and not in the name of individuals who could have intervened legally. 

While a few castes and communities have tried to restore their ponds, the approach has been more inclined towards modern landscaping than the preservation of natural ambience. Dr Joshi does well to underscore all these limitations, which will help inform the protection measures. Thankfully, Bikaner has something to refer to. Other cities will do well to follow suit.

Shalu’s household was evicted from Koyla Basti of the Yamuna pushta (embankment), a massive slum cluster on the banks of the Yamuna river in the year 2004. Earthmoving machines bulldozed thousands of homes at the site which was to host the Commonwealth Games of 2010.

Resettled in Bhalaswa, Shalu (42) and her husband, both ragpickers, were asked to pay Rs 7,000 by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) for securing a house at the resettlement colony. Access to schools, ration shops and hospitals and livelihood options were tough initially. Yet, she considers herself lucky to have got resettlement accommodation which was not the case with some of her friends at the slum.

She narrates the precarious situation faced by most slum dwellers at Yamuna pushta who had no legal rights to the land they had occupied for decades. Most of them did not receive title deeds when they moved into the slums. All their investment in building a house and obtaining access to other essential services to better their lives went in vain and they ended up stranded and shelterless.

Shalu and her husband had bought some land in the pushta’s low-lying floodable area from an early settler who had come along a 13-lakh labour force that migrated to Delhi in the 1980s for the development of the Asiad Games infrastructure. When Shalu moved here in 1997, she could not lay her hands on affordable legal land in the city. She joined the migrant population who kept pouring into the jhuggi (makeshift hut) clusters near the Yamuna pushta. The couple reclaimed the land and did riverbed cultivation. Since their slums were low lying and got flooded every monsoon, they sought refuge in temporary camps during floods. Basic facilities were minimal but like most migrants, she received voter’s card and ration card with time. Work opportunities were available nearby, in the old city’s wholesale market of Khari Baoli. “The politicians used the insecurity of the slum dwellers to bind them in their political patronage network. After all, they were a valuable vote bank,” says Pushpa of Lok Shakti Manch, a civil society group active in Bhalaswa.

As per reports, more than four lakh residents of the Yamuna pushta had seen their homes demolished and swept completely off during 2004-2010 as part of Delhi’s beautification drive. Only a small number of them were resettled. A petition by the Housing and Land Rights Network says, “The demolitions were reported to have been accompanied by the excessive use of force, arrests, detentions, and ill treatment of the slum dwellers.”

Eviction looms large as Delhi grooms

Cut to March 2016. Shalu sits chatting outside her new home next to an open drain. Her one-room house of 12 square metre in the colony’s tightly-packed earthen street is powered by stolen electricity lines. As with most resettlement colonies, Bhalaswa’s living environment is anything but good. "The people were told that the landfill will one day be a park but all of that garbage with its foul smell stays put over there,” says Pushpa. 

Shalu laments that she was evicted to make way for games infrastructure and the city’s beautification drive. “It is my mortal fear that someday we will be asked to clear this place, too. We will be reduced to squatters or end up living in tin ka dabba (corrugated iron shacks) then,” Shalu adds. Her claim to the city has been destabilised.

“Twelve years after she got evicted, the Yamuna pushta continues to house numerous homeless people but much of the riverbed has paved way for the construction of Commonwealth Games Village,” says Shalu. Commonwealth Games are over but the beautification drive on the Yamuna riverbed continues. Pollution too has emerged as a big issue in this conflict over land-use now. “Yet, massive infrastructure continues to thrive on the riverbed--Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Depot, Akshardham Temple and the Commonwealth Games Village,” says Indrashish of Housing and Land Rights Network (HRLN), a Delhi-based advocacy group.

Another spate of evictions

During the evictions for the Commonwealth Games, the government was armed with a March 2003 order from the Delhi high court which called for the removal of encroachment on the Yamuna bed. Hearing a petition against the encroachment, the high court had ordered the Delhi as well as the central governments to clear the banks of the Yamuna.

Media reports suggest that in the past two months, Delhi municipal authorities have undertaken a massive demolition drive around the Yamuna banks. An order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) of January 2015 is being cited by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for carrying out forced evictions. The order is based on a study by The Energy Research Institute in 2012 that indicated the presence of heavy metals in both irrigation water and on the floodplain soil. This led the NGT to prohibit the cultivation of edible crops and vegetables on the floodplains of the river citing that the “river’s water is highly polluted as it carries sewage and effluent from industries, but is still used for irrigation that can permeate the food chain and have harmful effects on humans”. People living and farming on over 800 acres of riverbed have been evicted. This time also, the demolitions were accompanied by excessive use of force, says Indrashish.

Forced evictions against right to life

“Forced evictions are widespread across the Yamuna riverbed even to this day. All this when official records point to the practice of riverbed cultivation during the winter season when the bed is dry in lieu of revenue paid by farmers,” says Abdul Shakeel of HRLN. “This is something that had been acknowledged in the city’s masterplan, yet it is considered illegal,” he adds.

Bibhuti Singh, the president of Delhi Peasants Multipurpose Society, the farmers’ organisation that challenged the court’s order in 2015, said in an earlier interview to India Water Portal, “The decision is hasty. We should have been given more time.” Over 10,000 farmers cultivating on the Yamuna bed are a part of this group. The court had refused to entertain the plea of the society in this case.

“Both international as well as national law regards forced eviction as a gross violation of human rights, not considering whether the land is under legal or illegal occupation,” says Shakeel. The environment minister of Delhi, Kapil Mishra was quoted as saying, “Why are they (DDA) evacuating farmers now? What is the problem if they agree to practice organic agriculture? How can you evict them when the Commonwealth Games Village is encroaching (upon) the bank? In fact, in some ways, the farmers have been protecting the river land from being encroached further."

This view was echoed by Vishwanath Srikantaiah of Biome Environment Solutions, a Bangalore-based design firm. “The judgment is both arbitrary and impractical and the case for cleaning up the river is being overstated”. “It is the city as a whole and not just the farmers who are polluting the river. Why should the farmers be singled out for punishment?” he told India Water Portal. Yet the DDA went ahead with its eviction drive which is likely to push many into dire poverty.

Abdul Shakeel recounts the history of forced evictions on the Yamuna's banks through the 1970s which peaked in 2006-2007 when the DDA went all out to free up the land for projects related to Commonwealth Games. “It’s a real challenge to improve lives in slums near the Yamuna without secure tenure. The Delhi high court’s order of May 2002, too directs that the slums at the Yamuna pushta be demolished, making it easier for the DMC to issue eviction notices and eventually demolish them,” adds Shakeel.

Tension simmers between those who like the right to property be respected and the others who stress on the welfare of the poor. In the case of Yamuna pushta, the petitions (in high court) to do away with the slum communities was filed mostly by factory owners and resident welfare associations nearby. “They ignored the fact that the poor have no choice but to be reduced to ‘illegal’ settlers in the absence of affordable housing,” says Shakeel.

In December 2015, the Delhi government’s parastatal, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) approved the Delhi Slum & Jhuggi Jhopri Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy 2015. “Taking January 1, 2006, as the cut-off for slum-dwellers, the policy envisages that flats will be provided as a part of the rehabilitation plan,” says Shakeel. “However, no matter what the policy says, the land owning agency of DDA has always had problems in handing over lands to DUSIB on reasonable terms and conditions,” says Pushpa.  

What can be done?

Delhi has a long history of inadequate resettlement of displaced communities. Dunu Roy, director of the Hazards Centre, an organisation that works on the development policy and practice, points out, “During the 2002-04 evictions prior to the Commonwealth Games, homes of over 36,000 families were demolished and only about 9,000 were resettled in distant colonies. Many of the remaining people are either homeless, or have gone back to their villages, or found some rented or vacant space to occupy ("encroach"), or are living in fresh slums located right next to the resettlement colonies. The spaces that were vacated in 2002-04 have already been taken over by freeways, parks, and building complexes.”

Shahana Sheikh and Subhadra Banda of the Centre for Policy Research's Cities of Delhi project concur with this and recommend in-situ upgradation. They assert that improving the environment of slums by providing infrastructure improves housing conditions for the poor with minimum disruption. Despite this, in-situ upgradation has been implemented in very few areas. In a paper on the subject, they say, “We encountered two frequent explanations for the challenges facing implementation of the scheme: non-tenability and the difficulty of obtaining NOCs. We believe, therefore, that in-situ upgradation can be easily implemented in jhuggi jhopri clusters that meet two conditions: those that have been classified as “tenable” and are located on the land owned by the DUSIB. In “tenable” settlements, neither land use violations nor safety hazards should force the relocation of residents.”

When people are evicted from their homes despite policy recommendations to the contrary, there is no option but to believe that vested interests direct these evictions. As Dunu Roy says, “A different approach could have been to improve the living conditions in the existing slums, but the price of real estate is what government agencies and builders are eyeing.

Wildlife board gives its nod to the Ken-Betwa river linking project 

The National Board for Wildlife has given its green signal to the Ken-Betwa river linking project after imposing certain conditions which include the integration of nearby sanctuaries. According to the union water minister Uma Bharti, the construction work on the project will begin after the funding pattern has been decided. The Rs 9,000-crore project plans to benefit six districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh by transferring surplus water from the Ken river to the Betwa basin through a 221-km canal.

Loans sanctioned for irrigation fund

Under the long term irrigation fund (LTIF), the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has so far sanctioned loans worth Rs 35,322 crore. The scheme that was set up with an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crore has identified 99 incomplete irrigation projects for funding in 18 states with a potential irrigation of 76 lakh hectares. According to the Nabard, the total fund requirement under the scheme is Rs 77,595 crore for four years of which the Centre’s share is nearly 40 percent while the states will bear 60 percent of the share.

MoU signed to improve water scenario across states

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between CII-Triveni Water Institute, Jaipur and the Water Research Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel for planning, designing, and implementing new and innovative tools and technologies to improve water management in India. Both the institutes will pool expertise and derive solutions in the water sector in India, for the benefit of community at large. The MoU covers various sectors namely, irrigation, industry, domestic water use, wastewater management, municipal sewage recycle, improving water use efficiency, training and capacity building and implementing of strategies in drought prone areas.

HC calls release of water for Kumbh Mela during drought 'illegal'

The Bombay high court has termed the release of water for shahi snan (holy dip) from the Gangapur dam complex on the Godavari river during Kumbh Mela in 2015 as illegal and contrary to Maharashtra’s water policy of 2003. The court has observed that at a time when the state was not able to allocate sufficient water for any other use due to drought, how could water be allocated for religious purposes. The court has also ordered the state government to decide on setting up of committee for the implementation of Jalyukta Shivar and river rejuvenation schemes by January 31, 2017. 

NGT quashes green nod to UP power plant

The National Green Tribunal has quashed the environment clearance granted to Welspun Energy's 1320 megawatt coal-based thermal power plant in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh. According to the NGT, the video of the public hearing conducted for the project shows the presence of gun-toting men among the people attending it, an indication that the meet was not conducted in a free and fair manner. The NGT has ordered the project proponent not to conduct any development work at the project site and also, restore the area to its original condition. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from December 25, 2016 - January 1, 2017. Also, read news this week.

Lingaraj Jena is a worried man. At 86, he is one of the older fishermen in Berhampura village, an island on the Chilika lake in Odisha. Though he no longer goes for fishing due to old age, he is worried about the opening of new sea mouths; he knows it is not good news for the fishing communities he is a part of that depend on the Chilika for their livelihood. If the government did not act on the people's concern urgently, he believes it could spell doom to the fisherfolk.

The Chilika lagoon is situated on the east coast of India. It extends from the south-west corner of Puri and Khordha districts to the adjoining Ganjam district in Orissa. It is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia with estuarine character and the largest wintering ground for migratory waterfowls on the Indian subcontinent. 

In 1981, Chilika became the first Ramsar site in India. It is a shallow lake with an average depth of 1.5 metres. It is connected to the Bay of Bengal by a 32-km-long, 1.5-km-wide outer channel and separated from it by a sandy ridge. The area of the lagoon varies between 1165 sq km and 906 sq km during monsoon and summer respectively. There are numerous islands like Mahisa, Berhampura, Nalabana, etc around the lake and the rich fishing grounds sustain the livelihood of more than 2,00,000 fisherfolk who live here. 

The Chilika lake is known to support biodiversity, including many endangered species. It is the wintering ground for more than 1,000,000 migratory birds and breeding and staging ground for nearly three dozen waterbird species. About 200 bird species have been identified of which about 100 are reportedly intercontinental migrants. There are around 225 species of fish and more than 500 other fauna species.

As per a report from the Planning Commission, several hundred fish species have been identified (including commercially important species) in the lake; 40 percent of them are reportedly dependent on seawater migration. Rare species include the limbless skink (Barkudia Insularis) found only in Chilika and the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella Brevirostris). Nearly 400 species of flora have been identified with some having medicinal properties and others being used for human consumption, as fodder for the livestock, for thatching, as food for fish and birds and also as nesting material. 

Chilika changes with time

From the 1970s to 1990s, the Chilika experienced a drastic decline in salinity from the silt and sand choking its sea inlets, reducing the tidal inflow to a trickle. Freshwater flow from streams and rivers turned the Chilika into a freshwater lake. Invasive freshwater weeds proliferated and silt brought in by rivers made the lake even shallower. As a result, many commercial fish species disappeared and fishing dwindled. To restore the lake, the government of Odisha established Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in 1991. In 1993, the Ramsar site was declared as threatened wetland due to drastic ecological changes. The CDA commissioned various studies to understand the Chilika and it was found that the lake was suffering due to the closure of the sea mouth. 

Based on the findings of the study, in September 2000, the CDA dredged open the sea mouth between the Bay of Bengal and the lake. This resulted in the accumulated silt being flushed out to the sea, restoring the lake’s depth and salinity. The annual fish production increased significantly from 1600 tonnes to 13160 tonnes. The average annual fish catch in 2013 was 12,000 tonnes. The opening of the sea mouth has also resulted in the expansion of the Irrawaddy dolphin distribution in the Chilika. 

In 2002, with successful ecological restoration, the Chilika became the first and the only wetland in Asia to be removed from Montreux record of threatened wetlands with effect from November 11, 2003. In 2002, the CDA received the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award for “outstanding contributions to wetlands conservation and sustainable use” as well as the Evian Special Prize.

Since 2005, three new sea mouths opened naturally in the Chilika, changing the character of the lake once again. “Satisfied with the sustainable ecological restoration of the Chilika lake and the high-income levels of the communities depending on the lake, the CDA appears to have neglected the new mouths that opened,” says a geological study conducted by Dr R. Jagadiswara Rao. 

What the new sea mouths brought with them

“The financial situation of the fisherfolks in the region started deteriorating due to the decline in fish production from increased salinity of the Chilika. Many fisherfolks in the area are leaving their fishing business and opting for other jobs. The fish production dropped from an average of 12,000 tonnes per year to 9000 tonnes,” says 54-year-old Krushna Chandra Jena, a local leader of the fishing communities in the region.

The islands of the Chilika are still not very well connected. The only means of transportation is the boat. There are no medical facilities for the fishing communities and the other people living on the islands. Arsenic contaminates the drinking water in the region and safe drinking water is hardly available. “There are 15 hand pumps in Berhampura, but arsenic-free water is available only in two or three hand pumps. The Oxfam team conducted a water quality survey in the region and they shared this information with us,” says 35-year-old Tapan, a resident of Berhampura.

“Before the new sea mouths opened, the distance of the sea mouth from Berhampura was 20 km, but now it has reduced to only 5 km,” says a resident, Lingaraj Jena. The lake has also been subjected to very high sedimentation due to erosion in its catchment. Today, the deepest part of the lake is only about 1.5 metres while 30 to 40 years ago, it was three to six metres deep. This is the direct fallout of siltation due to sand from the coast and silt carried from the sea by tidal action, rivers from eastern ghats and the Mahanadi distributaries.

Mahanadi distributaries are the major contributors (75 percent) of the total sediments. Soil erosion is mainly contributed by overgrazing, illicit felling of trees and ruthless cutting, cultivation and clearance of vegetation for various purpose in the western catchment area. Siltation has led to the gradual reduction in the size of the lagoon. 

As per the local fisherfolks, many varieties of fish in the Chilika like siba, sunga, konti, karisa, nahamo, have vanished due to increased salinity. The rivers that used to fill the Chilika are now running out of water due to industrial and domestic consumption.

As per the geological study conducted by Dr Rao, “A 4-km-stretch of the barrier island is already barren of vegetation with the number of naturally-formed mouths increasing from one to three. Moreover, the height of the mouths got reduced and the cumulative width increased. In the absence of scientific intervention by the CDA, there is a danger of the entire barrier island getting destroyed with the outer channel of the Chilika lake becoming part of the Bay of Bengal.”

What’s the way forward?

Experts in the field feel that there is an urgent need for scientific intervention to resolve the issues of environment and livelihood around the Chilika. The CDA has to take the initiative once again to restore the lake and the environment. 

There is a need to conduct an impact assessment study and develop an action plan. This is only possible when the government takes action, some of them being:

●Developing clear institutional guidelines for CDA

●Developing an effective restoration plan

●Preparing a drainage basin implementation plan

●Implementing the national guidelines for wetland conservation effectively

●Involving civil society in redeveloping policy and legislation frameworks for the conservation of wetlands

"Despite the CDA getting funds from the United Nations Environmental Programme to obtain the Chilika Lake Ecosystem Health Report Cards, both in 2012 and 2014, no effort has been made to study the degradation caused to the barrier island bordering the Chilika lake owing to the closure and the opening of the mouths," adds Dr Rao. 

You can read planning commission’s recommendations here.

Please see more Chilika photos here.

Going by the statistics from the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Tamil Nadu’s coastline is densely populated with 573 fishing villages along 13 coastal districts. The story is slightly different around the urban and peri-urban coastline, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of the coastline in most parts of urban India. Traditional fishing hamlets are slowly giving way to plush beachfront properties. Spaces frequented by fishers are often viewed as “eyesores” on pristine beach stretches. More often than not, the rights and livelihoods of fishing communities are often relegated to obscurity in comparison to coastal infrastructure and real estate development.

Recreation appropriating livelihoods

Chennai’s famed Elliot’s beach in Besant Nagar was once a thriving site for fish landing and sorting. Overtime, hygiene concerns of the walkers and joggers took precedence over the livelihood concerns of local fishers and now fishing activities are restricted between the broken bridge across the Adyar estuary and Urur Kuppam, north of Elliot’s Beach. This story is being repeated in the adjacent neighbourhood of Tiruvanmiyur. Recreation is slowly taking precedence over livelihoods. Tiruvanmiyur Kuppam, which was originally a fishing hamlet, has been transformed into one of the many upscale neighbourhoods along the east coast. Fishermen are no longer allowed to dry their catch along the shore as members of the East Coast Beach Walkers Association find it repulsive. Demands have been put forward by the association to ensure the beach stretch up to Kottivakkam Kuppam is freed of fish hauling and drying.

Fishermen in the area are used to wielding the periya valai, huge communal shore seines or dragnets--with the length ranging from 1.5 km to 3 km--which are cast from the shore. At least 20 people are required to cast and drag these nets to pull out the fish which thrive close to the shore. “Practices like this require a lot of space which is now becoming a rarity along the urban stretches. Though periya valai are still used in traditional fishing villages in the city such as Urur Kuppam and Tiruvanmiyur Kuppam, their number, and frequency of use is consistently diminishing,” says Pooja Kumar of The Coastal Resource Centre.

As we move further away from the city, resorts and private beaches turn villains. The coastal stretch between Chennai and Puducherry abound with innumerable townships and beach resorts developed illegally along the strict no-go zones on the seaward side under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). More recently, close to 100 acres of beach and adjoining land near Marakkanam were taken over illegally by an established Chennai-based construction company to develop a small township of 200 plots. The locals’ awareness of legal provisions and land use came to the rescue as the residents of nearby Alamparai Kuppam raised an alarm following which a show cause notice was issued by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). The township now stands demolished.

The CRZ notification clearly forbids any new construction on coastal land up to 500 metres from the sea’s high-tide line. It also makes it mandatory for the government to map land and sea use of fishing villages along the coast. Neither has the mapping been done nor has there been any proactive enforcement of the CRZ regulation. The Coastal Resource Centre has been involved in creating legal awareness regarding the CRZ rules in addition to training people in mapping their land use.

Public infrastructure vs livelihood

Recreation and beachfront real estate development aside, here's a bigger enemy in the garb of “public good” lurking around the north and the south of the city.

One of Chennai’s northern-most industrial suburbs, Ennore and its surrounding hamlets were once thriving fishing villages. While the hamlets of Mugadwara Kuppam, Sivanpadaiveedhi and Kaattu Kuppam fish mainly in the brackish waters of the Ennore creek, the livelihood of a host of other villages including the Kaattupalli Kuppam is entirely dependent on the sea and the shores of the Bay of Bengal.

The residents of hamlets in and around Ennore have been displaced in the past to enable the construction of power generation complexes. The village of Mugadwara Kuppam was shifted from the north of the creek where the thermal power plant was to come up to a more southerly spot. Solely relying on the government’s promise of one job per family, villagers left behind titled land to settle in spaces where they could be evicted from at any time. More recently, the hamlet of Kattupalli Kuppam was shifted two kilometers inland to facilitate the setting up of the Kattupalli shipyard and captive port complex along the coast.

Despite all this, the problem in Ennore is not so much of space as that of environmental and ecological degradation. The Ennore Thermal Power Plant and the North Chennai Thermal Power Station are repeat offenders involved in systematically damaging the creek. Sustained land reclamation and heavy siltation have left the creek shallow at many points.

“Pipes carrying fly ash slurry from the power plants to storage ponds leak perpetually, leaving the creek solidified in most places. Stretches, where the creek went as deep as nine to 10 feet, have now been concretised. In addition, dredged sand from the Kamarajar port expansion activities in the north has clogged the creek for kilometres, making life miserable for local fishers,” narrates R.L. Srinivasan of the Ennore Anaithu Minava Grama Kootamaipu (Ennore All Fisher Village Coalition). Kamarajar port had, in early December, promised to remove dredged sand from the salt pan lands. The work is yet to commence.

The point where the creek opens into the sea is characterised by an orderly mixing of fresh and saline water resulting in a brackish environment favouring certain species of fish and prawn. “Mudflats in the area have long since disappeared, taking along with them a majority of fish, prawn and crab species which once thrived in the area. With the mangroves systematically destroyed and the natural water exchange between the creek and sea severely compromised, we have lost close to 70 percent of the eraal (prawn) catch in the marshy patches of the creek,” rues Srinivasan.

Desalination woes

Another example of “public good” disrupting local livelihoods is the 100 MLD (million litres per day) seawater desalination plant which came up in the village of Nemmeli, around 40 km south of Chennai in 2013. The prohibitive cost of cleaning up salt water to potable standards aside, the plant lets out 60 MLD of highly saline brine reject for every 40 MLD it desalinates. Huge pipes carry the brine reject into the Bay of Bengal, but stop well short of the 600-metre distance into the sea as mandated by MoEFCC. As a result, all the hypersaline reject is let out right on the beach.

The problem the fishers of Nemmeli face is two-fold: Loss of space closely tied to their livelihood along the beach due to erosion and increased salinity along the coast. Fishermen claim the fish catch has reduced by over 50 percent in the area due to increased turbidity and high salinity which drive away the fish from their usual congregation grounds.

Along with sea water, the inlet pipes suck in fish and fry alike. The outlet pipes with their concentrated brine mixture, however, have proven to be more damaging. “Before the plant came up in 2013, the sea was filled with fish and prawns. We just had to go in for about 5 km and even in a small boat manned by four people, each of us was able to earn Rs 1000 – Rs 1500 every day. Now we are forced to venture 10 – 15 km out into the sea and still do not secure even half of our previous catch,” remarks Santhosh, a resident of Sulerikattu Kuppam.

Along the coast, stone beds were laid to support massive pipes that lead in and out of the desalination plant. This has severely hampered the use of shore seines in the village. “Long, undisturbed stretches of beach is required for the use of the periya valai where almost the entire village fishes together. Between January and May, each of these nets used to earn us a catch of close to Rs 10 lakh; six of them sit idly in our village now. We cannot risk damaging these nets on the stony shore. Each of these costs Rs 2 - 3 lakh,” adds Santhosh. 

As if the 100 MLD plant wasn’t enough, the state government has proposed the setting up of two more plants with 150 MLD and 400 MLD desalination capacity very close to the present one. Since the health of the sea is under question, anxious residents of Nemmeli Kuppam, just north of the Sulerikattu Kuppam where the current plant is located, remain on high alert. “We have been petitioning and protesting, but the construction of the 150 MLD plant is almost complete. There’s little we can do now,” remarks Santhosh. Vocal resistance, however, is quite low now. Experiences of the past, watching rebellious neighbours from Sulerikattu Kuppam terrorised by the state police for rising up in protest three years ago, has taught them better.

While the community has been able to express its concerns in one voice across most coastal districts in the state, the relatively more urbanised districts of Chennai and Kancheepuram have struggled with it a great deal. Ramya Rajagopalan of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) considers this as an extension of the city-bred mentality where one tends to focus only on one’s own problems. “To be effectively heard, the fishers of north Chennai have to stand as one with their brothers in Nemmeli. But that rarely happens in urban areas,” she adds. A lethal combination of lack of space, credit and market facilities in addition to the absence of a strong coastal zone management committee to forward their demands could be possible triggers of such a hamlet-centric approach along urban stretches.

“The sea and the seashore are inextricably linked to fishermen’s livelihoods. A fisherman sails into the sea for his daily catch, but without the shore’s support, his day’s work will not be complete. From reeling in the nets to drying the catch, the shore is an integral part of fishers’ everyday life,” remarks Saravanan of the Chennai-based Coastal Resource Centre. When infrastructure, both public and private, are planned right along the coast at manic speed, the very subsistence of the fishing community is jeopardised beyond imagination.

The year 2016 was eventful, to say the least when it comes to the water scenario in the country. The year saw severe droughts affecting 33 crore people across 10 states. The states of Assam and Bihar experienced severe flooding, the Ganga clean-up plan has so far been a failure and the lakes and other water bodies in the urban India continue to be under threat due to encroachment and water pollution. Not to mention cyclone Vardah that wreaked havoc in Tamil Nadu. The passing year also saw water conflicts--inter-state, inter-ministerial as well as international--of various intensity. The water wars were indicators that India is reeling under severe water crisis. 

Let us take a look at some of the major water wars that hogged the limelight this year.     

Ministries fight over Ganga projects

After the deluge of 2013 in Uttarakhand, several committees that were set up to look into the cause had blamed unplanned urbanisation in the region for the disaster, following which the Supreme Court had put a stop to the work on more than 24 hydropower projects in the upper Ganga. But despite the apex court order, the environment ministry approved six new projects--171 MW Lata Tapovan, 4 MW Khironi Ganga, 24 MW Bhyunder Ganga, 195 MW Kotli Bhel, 300 MW Alaknanda and 108 MW Jhelum Tamak--in Uttarakhand. The water ministry got concerned about these projects as they were perceived as interruptions to the flow of the Ganga and a hindrance to the revival efforts of the river and sought the SC's intervention. The SC asked both the ministries to take a unified stand on the matter. In August 2016, however, the water ministry took a softer stand and agreed to the six projects on condition that the project proponents must ensure a minimum water flow in the rivers.

Despite finding an amicable solution to the above conflict, the two ministries were again at loggerheads with each other over declaring 100 kilometers of Ganga in Uttarakhand as pristine and allowing 10 hydro projects and mining to come up in the Bhagirathi valley. The environment ministry withdrew its consent from a joint affidavit with the water resources ministry on this leading to a delay in the much-needed protection of the eco-fragile areas of Uttarakhand. 

India and Pakistan battle it out

After the Uri attack by Pakistani terrorists on the Indian border in September 2016 that claimed 19 Indian soldiers, the tension between the two neighbouring countries escalated when India decided to scrap the 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty that regulates the sharing of water between India and Pakistan. Along with this, India decided to maximise its use of the Indus water causing concern for the Pakistan government as the majority of the country is dependent on the Indus river water. The latter demanded the World Bank, which brokered the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in 1960, to initiate a court of arbitration (CoA) process to resolve the dispute involving the 330-MW Kishenganga and 850-MW Ratle hydroelectric projects being built by India. The World Bank accepted Pakistan’s request which intensified the water war between the two neighbours with India accusing the World Bank of bias. For now, the World Bank has temporarily halted the arbitration process between the two countries in order to give them time to consider alternative ways to resolve the disagreements. A worried Pakistan, however, has gone ahead and asked the World Bank to re-examine the pause on the treaty. While Pakistan has shown its disagreement to any changes in the treaty, the Indian government has appointed an inter-ministerial task force to look into all the strategic aspects of the treaty and exploit maximum water of the Pakistan-controlled rivers, including the Jhelum. 

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu fight over Cauvery water

The long-standing conflict between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery water raised its ugly head once again with Karnataka proposing a dam on the Cauvery river at Mekedatu and violating the orders of Cauvery water dispute tribunal by not releasing water to Tamil Nadu in June and July, 2016. The conflict that started in September and spilled over to October saw violent protest erupting in the neighbouring states. When Tamil Nadu accused Karnataka of diverting water and moved the Supreme Court (SC) against the violation of the court order to release water, the SC ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for 10 days. Going against the court order, Karnataka released only 10,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu and sought modification of the orders citing lack of water in its reservoirs for sharing as the reason. The SC responded to Karnataka’s plea by reducing the quantum of water to be released to 12,000 cusecs. 

Later on September 20, the SC further reduced the quantum of water to 6000 cusecs to be released for another seven days which too, was not complied by the Karnataka government. Moreover, the Karnataka government adopted a resolution to use the Cauvery river water only for drinking purpose which implied that the water situation in the state was so severe it was not capable of sparing any water to its neighbour. The SC, however, gave no respite to Karnataka against its resolution and ordered the state to release water for two more days. It also asked the Centre to intervene and constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board to resolve the conflict between the two states. Finally, after much deliberation, the Karnataka government agreed to release 2000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu. 

The technical team appointed by the SC to look into the matter has revealed that both the states are facing acute water shortage and that the water application techniques of both the states are outdated and have very low conveyance efficiency. The team recommended modernisation of these techniques in order to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two states. Thanks to the Cauvery dispute, farmers in both the states are incurring a loss of around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore each year.

Punjab and Haryana spar over Sutlej-Yamuna link

Another old dispute of river-water sharing that resurfaced in 2016 was the one between Punjab and Haryana over the Sutlej-Yamuna link (SYL) canal that has been under construction since 1977. Not ready to spare even a single drop of its river water, Punjab filed a petition in the SC to cancel agreements under the 2004 Act for sharing the water of Ravi, Beas and Sutlej with its neighbours, especially Haryana. Moreover, the state denotified the land acquired for SYL and even passed the bill against the construction of the canal to which the Haryana government objected. However, the petition filed by Punjab in the apex court was not only rejected, but its unilateral decision to terminate the water-sharing agreement with its neighbours was also termed unconstitutional by the court. Following the court’s verdict, the Punjab government passed another resolution demanding royalty from the neighbouring states--Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan--for using its water. Along with this, Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal ordered the state government to not allow anyone to carry out the construction work of the canal. But in November 2016, both the Punjab and the central government were served SC notice over the SYL canal works. The issue has become a matter of political opportunism with no political party thinking on ways to conserve water. Moreover, this rift over the canal has also revealed that both the states are facing acute water scarcity.   

Mahanadi river dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh

A tiff between the Odisha and Chhattisgarh government arose when the latter initiated the construction of barrages in the upper catchment of the Mahanadi river. This meant that the Chhattisgarh government would be utilising 27.48 million acre feet of the river water as against a total availability of the minimum flow of 20.61 million acre feet in the river. Irked with its neighbour, the Odisha government demanded the water ministry to set up a tribunal to resolve the river dispute between the two states. Along with this, the latter also requested the Chhattisgarh government to halt the construction works on the river with immediate effect. But with no victory coming its way on the issue, the Odisha government moved the apex court. However, the Mahanadi water sharing being raised by chief minister Naveen Patnaik also seems to be a political strategy of his government to divert the public attention from a host of scams it is embroiled in and a crumbling healthcare system it is responsible for.

Mhadei river dispute

Goa is another state at war with Karnataka over river-water sharing. Earlier in 2016, Goa accused Karnataka of violating the court order on the Mhadei river water by going ahead with the construction of the Kalasa-Banduri canal. In July, the Karnataka government sought lifting of 7 TMC of river water, which was declined by the Mhadei water dispute tribunal in favour of Goa. The order, a major setback to Karnataka, resulted in protests and bandhs in the state. In another major victory to Goa recently, the Karnataka government has been forced to withdraw its plea filed in the SC challenging the Mhadei water disputes tribunal’s order, as the apex court refused to interfere with the tribunal’s decision.

In the light of the various water conflicts that arose in the country this year, the Centre has decided to subsume the existing tribunals into a single, permanent tribunal to adjudicate all inter-state river water disputes. With a single tribunal, the Centre hopes to resolve the grievances of states in a speedy manner. 

Though the year 2016 did not end on a positive note with no water dispute getting resolved, we hope 2017 has some great news in store for the parched lands of India. 

Jaman Ram, a resident of Bhikia Sain, a tehsil in Uttarakhand, remembers fishing with his father in the Ramganga. “We could catch 80-100 kilograms of fish a day. That is no longer possible,” he says. Shafiq of Haldwani shares an unsettling memory of the Ramganga. As a young man on a holiday, he was paddling in the river near Marchula when the rock he was standing on shifted. Thinking he was standing on a loose boulder, he stepped away from it only to see the “rock” glide away. It was a large “goonch”, a fish mighty enough to support a man on its back. “I haven't seen anything like that since,” says Shafiq regretfully.

Both Jaman Ram and Shafiq are confused by this decline in fish numbers in the Ramganga. While the dams and the resultant fragmentation of rivers are the single largest threat to fish species, especially in the mountain areas, the stretches of the Ramganga that Jaman and Shafiq refer to are free flowing still. Studies being conducted in places as far away as Germany, Brazil, and the United States of America may provide Jaman and Shafiq with the answers they need. The research has discovered that the changes in the land use and the resultant non-point source pollution may adversely impact riverine fish.

Understanding fish species

To understand why, we need to understand a little about the lives of fish in the Himalayan rivers. Arguably, the iconic fish in this region is the “mahseer”.  This is not a single species of fish, but a group of fish spread over two genera, mainly Tor and to a lesser extent, Neolissochilus. Besides these, it is the trout family that is appreciated by both anglers and the riparian communities.

Speaking of the mahseer, one of India’s foremost experts on high altitude freshwater ecosystems, Dr Nautiyal of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University says, "The (adult) mahseer lives in moderately cold waters of glacier-fed rivers, while in its larval and juvenile stages, it lives in relatively warmer waters of springfed streams. It has a terminal mouth (facing front) and is well adapted to feed on the bottom as well as in column. It is carnivorous in late larval and juvenile stages, while the fresh adults turn piscivorous during migration. As it grows in age, it becomes omnivorous. Thus, minor changes will not deter it.” It is the omnivorous nature of the mahseer group of fish, both in the manner of feeding (column as well as bottom) and the type of food (fish, plankton and algae) that makes it resilient to changes in the water.

Far more vulnerable are the snow trout (of genus Schizothorax). Dr Nautiyal explains, “The snow trout is a herbivore and inhabits ice cold to moderately cold waters. The mouth of the snow trout is ventral (facing river bottom) and can feed on river bottom only.” The snow trout are susceptible to changes in the stream flow, in temperature, in pollution levels and in the nature of the stream bed.

Feeding patterns

In addition to their own physical limitations, both mahseer and trout are dependent for life on the availability of food. Diatoms (unicellular algae) are the most preferred food of mahseer followed by green algae, blue-green algae and micro and macro-benthic animals. Snow trout feed primarily on algae. A study of the feeding habits of Schizothorax revealed that 20 percent of its stomach contents was algae (mainly diatoms) with the rest of the matter being sand, mud, and detritus. This means that for the health of the fish species, it is crucial to maintain healthy populations of various diatoms and other algae in the river. The diversity of algae is especially important since, according to Dr Nautiyal, the fish exhibit food preferences and wouldn’t feed on whatever comes their way.

This fussiness is bad news for the fish since diatoms and benthic invertebrates (the animals that live on the river bed) are notoriously picky about the water they inhabit. It is this characteristic that has led to the popularity of benthic macroinvertebrates to assess the quality of the surface water.

How streams get polluted

There are several ways a river gets polluted. The most visible one is the point-source pollution. This is when the highly polluted matter enters a river through a single point of discharge such as a sewer outfall or waste from a factory. This receives the greatest amount of attention in river restoration programmes like the Ganga clean-up. But studies are now pointing out the deleterious impact of another cause of pollution--the changes in the landscape.
 
Land use changes can impact the riparian ecosystems simply by increasing the amount of effluents that enter the streams. Dr Nautiyal explains, "An ecosystem remains an ecosystem till its natural features are not modified by anthropogenic activities. Once it is modified, it tends to degrade; the degree of degradation depends on the extent of modification disturbances. Further, each ecosystem has a definite structure (flora and fauna in definite proportions which remain constant over a period of time) and each biotic component has a function or role in the ecosystem. A change in the land use decreases or increases the concentration of some ions (direct or through effluent). Some organisms are sensitive to these changes. They vanish,” he says.

He further observes,  “In recent years, the land use in Uttarakhand has changed from agriculture to residential or industrial which have resulted in increased discharge of civic and industrial effluents. In the Doon valley, the Song river which is a breeding ground and nursery for mahseer, is badly affected and only the lower stretch is suitable for breeding. But I have no data to support this observation.”

However, it is not just the direct influx of pollutants that harm a river. Anthropocentric activities in the vicinity of a river tend to degrade the ecosystem in any or all of the following ways:

Forests and their streams: The deforestation that results from increased human activity in a catchment results in significant changes in the hydrology of a stream. A study by Dr Kuemmerlen of the Senckenberg Research Institute proves that deforestation leads to higher peak flows and lower base flows. In the Himalayan context, this means lower water levels in the dry season (leading to higher water temperatures and possible loss of stream connectivity), and flooding in the monsoons (with increased sediment flow).

A separate study by Dr Kuemmerlen and his colleagues has determined that the negative effects of changes in land use (from forest to agriculture and tea) surpassed those of climate change by reducing richness and the range size of stream biota. The combined effect of climate change and land use changes shows a decrease in richness, range size and diversity of stream macroinvertebrates. This will impact predators higher up in the food chain, including the fish species.

Change in temperature: Anthropocentric land use changes also result in warmer streams. This is due to several factors. Maximum temperatures are closely related to the forest cover. A study by Dr Sponseller, Benfield and Valett of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute has observed that high mean and maximum temperature in the stream is the result of both solar radiation (which reaches the stream as a result of loss of streamside vegetation) and the surface runoff whose temperature is increased by the tarred and paved surfaces while on its way to the stream. This can have disastrous impact on thermally-sensitive invertebrates such as stoneflies, affecting larval growth.

Infrastructure and streams: Urbanisation also has an effect on stream health. A study by Dr Wang, Lyons and Kanehl of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has concluded that the impact of ‘hardscaping’ or paving over the land is greater than any other intervention. If the connected impervious surfaces exceed 12 percent of the total area, then the stream quality is impacted to such an extent that it does not matter if this impervious surface is used for industrial purposes or relatively benign domestic use.
 
A matter of proportion

These are bad news for rivers. These studies point out that even if we manage to reduce the number of dams coming up in the Himalayas or prevent all industrial and municipal pollution from entering our rivers (both very tall orders), rivers are still doomed just by the presence of humans. Thankfully, this is not the end of the story.

Dr Sponseller, Dr  Benfield and Dr Valett would tell you that the impact of landuse changes in the catchment is not uniform. Some changes vary with their location relative to the stream. Their study says, “Stream water chemistry was generally related to features at the catchment scale. Conversely, stream temperature and substratum characteristics were strongly influenced by land-cover patterns at the riparian corridor and sub-corridor scales. Macroinvertebrate indices were most closely related to land-cover patterns evaluated at the 200-m sub-corridor scale, suggesting that local, stream-side development effectively alters assemblage structure.” This conclusion is supported by Wang, Lyons, and Kanehl who report that, “In a spatial analysis, connected imperviousness within a 50-m buffer along the stream had more influence on stream fish and base flow than did comparable amounts of imperviousness further away”. This means that while the chemical pollution in a stream (as well as its morphology) depends on what is happening in the entire catchment, the stream's biology is largely dependent on what is happening on the stream banks.

This is excellent news because it gives us three very focused strategies to protect our streams and fish.

1. Maintain a riparian zone of at least 200 metres from the river banks. Forest cover in this belt will reduce temperatures and sedimentation, maintain adequate levels of plant detritus, and conserve both levels and diversity of benthic flora and fauna. In short, this will provide fish with all they need for a fighting chance to live.
2. Ensure rational use and safe disposal of all chemicals (including agricultural fertilisers and domestic cleaning products) in the entire catchment to maintain low levels of toxins entering the streams.
3. Minimise the connected impervious surface within the entire catchment by opting for sustainable urban design features such as porous pavings, rain swales and natural features.

The experts warn that these measures will not entirely negate anthropocentric impacts on river ecosystems but they will considerably reduce the extent and the intensity of these impacts.

Jaman Ram has a tough fight ahead of him. Not only does the town of Bhikia Sain release sewage directly into the Ramganga, but it also forms a kilometre-long impervious strip parallel to the river. The floodplains of the Ramganga at Bhikia Sain have been traditionally used for farming. Of late, however, buildings are being constructed here. The culprits? The government of Uttarakhand. The state has constructed staff quarters on the floodplains and is now planning to construct a tourist guesthouse. These activities will destroy the important riparian buffer, and further reduce the already declining fish availability.

Why should we bother about conserving Himalayan fish and plankton? Two distinct viewpoints offer us good reasons. Atkinson, the author of the Himalayan Gazeteer writes, "Fish are universally eaten by the casteless classes...that are first to suffer in times of scarcity. It is not so necessary to protect the food sources of the rich and the powerful as those which might be made available for the poor labouring man and his family."

Dr Nautiyal offers us an equally cogent reason for conservation when he asks, "Should we protect a species only if there is a reason?”

A majority of states fail to stop overexploitation of groundwater

The central government has informed the parliamentary committee that most of the states have not complied with the 2013 order of preparing a master plan for artificial recharge of groundwater. Only six states--Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka--have taken the follow-up actions. In order to tackle the groundwater crisis in the country, the Centre has proposed a new World Bank-backed Rs 6000 crore scheme called the National Groundwater Management Improvement Scheme (NGMIS). The scheme is expected to get a formal approval by April this year. 

Farmers’ suicides rise by 66 percent in Telangana in 2015

The recent data by the National Crime Record Bureau (NHRC) has revealed that 1,358 farmers committed suicide in Telangana in 2015 as against a total of 898 suicides in 2014. The reason cited for this include the failure of crops, increasing debt, harassment from money lenders, ill health and alcohol addiction. Even in Tamil Nadu, 106 farmers have committed suicide within a span of just one month. Taking note of the issue, NHRC has issued a notice to the state government and has sought a report within six weeks. 

Tamil Nadu in severe water crisis

Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in the state, Tamil Nadu is suffering from an acute water shortage. This is especially the case in Chennai which has suffered 57 percent dip in rainfall. The crisis has led to the drop in water level in the city’s reservoirs. Also, taking note of the situation, the Tamil Nadu chief minister O. Panneerselvam has requested the Andhra Pradesh government to release Krishna water to the state. 

Environment ministry assess eco-damage caused by Yettinahole scheme

In response to the objections raised to the Yettinahole drinking water project, the environment ministry has clarified thatit has not given any permission to cut trees for the project. The ministry has even sent a team for assessing the ecological damage in the area due to the project. While the team has been informed that 6,000 trees were axed in the region for the project, the environmentalists claim the number of trees removed to facilitate the project to be 15,000. The team’s report is yet to be disclosed and would be submitted to the National Green Tribunal before January 16. 

Experts design application that maps eco-sensitive areas

The experts from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have designed the spatial decision support system, a web-enabled application that identifies ecologically-sensitive regions in the Western Ghats and highlights zones that are open to development. The system that will be launched in a month will help local administrators and industry players to make decisions on biodiversity conservation plans and setting up projects. Moreover, the system can be customised to other areas in the country.

This is a roundup of important news from January 2 - 8, 2017. Also read the policy matters this week. 

Maharashtra approves cost overrun in irrigation projects, set to complete Gosikhurd project

The Maharashtra government has given its approval for the cost overrun of more than Rs 20,000 crore in 133 irrigation projects in the state. These projects, approved during the Congress-NCP regime were worth Rs 11,835 crores but now with the fresh approvals, the expenditure has escalated by 200 percent. Along with this, the state government has also decided to appoint a public sector company, NBCC (India) in order to complete the remaining work of the Gosikhurd National Irrigation Project within three years. 

Projects worth Rs 280 crore under Namami Gange gets approved

Under the National Mission for Clean Ganga, the government has approved many new projects in Haridwar and Varanasi. The projects, worth Rs 135 crore, include 68 MLD sewage treatment plant (STP) in Jagjeetpur and 14 MLD STP in Sarai under the hybrid annuity based PPP mode in Haridwar. Along with this, in-principal approval has been given for the implementation of 50 mld sewage treatment plant at Ramana in Varanasi at an indicative cost of Rs 120 crore. 

Centre pinpoints errors in Bhagirathi zonal master plan

Citing lacunae in the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone plan prepared by the Uttarakhand government, the water ministry has requested the National Green Tribunal to order preparation of a fresh zonal master plan for the area. The proposed master plan envisages activities that are prohibited in the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), notified in December 2012. These activities include proposals to develop hydropower projects above capacities of 2 MW and mining. The ministry has also recommended to set up a committee of experts to conduct a comprehensive study of the area and draw a fresh master plan.

2017 didn’t start on a good note for Karnataka 

The Supreme Court has ordered the Karnataka government to continue with the release of 2000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu on a daily basis till the next court hearing which is to be held on February 7. However, citing the state of Kabini and Krishnarajasagar reservoirs which are left with just 13 tmc ft of water, the Karnataka government has expressed its inability to release water to its neigbhour. In another blow to the state, the Karnataka government has been forced to withdraw its special leave petition from the SC challenging the Mhadei Water Disputes Tribunal (MWDT) order rejecting its plea to divert 7 tmc ft of water from the Mhadei river basin to the Malaprabha reservoir.

NGT stays construction of Pune metro through Mula-Mutha riverbed

The National Green Tribunal has issued an interim stay order on any kind of construction of Pune Metro route passing through the Mula-Mutha riverbed. The order has come following an environment interest litigation filed in the tribunal against the project which has some portions of its route passing through the riverbed. Along with this, the tribunal has also ordered the Pune municipal corporation not to construct inside the Blue Line of the riverbed of Mula-Mutha which comes under the prohibited zone of 1.7 km on the left bank of the river till January 25.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from January 2 - 8, 2017. Also, read the news this week.

Lead image source: Nvvchar via Wikipedia.

With a total population of 1200, Sonnahallipura village in Hoskote taluk of Bangalore rural district has 250 homes. This village was chosen by the Rotary Club of Bangalore, Indiranagar to start a micro-credit programme for 10 women’s self-help groups (SHG) and a low-cost sanitary napkin manufacturing unit.  

Vidya Chandy, a former member of the Rotary Club, always wanted to work in the rural development sector. In January 2015, Vidya began a professional sabbatical and gave a proposal to the Rotary Club to deepen the engagement in several areas of development in this village, one of which was water. This was the start of Vidya's continued engagement as the Rotary's partner in rural development.

Going by Vidya’s design of the intervention, local representatives were appointed in many areas like water, waste management and health to encourage participation and ownership from the community. These local champions worked as coordinators and also leveraged public funding and schemes as much as possible.

The grim water situation

The water in this village tested positive for fluoride, with levels found to be above permissible limits for human consumption. Fluoride in water causes a health condition called fluorosis, of which there are two types-- dental and skeletal. Fluoride-contaminated water needs treatment to avoid the adverse health impacts from prolonged consumption.

The local MLA agreed to fund a borewell in Sonnahallipura, which fortunately struck water at the first drilling attempt. A Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant was also set up under the S. K. Patil scheme to purify water from the borewell. Thus, public funds and systems were used to put the hardware in place to ensure a safe, secure source of water for the village.

What remained to be addressed was the issue of wastewater management. About 30 percent of the output from RO plants is reject water, which is a challenge to deal with safely. With smaller household RO plants, the reject water can be used for gardening or flushing the toilet. With larger community level RO plants like this one in Sonnahallipura, however, the quantity of reject water is much more that if let into the ground or stormwater drains, it can contaminate soil and groundwater, causing other long-term problems.

Innovative use of wastewater

In Sonnahallipura, the RO plant was conveniently located across, not one, but two brick kilns. Following advice from water experts, it was a simple process to divert the wastewater to the brick kiln and prevent the concentrated-fluoride wastewater from compromising the groundwater quality. Allowing the wastewater to seep into the ground would only contaminate the source of water further, exacerbating the problem and rendering the RO plant useless. In this case, the brick kiln utilised the wastewater from the RO to make bricks.

Some awareness building was required with the community, the local panchayat, the MLA's office and the ZP WSD (zilla parishad water supply department) executive engineer. Once the importance of the issue was understood, the villagers set up the system with the involvement of the two brick kiln owners. They took a pipe across the pond and attached it to a tank, and then pumped it up to the brick factory's Sintex water storage tank which was on a slightly higher ground. From there, the water is now being utilised in making bricks. The kiln owners plan to swap the system between the two kilns as needed. The villagers are happy with the system and to have saved their drinking water. 

For now, Sonnahallipura is one village that is responsibly managing its RO wastewater. The (fluoride-concentrated) wastewater from the new community water purification plant is piped, pumped and collected to supply water to make bricks at the nearby kiln. Zero contamination. Zero wastage.

The question about other surrounding villages remains. After all, the groundwater is connected, so all RO plants with similar effluents have to address the issue similarly. 

At a time when the government’s attention is steered towards the concerns of the northern rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna, it is seldom that the polluted rivers of the south India come up for discussion. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had in its 2015 report noted that around 37,000 million litres per day (MLD) of untreated sewage water flows into the rivers across the country. As per the report, as many as 302 river stretches on 275 rivers across the country have, over the years, got polluted due to the discharge of both municipal and industrial wastewater.

CPCB has identified polluted stretches in 48 rivers in the five states of south India--Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The pollution leads to damaged ecology affecting lives of people in over 95 cities and town dependent on these rivers. While the CPCB study is based simply on an assessment of biochemical oxygen demand of the rivers and is not enough to check the wholesomeness of rivers, it does put things in perspective.

Rivers of Tamil Nadu

The rivers like Bhavani and Noyyal in Tamil Nadu are so thoroughly exploited that they would rather be dubbed dead. Low flows and massive industrial pollution plague these two rivers. Noyyal is polluted by around 800 dyeing and bleaching units of the textile processing industry of Tirupur and Coimbatore while Bhavani is threatened by the paper units. Untreated sewage and effluents are being drained into the river even when the courts have directed the polluting units to comply and install proper pollution treatment equipments and even common effluent treatment plants in some cases.

Conflicts abound between the industrial sector that primarily pollute the water and the agriculturists and townspeople who survive on this water and oppose the increasing industrialisation along the river banks. In the absence of freshwater in the rainfall short areas of Tamil Nadu, the toxic waters cannot be defanged by dilution. So the effluents contaminate the groundwater rendering it unfit for irrigation. Agriculturists blame the state for encouraging water-intensive industries in a water-scarce region and for not enforcing environmental norms. In fact, the courts, in a remarkable judgement, asked the Tirupur's industry to pay for a complete clean-up of the Orathapalayam dam, which was being polluted by the industry. The movement against pollution in the Bhavani river was being spearheaded by the Bhavani River Protection Joint Council, a watchdog committee of citizens.

Kerala rivers suffer, too

Stretches of the Karamana river in Thiruvananthapuram, the Puzhakkal river in Thrissur, and the Kadambrayar in Ernakulam are among the most polluted river spots in Kerala, according to the CPCB report. Though the state receives bountiful rainfall and is rich in terms of the number of rivers that flow through it, the report projects a different reality. The rivers are gradually dying with some drying up completely during summer, while many others are seriously polluted. Drying up of the rivers points towards the damage to the natural ecosystems and an ensuing loss of its water absorption capacity.

Rivers also face threats when hydel power projects are planned on them. A case in point is the 80-ft-high Athirappilly falls, a part of the Chalakudy river which originates in the upper reaches of the Sholayar ranges in the Western Ghats. In 1994, The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) had proposed the Athirappilly Power Project, a 163 megawatt hydroelectric project, on the 144 km heavily dammed Chalakudy river. This included a 23-metre high and 311-metre wide dam around 5 km upstream of the picturesque falls in the Vazhachal forest division in Thrissur. If this project is constructed, it will submerge an area of 138.8 hectares. Water from this reservoir will be diverted 7 km downstream through a 4.5-km long tunnel to a power house, located on the banks of a tributary of the main Chalakudy river. The fear is that the falls may possibly dry up if the project becomes a reality. KSEB suggests that it would adjust the water release to maintain the waterfall but environmentalists remain wary of it. Another worry is that the project could displace the Kadars, a primitive tribal group of the area. They dwell in the forests near the Chalakudy river and their numbers are as low as 1500 today, given the forced displacement they have been subjected to in the last 150 years owing to forest clearances. A project like this blurs the lines between the cost to the environment and the need for development.

Rich with rivers and greenery, the lush mountain ranges of the Western Ghats in which Athirappilly lies stretches along the western edge of the Indian peninsula sandwiched between the Deccan Plateau and the coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. It spans across six states along the western coast of India--Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The case of Athirappilly in Kerala is intricately woven into the larger context of the Western Ghats. The Ghats have seen brazen illegal mining activity in the recent past, especially in Goa. The devastation of the forests coupled with illegal sand mining of the river bed in the area has led to the present impasse the rivers face. Prof. Madhav Gadgil, renowned ecologist known for his studies on people-environment relationships, had as chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) come up with a report in 2011, which triggered a public debate on environment-development choices. Gadgil’s report had demarcated areas to be notified as “ecologically sensitive” and had put curbs on the mining industry.

River stories from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Musi river, which flows through Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is known to be one of the most polluted rivers in the south. Reports suggest that the emission of methane from the water is high and has reached harmful levels. Fishes cannot endure such conditions and the whole fish life gets impacted unfavorably. This is also the case with Nakkavagu which flows through the Medak district of Telangana. Cleaning the river is not the government’s priority. On the contrary, the urban local body, the Hyderabad State Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) passed an order in 2015 to divert the industrial effluent laden Kukatpally nala to Musi river. And all this was purportedly done to protect the Hussainsagar lake in Hyderabad.

Cesspools of stink in Karnataka

The rivers of Karnataka with pollution at three to 10 times the norm for clean water bodies are cesspools of stink. As per the Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources System, a part of the CPCB, over 655-km length of 15 rivers in 38 spots, most near cities and towns in Karnataka is highly polluted. The report by CPCB also adds that “poor environment management systems in industries, such as chemicals, metal and minerals, leather processing and sugar mills, have led to the discharge of highly toxic and organic waste water”.

All this gets us to think about the plight of rivers in southern India. Lambasted by domestic and industrial pollution, dammed and channeled into canals and hydropower plants, hundreds of these rivers are dying.

What can be done?

Of course, there are stretches of rivers in south India that are far less impacted by pollution, diversion and damming. Acase in point is the pristine Aghanashini river, free-flowing for its entire 121-km length through the biodiversity hotspot of Western Ghats. The river supports over 50 fish species, most of which are endemic. These few remaining free-flowing and minimally modified rivers are the last refuge of the culturally important and endangered fish species. As per areport by Parineeta Dandekar, South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People, “A landmark decision taken for conserving biodiversity-rich rivers and basins was the declaration of the three conservation reserves in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka--Aghanashini lion-tailed macaque conservation reserve, Bedthi conservation reserve and a hornbill conservation reserve in 2011 by the Karnataka government.” As per a paper by Arun Kanagavel, “The river stretch was managed in collaboration with the forest department and the gram panchayats without restricting resource use.” This is based on an understanding of the river in all its complexity. The formal declaration of the area as a conservation reserve has helped further a healthy relationship of the people with the rivers.

There have been several efforts to stop heavy pollution, excessive abstraction from the rivers and to protect the riverbed, banks and floodplains in south India. In the 1980s, the Appiko movement to save Western Ghats from deforestation, displacement and commercialisation made a plea to the state to restore the rivers of the region. Years later, in April 2010, Pandurang Hegde, the leader of the Appiko movement organised people who were adversely affected by pollution of the Kali river to launch the Kali Bachao Abhiyaan. Kali is a widely manipulated river of the Western Ghats that originates on the border of Karnataka and Goa. It is faced with the disposal of liquid effluents of the West Coast Paper Mills Limited, river flow obstruction due to a series of dams and the setting up of the Kaiga Nuclear Power Project. The paper factory pollutes the region to such an extent that not only the wildlife but the river ecosystem has also been destroyed. The people’s movement was able to bring pressure on the government to establish an effluent treatment plant and to stop sand mining. It's time the health of the rivers become the priority of the government, the policymakers, and the people. 

Tamil Nadu declares drought

Following the suicide of 144 farmers in the state, the Tamil Nadu government has declared a drought. The country is experiencing the worst ever north-east monsoon in 140 years. This has severely affected 21 out of 32 districts in the state with Nagapattinam, Thiruvarur and Thanjavur districts being the worst hit. Along with this, the state’s reservoirs are at less than 20 percent of their capacity owing to the 62 percent of shortage in the rainfall this monsoon. It has also been reported that rice has been sown only on 7.18 lakh hectares of land as against the target of 14.5 lakh hectares. 

Kerala imposes curb on water use, thanks to drought 

Owing to the drought situation in the state, the government has imposed curbs on the use of water in reservoirs and has increased the review and monitoring system at the district level. Along with this, the district collectors have also been ordered to stop the release of water through canals for irrigation and keep a close tab on the water level in reservoirs. The groundwater utilisation is also being monitored and the industries have been asked to cut 75 percent of groundwater extraction.

Telangana groundwater level up by 7 metres in six months

In December 2016, the groundwater level in the state has been found at an average depth of 8.5 metres from the surface as against the average depth of 15.6 metres in May 2016. According to the state groundwater department, the groundwater level rose due to rainfall which was 19 percent in excess compared to 2015. In the Hyderabad district, the groundwater level increased from an average depth of 10.99 metres to 6.37 metres.

ONGC all set to restore ancient kunds of Varanasi

Under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) project, ONGC has taken up the task to clean and beautify the four famous kunds in Varanasi--Durga Kund, Lakshmi Kund, Sarangnath Kund and Lat Bhairav Kund--at the cost of Rs 11.46 crore. The project is in partnership with National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd. (NBCC) and Varanasi Nagar Nigam. The project works include general civil works, landscaping, beautification, construction of barriers and purification of water through anaerobic bioremediation method.

NHRC seeks compensation from Andhra’s Gandikota project

The Andhra Pradesh government has dedicated Gandikota project, which has led to the submergence of six villages of YSR Kadapa district, to the nation. Following this, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) has alleged the release of water from Gandikota reservoir as illegal and has asked the National Human Rights Commission to immediately intervene and inquire into the matter. Along with this, NAPM has also informed that 1500 cusecs of Krishna river water is being released every day from Gandikota reservoir, which would eventually lead to the flooding of 22 other villages. 

This is a roundup of important news from January 9 - 15, 2017. Also, read the policy matters this week. 

Why are lands acquired from farmers barren? SC asks states

The Supreme Court has issued notices and sought responses from the Centre and the state governments--Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab--over the forceful acquisition of fertile agricultural lands from farmers and tribals which remain barren and abandoned or are in the hands of private real estate developers. This is a legal victory for the West Bengal’s farmers in case of Singur land acquisition. The committee which had filed the petition for this case has also recommended conducting a social impact study on the farmers who had lost their land. 

Panel recommends Ken-Betwa river link for green nod

The environment ministry’s expert advisory committee has recommended the Ken-Betwa river linking project for environment clearance. The project has been cleared with nine conditions, one of which is to record the impacts on wildlife due to the habitat change from the construction. The link aims to transfer water from the Ken river in Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa basin in the parched Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh and will submerge a total of 5,258 hectares of forest land. 

NGT issues notice to Centre, UP government over e-waste in Ramganga

The National Green Tribunal has sought responses from the environment ministry, urban development, Central Pollution Control Board and Uttar Pradesh government over illegal processing of electronic waste on the banks of Ramganga. The NGT has been informed that a large number of people are involved in unscientific dismantling, crude chemical leaching, burning of wires or electrical waste on the river banks. Along with this, it has also been informed that both chromium and cadmium levels have been found higher than the prescribed standards in the river water. 

Panel defers clearance to coal washery project in Odisha

The expert appraisal committee has decided to defer granting green nod to Coal India’s Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for setting up a Rs 334.72 crore coal washery in Sundergarh district, Odisha. The panel has asked the company to obtain the forest clearance first and has also sought more information before giving clearance. The coal washery with a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum is being planned in an area of 43.90 hectares, which comprises 29.41 hectares of forest land. 

Uttarakhand fails to implement Forest Rights Act 2006

Owing to the model code of conduct came into force in December 2009, the Uttarakhand government has been unable to process any claims over forests under the Forest Rights Act 2006 adopted by the government in 2008.  Since then, as on October 2016, 182 claims over forests have been filed of which one claim was rejected while the rest continues to be under process.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from January 9 - 15, 2017. Also, read the news this week.

Literary works from the Sangam period dating back to the fourth century BC indicate the presence of a five-fold classification system of geography and related ecosystems. The five types include kurinji (mountainous region), mullai (forests), marudam (croplands), neithal (seashore) and palai (desert landscape). And, the coastal city of Chennai fits snugly in the neithal landscape.

Dr T.D. Babu, one of the trustees of Nizhal, an organisation in Chennai that cares for trees, assures us that we have to look no further than the Sangam texts to understand what type of biotic environment best suits a specific landscape. “For every type of land classified, there is a record of the type of species that prevailed and were predominant. There is no question of any of us discovering species that are best suited for the environments now; it has already been done and recorded for posterity in literature from the Sangam era. All we have to do is go back to our roots, take note and follow,” he says.

Historically, Chennai was a consolidation of fishing hamlets along the coast with grassy fields and pasturelands. One such example of a locality named after the prominent land use is Mandaiveli (mandhai-cattle herd; veli-open field), a sprawling pastureland-turned-residential area with no vestige of its past but for the name. Species such as pungai or the Indian beech (Pongamia pinnata), poovarasu or the portia tree (Thespesia populnea), neer marudhu or Arjun tree (Terminalia arjuna) coconut and palmyrah dotted the landscape, along with a host of grasses and shrubs. 

Botany vs physics

Dr Babu is a staunch believer of establishing sustainable and balanced ecosystems. He advises against the unmindful planting of trees. What is required is a thorough understanding of local geography and associated ecology. Given its coastal location and flat terrain, a combination of trees, shrubs and grasslands would be most suited for Chennai.

Jayshree Vencatesan of Care Earth Trust, a bio-diversity conservation and research organisation says, “Chennai’s concern is not so much botany as it is physics. Located along the coast and subject to strong winds on and off, plants and trees should be robust enough to be able to withstand strong winds. As far as Chennai is concerned, focus on grasses and shrubs is more crucial than trees, the reason being the city’s relatively flat terrain. Herbs, shrubs and creepers are therefore needed to act as a sponge to absorb the rainwater but help retain the water underground.” In addition, certain deep-rooted trees are also recommended for coastal ecosystems given the loose nature of the underlying soil.

She also cautions against an unhealthy obsession with native and indigenous species. “While it is important to recognise native tree species, we should not forget the several naturalised varieties that have done rather well for themselves here,” she adds. Instead of dwelling on the indigenous-exotic difference, the focus should be laid on choosing non-vulnerable species over vulnerable ones. Some of the exotic species which have blended seamlessly with the local environment include the tamarind, the Indian almond and the white silk-cotton tree (Ilavanpanju). Similarly, naturalised species which do not complement the environment should be eliminated as far as possible. Eucalyptus, casuarina, and prosopis fall in this category. Again, the availability of saplings is a big concern. Organisations have been working with the forest department to grow and procure tree saplings suited best for the environment.

Care Earth has been trying to persuade the government to adopt a broad plan based on sound ecological principles. Instead of going in for a group-specific or species-specific plan, an ecosystem-based approach would be most apt for urban spaces as it would also accommodate human concerns. “Species-based conservation works well in natural areas--like a tiger conservation plan to protect the species and its natural habitat. But this does not work well in populated areas. Ecosystem approach incorporates the whole gamut of interactions--from symbiotic to detrimental and conflicting concerns--between the various inhabitants of a space,” notes Jayshree.

A case in point is the mighty banyan tree. While the banyan tree may provide ample shade with its wide canopy, it is not practical to suggest planting more of these along city roads due to the paucity of space for the roots to breathe and develop. Sturdy hardwood trees with scant canopy and those which absorb water slowly and scantily would be most suited. The lovely gulmohur and raintrees too do not fit the bill due to the lack of breathing space for the roots within the city limits.

Though eucalyptus and casuarinas act as effective windbreakers along the coast, they contribute very little in terms of enriching the ecology. Only if the local community is involved in tree planting and conservation efforts, ownership and therefore, the success of the programme can be ensured to a great degree. “Medicinal and fruit-bearing trees such as jackfruit and cashew nut should be considered outside city limits, especially along the fertile ECR (East Coast Road) stretch south of Chennai city, so that the trees provide an alternative livelihood option for the coastal community to benefit from them. The community, whether inside the city or in the peripheries, must be linked to the overall greening strategy,” Dr Babu adds.

Most of the native species are slow-growing varieties. This is because they absorb water and nutrients at a very leisurely pace. If a tree grows and spreads fast, it indicates the haste with which it absorbs water and nutrients. Such trees should be avoided. This is because trees that grow unhurriedly tend to channel a bulk of their energy into developing strong root systems, enabling them to withstand winds and storm-like conditions. “From a human perspective, these are considered slow growers, but this pace is perfect for establishing strong, stable systems. Most of the indigenous trees associated with coastal landscapes take their time to establish their roots and then channelise their energy into developing the shoot system,” remarks Dr Babu. 

Think and act local

Almost a year ago, Nizhal embarked on an ambitious project to restore waterbodies and zeroed in on Chitlapakkam, one of the southern suburbs of the city. Christened the Chitlapakkam Neer Vanam, the plan was to establish a green corridor of sorts around the Chitlapakkam eri (lake) by planting sturdy, indigenous trees best suited along the water bodies.

The neer vanam has been mostly a volunteer-driven movement. “Since its inception in February 2016, 200 saplings have been planted along the bund in phases and shramadans are organised regularly. Volunteers systematically monitor the trees to look for signs of any disease and take care of regular maintenance such as applying manure and providing support for frail and delicate saplings,” says Bhuvana, an active member of the Chitlapakkam Neer Vanam team.

A huge chunk of the lake has turned into an active garbage dumping yard where both the panchayat as well as private entities dump solid waste. As the Chitlapakkam eri dwindled to less than 50 acres from its original 86.86 acre area over the years, efforts such as these are a breath of fresh air in the otherwise bleak landscape. 

Planting frenzy not so healthy

Both Jayshree and Dr Babu caution against one common enemy—rushed planting. Most disasters are almost immediately followed by a blitz in activity with little or no consideration for local ecology and landscape. Plant biology, local geography, and environmental factors should be thoroughly understood before going in for any kind of mass planting of trees.

“There should be a directive issued by the government to citizens about species most suited for a particular area and proper planting techniques to prevent waste of time, money and manpower. Even within the city, appropriate species need to be chosen for different regions. The coastal areas have different requirements compared to densely-populated residential areas or stretches along the rivers and water bodies,” remarks Dr Babu. Chennai should go for a greening design which matches its requirements, which is in tune with its ecosystem and also is resilient to its vulnerabilities.

Trees almost always remain in the periphery—both literally and figuratively. Nizhal founder Shobha Menon puts it succinctly, “The trees have all been here, the lakes have been crying for attention, but it takes a Vardah to get people to notice the wealth all around them.”

From its rather benign origins connoting a type of land classification, the term poromboke has transformed into something grotesque over the years. This term had been in use since the Cholas denoting stretches of land reserved for shared communal use which cannot be bought or sold. Tamils, who prided themselves on the richness of their culture assigned a special place for such poromboke lands which helped preserve the region’s ecological balance. Today, poromboke, however, is a mild cuss word for worthlessness and incompetence. How did this metamorphosis happen?

Noted social activist Nityanand Jayaraman traces the origin of the pejoration back to the times of the English East India Company and the British Raj. Poromboke essentially is a conjugation of two Tamil words--Puram meaning outside and pokku which refers to books of accounts. This included rivers and river banks, eris (irrigation tanks), grazing and pasture lands, kazhiveli (marshlands) and salt pans, among others. No single individual or group owned these lands and crops were usually not grown in the common poromboke lands. “As no revenue could be generated from such common lands, the Britishers termed it as wasteland—waste from a revenue point of view,” he says.

With respect diminishing over time, land use was modified to bring poromboke into the revenue fold. Now, Chennai proudly houses education institutions, office and industrial complexes on reclaimed marshlands and creeks. Rivers have turned into garbage dumps, tanks have been filled up to accommodate luxury villas and creeks have been reclaimed to house thermal power complexes. These are all essential buffers which keep the city safe from flooding. And with them gone, the city is all but exposed to the raw fury of nature. “When you consider the massive destruction of common lands, the floods of 2015 can no longer be termed unprecedented. It was very much a premeditated act,” says Nityanand.

The Vettiver Collective, a voluntary space to discuss and act on social and environmental issues, joined hands with noted Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna to highlight the continuing saga of ecological abuse in Ennore. Christened Chennai poromboke padal, the video, shot in and around the Ennore creek and its associated wetlands, questions our (both citizens and administration) understanding and attitude towards poromboke. “Poromboke translates to “commons” in English. But in Tamil, it’s a completely different deal altogether. And, this negativity reflects on how we view poromboke and how we have failed poromboke and the people whose lives are inextricably linked to them,” remarks Krishna.

Here are four prominent poromboke lands which, after having safeguarded Chennai’s ecology for decades, beg for attention now.

1. Ennore creek

One of the northern-most suburbs of Chennai city, Ennore has been termed Chennai’s “worst environmental crime scene”. Ennore’s air and water have been subject to constant pollution ever since the thermal power plants set up shop in the area. Pipes carrying fly ash from power plants dump their toxic contents in the Ennore creek on which the villagers from three neighbouring hamlets depend on for their livelihoods. As if this weren’t travesty enough, nearly 2000 acres of the wetland complex have been earmarked for reclamation under Chennai’s masterplan, converting vast stretches of the creek into prime industrial real estate.

Ennore creek’s disgrace is only the symptom, according to Nityanand. He squarely blames agencies such as the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the State Coastal Zone Management Authority (SCZMA) and the Greater Chennai Corporation for inept administration and the many regulatory lapses which undoubtedly have scripted the great tragedy that Ennore is today.

2. Buckingham Canal

Though a man-made structure, the Buckingham Canal served as a potent flood proof for the city of Chennai in addition to providing inland navigational assistance for which it was originally commissioned. The canal connects three of Chennai’s major waterways--the Kosasthalaiyar, the Cooum and the Adyar rivers--in addition to accommodating flood waters from all across Chennai channeled by several medium and micro drains.

Thanks to mindless encroachments and relentless pollution, the canal now finds itself in dire straits. From municipal sewage to industrial waste, the canal has since transformed into a toxic drain. Its width has reduced from the original 100 metres to less than 30 metres in many parts between Ennore and Muttukadu along the east coast. Work towards removing encroachments, plugging of sewage inflow and restoring natural water flow need to be taken up in earnest to enable the canal to function as an effective shock absorber and to save the city from flooding.

3. Pallikaranai marsh

The rapidly expanding southern suburbs have systematically gobbled up Chennai’s largest kazhiveli--the Pallikaranai marshland complex. The massive composite floodplain, which once extended from the Indian Institute of Technology campus in Adyar to the Kovalam creek, has shriveled to less than 600 acres from its original 6000-acre expanse--a whopping 90 percent destruction of the marsh and related ecosystem over a 50-year period. Given Chennai’s flat terrain, the Pallikaranai marsh functioned as a crucial floodplain retaining some of the floodwaters before letting it all out into the Bay of Bengal via the Buckingham Canal.

While the National Institute of Ocean Technology and the National Institute of Wind Energy--both autonomous institutes established by the Government of India--sit right on the marsh, the Velachery-Tambaram main road and the Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam 200-feet-road cut right through the wetland complex. With massive building complexes concretising major portions of the marsh, the floodwaters now have nowhere but inside the offices and homes to go to. This was evidenced during the 2015 floods where the entire neighbourhood--like Velachery, Madipakkam and Keelkattalai--along this stretch went under water for days together.

4. Chennai’s missing eris and shrinking floodplains

The absence of perennial river systems and the flatness of Chennai’s terrain necessitated the construction of eris or tanks to hold rainwater. Together with the neighbouring districts of Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram, hundreds of irrigation tanks dotted the cityscape. As the city grew at a hurried pace, earthen tanks conduits disappeared one by one, starving the city of the crucial conduits which channeled floodwaters out of human habitations.

From 214 acres, the Villivakkam eri has shrunk to less than 20 acres; the Chitlapakkam eri has reduced from its original 80-acre expanse to less than 40 acres today and the Velachery eri now spreads over 55 acres as against its original area of 265 acres. These tanks are not alone; the stories of many others including the Ambattur eri, the Madhavaram eri, the Rettai eri, the Korattur eri and the Pallavaram Lake are glaringly similar. In addition, the banks of the Cooum and the Adyar rivers have been extensively abused with slum clearance board settlements and airport runways constructed right on the latter’s floodplains with utter disregard for local hydrology and natural water flow.

Just as the word poromboke has come to signify worthlessness, these critical formations have also been relegated to insignificance. This leaves the poromboke lands open to thoughtless ecological destruction over and above what the urban territory can handle with the ramifications that may choke the city for decades to come. Lack of awareness about common property resources should no longer be a reason for civic and administrative apathy. It’s time we stand up for our poromboke.

Sign the petition to save the Ennore creek!