DDA allocates 42.5 acre plot on Yamuna floodplains for waste dumping

As an alternative dumping site to the oversaturated Ghazipur landfill, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has allocated a 42.5 acre plot, located in the Yamuna floodplains, to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) to dump its mixed waste. The decision has come as a blow to activists who alleged that the allotted area is an active floodplain which has been filled with water as recently as last year's monsoon. While EDMC has claimed to set up an Integrated Waste Management Facility at the site and that no trash would be visible, the activists have informed that the waste-management technology in question is not even tested.  

Scientists monitor holistic water quality of major Indian rivers via boat ride

As part of the Water-to-Cloud project developed by researchers at the Tata Centre for Development (TCD), University of Chicago in collaboration with International Innovation corps, a team of scientists will provide a holistic water quality monitoring platform and pinpoint the hotspots of pollution in major Indian water bodies, including the Ganga and the Yamuna and important lakes. The researchers use sensors that send real-time data to a hand-held device in the form of easily readable maps to monitor water quality. The team, which has been working on the Yamuna in Delhi for about 18 months, has revealed that the level of dissolved oxygen in the river is alarmingly low.  

CGWB alarms authorities to act against groundwater depletion in Punjab

Taking note of the lack of corrective action taken to check groundwater depletion in Punjab, the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) has reminded the deputy commissioners of various districts to initiate action against those violating the ban on tubewell boring in the notified areas. Nearly 18 blocks in the state have been marked as notified areas and tubewells can be dug up for drinking water purposes only after being granted permission while installation for agricultural use has been banned completely. As per CGWB, the situation of groundwater in the state is alarming as the annual groundwater withdrawal is higher than the annual replenishable groundwater resources and the net annual groundwater availability. 

Walmart Foundation to help raise incomes for 10,000 smallholder farmers 

Walmart Foundation will provide a grant of US$750,000 to the International Development Enterprises - India (IDEI) for its project that is set to benefit 10000 smallholder farmers in Andhra Pradesh. The programme aims to introduce sustainable irrigation products and practices and create a complementary support ecosystem that will boost farm yields, reduce negative environmental impacts, and increase market access and smallholder farmer income. It has been estimated that the programme could generate an additional $7.4 million in annual farming income in the state at the end of the project period, with individual gains of $400 per smallholder farmer household per year. 

NGT order authorities to clean stormwater drains in Noida

Taking note of choked stormwater drains in Noida, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Uttar Pradesh pollution control board and authorities concerned to take immediate steps to control pollution of these drains. A petition filed in the tribunal has alleged that multiple stormwater drains which join the Hindon and Yamuna rivers remain choked due to the dumping of garbage, untreated sewage and discharge of effluent. In order to ensure clean drains, the NGT has directed authorities to make the polluters accountable as per the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the rules under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from March 27 - April 3, 2019. Also, read news this week.

Odisha is home to 11 major rivers of which many are interstate rivers such as the Mahanadi. As climate change makes extreme rainfall events more frequent in the state, there is an urgent need to better manage the rivers and their basins. Most of these rivers are faced with conflicts arising from issues of flood control, sharing water and hydropower, diversion of water for industries and flood control. These problems are frequently aggravated by the unforeseen consequences of continual human interference in the river basins.

The impact on the river health, human health and environment has led to the need to work on river conservation and restoration. The third Odisha River Conference, organised on March 24-25 by the Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO), Vasundhara, Gram Swaraj along with 35 partner organisations, dealt with some of these issues faced in the state.

Youth urged to lead conservation efforts

The conference identified youth as one of the major stakeholders to carry forward this year’s theme—Promoting the Forest-River-Communities nexus for Conservation of Rivers and Combating Climate Change. Speaking at the special youth conclave, #Youth4Rivers, organised as part of the conference, Ranjan Panda, convener of the WIO said, “At present, young and educated mass is increasingly concerned about the negative impacts of climate change. We can cash in on their concern and motivate them towards promoting and recognising engagement of indigenous communities in protecting natural forests and rivers which is vital for combating climate change.”

A campaign, Youth for Water, has been initiated through which thousands of youth will be mobilised in coming months to contribute their share of efforts on water and river conservation as well as building resilience to climate change. India’s indigenous communities have proven that they are the best protectors of natural forests, rivers, rivulets and streams and it is now time for us to take initiatives to transfer that knowledge to the new generation and develop their interest in conservation of forests, rivers and related ecosystems, Panda added.

Executive director of Vasundhara, Manas Ranjan Mishra called upon the youth to raise their voices by spreading their network, extending their reach. He said social media is the best platform to extend outreach. “In several areas, those who are protecting forests are in their 70s. It is high time a leadership transition to youth happened with proper guidance and knowledge transfer,” he added.

The forest-river-communities link

Rivers, an integral part of ecology, cannot exist without healthy forests which, in turn, cannot exist without local indigenous communities. While the conference called for a state-wide drive for environmentalism to save forests that are essential for healthy rivers and happy communities, Panda said, “Environmentalism has unfortunately been limited to planting trees. We have to break the pattern.”

While it is important to plant trees, it is more important to protect natural forests and water resources. The new generation should be taught multiple functions and values of ecologically suitable local species, he pointed out. It is also important to assess the current plantation and afforestation models and their roles in enriching water resources, river basins and impacts of the same on tenurial rights of the forest and riparian communities.

Even as the government pumps in crores of rupees in the name of protecting river basins by planting on the river banks, we need to ponder over the species which are vital for surface water recharge. It is unfortunate that we are destroying natural forests and planting alien species like eucalyptus and acacia which further deplete our rivers.  

Chief guest at the event, Prof. Ashok Panigrahi, a noted conservationist, expressed disappointment over the recent Supreme Court order on the eviction of forest dwellers whose claims over forest land were rejected. If the forest dwellers are going to be evicted from the land where they have been staying for generations, neither the forests nor the wildlife is going to be protected which would sound the death knell for the streams and rivers that originate from forests.

He also said that various large-scale development projects such as the river interlinking project negatively impact the forests and mangroves. He urged the community members to take the lead to ensure the life and flow of rivers before they get dry.

B.V. Subba Rao, Centre for Resource Education and Management, Hyderabad said that the age-old link between water, forest and humans has undergone a metamorphosis and policy-makers are now focusing on exploring and exploiting the natural resources. He said, “Rivers are not safe in the country. We need to carry out a different review, something like a sustainable water audit, of the entire river system to save these.”

Eminent environmentalist Ardhendu Chatterjee, Development Research Communication and Services Centre, Kolkata said that we should get rid of the idea that jungle is for animals only and driving the forest dwellers away can keep the animals and forests safe.

Forests are not just carbon sinks. They are the source of lives and livelihood of millions of local and indigenous communities. They recharge rivers and play a vital role in ensuring water security for all in a sustainable manner, said Satish Sharma, a veteran ecologist from the Foundation of Ecological Security, Udaipur. “It is time to promote integrated ecological river basin models to protect rivers by bringing all the stakeholders—rural communities, youth, academics, experts and civil societies together," he said.

Bishakha Bhanja of Water Aid India said that the efforts of women who are the silent protectors of forests often go unrecognised. They have the traditional knowledge on how to make proper use of water so that groundwater level is maintained. We should look into women’s perspective while talking about water conservation, she said while appreciating the initiative by the organisers to confer Odisha water honours on women this year.

The experts also deliberated on finding out ways towards interstate river basin cooperation aspects in catchment protection. Water security and sustainability can be achieved by ensuring communities’ rights over the resources. They dwelled upon issues to intervene in the policy level to establish linkages between water policy and forest policy and bring in the role and rights of indigenous communities. The civil society organisations chalked out strategies for building a larger network of people and institutions working on forests, rivers and community rights issues and took a resolution to work in unison.

India Water Portal was a media partner for the conference.

Hundreds gathered to release the Safai Karmachari Manifesto ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2019 at the Indian Social Institute, Delhi on April 4, 2019. The manifesto was released by the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a movement for the elimination of manual scavenging and restoring the rights of the 1.2 million people who are engaged in this under completely degrading and life-threatening conditions.

Even though the employment of people as manual scavengers was banned in 1993, followed in 2013 by a law banning manual scavenging in all its forms, the practice continues and no one has been convicted for employing a manual scavenger till now as it is difficult to prove the charges. "It's a national shame that the practice of making one human being manually clean the excreta of another still continues in the country," says Bezwada Wilson, national convener of SKA while releasing the manifesto.

“Even after seeing our plight, all the governments, both at the Centre and states, as well as the Prime Minister choose to remain silent. As long as we are being forced into manual scavenging, to risk our lives for this dangerous occupation, just because of our castes, this country cannot be considered a democracy,” says Deepthi Sukumar, the national core member of SKA.

Live with dignity, a fundamental right

The manifesto developed by SKA after conducting meetings and consultative surveys across 10 states calls to break the shackles of caste, patriarchy, and ensure the recovery, reconstruction, and reclamation of the fundamental right of manual scavengers to live with dignity. It registered the specific demand made by the manual scavengers to provide a Right to Life (RL-21) card to ensure direct and free access to education, health care, dignified employment and livelihoods. This also includes other benefits and schemes as per the fundamental rights given to all citizens of India under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

The manifesto is being sent to political parties. “Political parties should know that if they want to stay in power, they have to care about the welfare of safai karmacharis,” says Usha Ramanathan, board member of SKA. The manifesto demanded that one percent of the union budget be exclusively allocated for the welfare of manual scavengers, including their liberation and rehabilitation benefits, and a separate ministry created for their release and rehabilitation headed by the Prime Minister.

The other demands listed in the manifesto include pension of Rs 6,000 per month to all safai karmacharis above 55 years of age, direct access with free admission for their children using the RL-21 card into any institution and hostels (government, aided, private and foreign institutions) of their choice from primary to the highest level of education. Direct and free access to any hospital (government or private) of their choice by using the RL-21 card for all their medical needs including the most specialised medical intervention. It has also demanded free water and sanitation facilities for every safai karmachari household.

“This is the biggest moment in our history. This is the first time we, the manual scavengers, are releasing our manifesto. We do not want a government that does not care about us. These are our demands, and we are not requesting the people in power to meet them, we are ordering them," says Wilson.

Among other things, the manifesto demands an apology from the Prime Minister of India for the historical injustice done to people engaged in manual scavenging. The manifesto called for including manual scavenging under the National Crime Records Bureau. It reads, “Make on-the-spot registration of instances of engaging as manual scavengers as a criminal act under the 2013 Manual Scavenging Prohibition Act. There have been 31 documented sewer deaths in the last three months. There is a visible prevalence of dry latrines and manual scavenging in many states across India with documented evidence. These atrocities should be registered as criminal cases and recorded under the National Crime Records Bureau.”  

SKA also called for increasing the compensation in case of sewer deaths to Rs one crore. The manifesto calls for the abolition of a contractual system which results in the exploitation of workers. It also calls for a special session of the parliament to end manual scavenging by humans, rehabilitation of sanitation workers, and for putting an end to sewer deaths.

Sukumar adds, “This manifesto lists what we want, how we envision our democracy to be. We will send this to all the political parties. We will vote for them only if they are ready to meet all our demands.”

CWC data shows water storage in major river basins depleting

According to the recent data from the Central Water Commission (CWC), water storage in more than 60 percent of the basins is much lesser when compared to the average water storage over the last 10 years. The CWC monitored 12 river basins for water storage in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and found that the river basins of Tapti, Sabarmati, and rivers of Kutch are the worst affected, with more than 50 percent shortage in average water storage capacity compared to last 10 years. Even Ganga, Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi have a shortage of water. The data raises serious concern over long-term water availability and questions the country's preparedness for upcoming challenges.

Many Indian cities impose water cuts even before the advent of summers

Summers have just started and many Indian cities—Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Nagpur, Bathinda and Lucknow—have already started water rationing due to acute water shortage. Mumbai announced a 10 percent water cut and cut in supply timing by 15 percent in mid November 2018. Due to the decrease in water storage in Bisalpur dam, Jaipur started water cut even before the monsoon ended in September 2018. News reports have revealed that the water supply in Chennai's suburbs has already been reduced to once a week while Nagpur is preparing itself for water cuts. Lucknow is also under water stress due to a single source of water and the lack of a sustainability plan. 

New bridge over Kosi river in Bihar raises risks of floods

In order to improve the connectivity in northeastern Bihar and to bring in the much needed economic activity to the region, a new bridge, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has been inaugurated over the Kosi river in the state. However, the residents and a number of local NGOs are up against the bridge as they fear high flood surges. The engineers tasked to build Atal Setu have built the embankments bringing the width of the river from 14 km to two km by the time it flows under the bridge. As a large volume of water has been restricted to a relatively narrow channel, people living in villages immediately downstream of Atal Setu are the most scared, since they can foresee the river flooding their farms and homes after every heavy monsoon.

Study reveals alarmingly high levels of pollution in Sabarmati river

As per a joint investigation conducted by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS) to look into the implementation of the Supreme Court order on the industrial effluent and sewerage discharge into the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad district, alarmingly high level of pollution is found in the Sabarmati river which is found to be dry in the Ahmedabad city stretch, before the riverfront project. The report highlighted that within the riverfront project stretch, the river is brimming with stagnant water while in the last 120 km, the river is dead as it comprises industrial effluent and sewage. The report has blamed Gujarat government's ambitious riverfront development project which has not only rendered the Sabarmati river dry but has also led to poor groundwater recharge and increased reliance on an already suffering Narmada river. 

Greater Noida's water crusader revives 10 village ponds in the last five years

A 26-year-old mechanical engineer, Ramveer Tanwar quit his job with a multinational to focus on conservation of ponds. In the past five years, Tanwar has been instrumental in reviving 10 village ponds. Noticing the mistreatment to small water bodies in rural Uttar Pradesh, he started organising jal chaupal from village to village for making the people aware about the need to stop throwing garbage into the ponds. Tanwar and his team of volunteers undertook the first pond clean up in 2014 in Dabra village. To get more volunteer support, he has also created a Facebook page Boond Boond Pani. In 2018, after a lot of effort the initiative of pond clean-up received the first CSR funding of Rs 2.5 lakh and this year a company has given Rs seven lakh funding for the revival of a pond in Ghangola village. 

This is a roundup of important news published between April 4- 9, 2019. Also read policy matters this week.

Kerala government failed to use dams for flood control: Amicus curiae informs high court

The court-appointed amicus curiae has reported to the Kerala High Court that the main cause of August 2018 floods in the state was the failure of the Kerala government to use the 79 dams for flood control. The report says the government failed in maintaining effective Flood Control Zone and Flood Cushion at the dams as per the norms. Also, the dams had no Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) in place as required and alerts were not issued as per the guidelines. 

Luni river pollution: NGT slaps Rs 30 crore fine on Rajasthan government

Holding the Rajasthan government responsible for all the environmental degradation of Luni river by the textile industries in and around Balotra town, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the state government to pay an interim compensation of Rs 30 crore to the state pollution control board (SPCB). Also, the state government has also been directed to submit a performance guarantee of Rs 10 crore in a month to NGT. The NGT has also ordered the pollution board to ensure that only those units which have been complying with the standards laid out for their operation and have set up the effluent treatment plant are allowed to operate. 

Only 49 percent of wastewater gets treated in West Bengal: NGT

Noticing that the state is treating only 49 percent of the wastewater before dumping it in the Ganga river, the National Green Tribunal has directed the West Bengal government to submit a quarterly report on the issue of solid waste management. West Bengal generates 1,311 million litres a day (mld) of wastewater and while 34 sewage treatment plants have a total installed capacity of 457 mld, their actual utilisation is only 214 mld. Moreover, nearly 90 percent of municipal solid waste generated in Bengal is being dumped in the open every day in violation of statutory pollution laws. 

Probe into World Bank-funded water supply project in Jharkhand gets approval

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has given their nod to an independent investigation into World Bank-funded water supply project in two villages of Jharkhand—Giddi Jhopri village and Sarjamda village. The locals have alleged that the district authorities failed to consult members of local Adivasi communities before implementing the project, sidestepped valid gram sabha consent, used force in implementation and overlooked impacts on indigenous cultural resources and the environment. While communities from Giddi Jhopri complained about the location of the water treatment plant, the people from Sarjamda village had issues regarding the construction of an elevated storage reservoir. 

Eviction near water pipeline: Bombay High Court orders Maharashtra government to pay rent to evicted

The Bombay High Court has ordered the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 15,000 per month as rent to people who were rendered homeless after their dwellings located near Tansa water pipeline were demolished. In compliance with a previous high court order, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been demolishing unauthorised buildings along the water pipeline. As many as 7,000 families have been affected by the ongoing demolition drive but only 225 of them have shifted to Mahul, an industrial area with high air pollution levels. As per the court, the project-affected people cannot be forced to reside in a polluted area and the government should pay them rent. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from April 4 - 9, 2019. Also, read news this week.

"Darjeeling today has a thriving water business, with a fleet of 105 trucks plying three or four trips a day from April to June, carrying 5500 to 6500 litres of water on each run"

Source: Lama and Rai (2016)  'Chokho Pani: An Interface Between Regional And Environment In Darjeeling'. Himalaya, The Journal Of The Association For Nepal And Himalayan Studies, 36(2), 90-98

Darjeeling, one of the oldest municipalities in India, better known for its scenic beauty and cool climate, has been a major tourist attraction for a long time. However, it is going through a major water crisis in recent years.

The paper, Privatization of local water resources: A challenge to water justice and sustainability in Darjeeling town, West Bengal published in the International Journal of Innovative Studies in Sociology and Humanities informs that urbanisation and increased tourist activity have led to a rapid growth in Darjeeling’s population and the present drinking water supply has been unable to keep pace with the growing demands.

Gap in demand and supply of water in the town

The drinking water provided from the Darjeeling municipality is sourced by tapping springs from the catchment area of Senchal Forest and wildlife sanctuary located 15 km away from the main town. The water from the springs is collected in an Arrestor tank and fed to the Masonry conduit line which brings water by gravity to the twin Senchal lakes to be distributed in the town. This system was constructed to meet the demands of around 25,000 to 30,000 citizens under the British period.

However, nothing substantial has been done to solve the water crisis in Darjeeling after independence. This has led to a huge gap between the actual demand and supply of water. The daily water demand of the town is 18.6 lakh gallons while the supply is only 52.75 lakh gallons leading to a deficit of 13.32 lakh gallons of water per day.

As high as 65 percent of the people in Darjeeling town do not have access to public water supply and are forced to depend on the locally available alternate sources of water. It is the urban poor who suffer the most because of this water scarcity.

Water markets thrive to fill in for this water demand

This lack of adequate water supply is now being met by a rapidly growing water market catering to the demands of people in the town who can afford to buy water at a price. Private water suppliers are thriving by selling water through private pipelines, water tankers, manual carts and jerry cans by tapping water from the nearby local springs, streams and Jhoras (drains).

Local water sources have now become private property!

The local water resources such as springs, streams and jhoras that were accessible to people and were traditionally used to meet their water needs have now been converted into private property, controlled by a selected few who are in the water business.

A person who is interested in doing water business and wants to own a spring has to find one not owned by anyone else. This spring holder is then provided with a written document regarding their temporary occupancy over the source. They are, however, not allowed to construct any concrete or permanent structure at the source site. A verbal agreement is made between the water supplier and the consumer before they set up the connection of the pipelines to the houses. The water is supplied for a fixed duration where the consumers have to pay a negotiated amount every month or year according to their convenience. One normal connection provides the water supply for a duration of an hour at a fixed time which generally starts from 5 am to 8 pm at the rate of around Rs 600-Rs 700 per month or about Rs 7200-Rs 8400 per year.

The total charge for the setting up of pipelines between the distribution point and the connecting house has to be paid by the consumer. People can also get water supply for more duration by paying more than what they normally pay. Being a tourist destination, water is always in demand in hotels, restaurants, tea stalls, etc in Darjeeling and the business is in demand throughout the year.

Water is distributed through different modes

Water tankers and private pipelines are preferred for water distribution--the latter supply water throughout the year while the former has high demand during dry seasons. Private pipelines are used for supplying water from the springs but are limited to low-lying areas. Around 62 percent of private water supply in and around Darjeeling municipality is dependent on the private pipelines. The demand for water supply through private pipelines is perennial and hence is mostly connected to the permanent residents in and around the town. This system is predominant in the regions where a large number of springs exist and are controlled by several individual vendors who supply water from these sources located in their private lands.

Others sell water on handcarts and these small scale water suppliers include people who own manual wooden carts (known as Gorkhe Jeep) that supply water to local restaurants, tea stalls and the households. People selling water in handcarts usually buy water from the nearby perennial springs at a low cost and sell it to the town at a higher rate. A cart normally has a carrying capacity of 16 buckets of 20 litres each and they charge about Rs 130-150 for 300 litres of water. They do not supply water throughout the year but normally during dry months i.e. from March to early June.

Then there are also water sellers who store and carry water in jerry cans that serve to cater to the immediate needs of the people in the dry season when there is acute water scarcity. These water sellers mostly collect water at night or early morning from the nearby springs in the town and travel short distances to distribute the water cans of varying quantities such as 20-30 litres at the doorstep. About 80 to 90 litres of water is delivered on an average at a cost of about Rs 80 to Rs 100 per trip. These water sellers normally deliver water to permanent households or small tea stalls who demand water on a daily basis during lean seasons.

The poor continue to lack access to water

The paper argues that this privatisation of water in Darjeeling has given rise to injustice and large disparities where the poor continue to suffer due to lack of access to water and inability to bear the high costs of water. They have to stand in queues for many hours to fetch water from community springs or public taps whose supply is too irregular and uncertain. The situation worsens in the dry season and it is mainly the women and school going children who suffer as they spend a long time in queues to fetch water.

This inequity and lack of social justice in accessing water raise a number of ethical and legal dilemmas that need urgent attention. The paper argues that it is important that this failure in governance is addressed and an attempt is made by government authorities to ensure equitable distribution and sustainable utilisation of local water resources. One of the ways to do it is by encouraging the use of community-based small-scale water management and distribution models that offer cost benefits and long term sustainability over privatisation models.

The paper can be accessed from here

India could witness near-normal monsoon this season: IMD

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that this year, the rainfall in the four-month season from June to September is likely to be 96 percent of the 50-year average of 89 cm with a model error of +/-5 percent. As per IMD, there is a 39 percent probability of normal rainfall, 32 percent probability of below normal and 17 percent probability of deficient rains. There are low chances of the monsoon rainfall being above normal or in excess. However, IMD officials did not completely negate the risk of weak El Nino conditions, a weather phenomenon linked to below normal rains and drought, prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Namami Gange wins accolade at the Global Water Summit

The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has been felicitated with the coveted Public Water Agency of the Year award at the Global Water Summit, a major business conference for the water industry worldwide. The Global Water Awards recognise excellence across the entire international water industry and reward those initiatives in the water, wastewater and desalination sectors which bring remarkable improvements to the lives of people. The Namami Gange programme, an integrated mission for Ganga rejuvenation launched in 2014, has a comprehensive multi-sector intervention with multi-stakeholder involvement and adopts a basin-based approach. 

Narmada turned into a seasonal river in Gujarat, say activists

The Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, a Vadodara-based non-profit, has alleged that in its last 161 km, the Narmada river has been converted into a seasonal one from being a perennial river. Moreover, the river in this stretch carries seawater with some industrial pollutants and untreated sewerage and has high chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (TDS) and low dissolved oxygen (DO). Also, the groundwater near the stretch has deteriorated. The Samiti has held the state government and environment ministry responsible for the poor condition of the river and blamed various completed and upcoming projects on the river for diminishing flow of the river downstream.

Study shows damming of Mhadei affects fish breeding

A study has highlighted that the coming up of a chain of check dams called vasant bandharas on the Mhadei river to meet Goa's water needs during the summer months is impacting the breeding of various indigenous fish. At various sites along the Mhadei river, which were earlier known for indigenous fish, a decline in fish yield is observed as the check dams have stopped the natural flow of the river, thus disrupting fish migration patterns and breeding. Even in Karnataka, the environmentalists have raised a red flag and blamed the chain of dams across the Sharavathi and its tributaries. It has also been revealed that the water resources department constructed the check dams without any environment impact assessment. 

With a loss of nearly 70 percent of the water spread, Chennai is in serious water crisis

A study of comparative maps and satellite images has found that Chennai and its surroundings have lost almost 70 percent of the water spread area, a situation which could leave areas dependent on water tankers and sources other than piped supply in deep crisis in the coming months. The satellite images have revealed that the lakes in Velachery, Pallikaranai, Ambattur and other areas are contaminated and encroached while the lakes in Kancheepuram and other nearby areas are being over-exploited for irrigation. However, the officials in the public works department and Metrowater have blamed the failure of the northeast monsoon and evaporation of water for the crisis. 

This is a roundup of important news published between April 10-16, 2019. Also read policy matters this week.

Central Monitoring Committee formed to ensure pollution-free river stretches

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed a Central Monitoring Committee to ensure the implementation of a national action plan for reducing polluted river stretches across the country. The committee has been asked to coordinate with the respective states to oversee the action plans and ensure execution of the same in a time-bound manner. Along with this, the environment ministry has been directed to consider giving environmental awards to institutions and states that comply with orders and ensure a reduction in pollution. Also, in order to assess the efficacy of river cleaning programmes, the CPCB has been ordered to launch a nationwide programme on biodiversity monitoring and indexing of the rivers.

MoU signed to map, validate and protect India's wetlands

Under the National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad under Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CMFRI) to map, validate and protect wetlands that are smaller than 2.25 hectares across India's coastline. With an aim to protect the wetlands through coastal livelihood programmes, the two institutes will develop a smartphone application and webcast their conservation efforts to coastal stakeholders.

NGT seeks factual and action taken report of Nainital and Naini lake

The National Green Tribunal has ordered various concerned authorities to submit a factual and action taken report on the deteriorating situation of the Naini lake and Nainital town on concerns such as landslides, water scarcity and breach of carrying capacity within two months of the time period. The order has come following a petition passed which alleged that the recharge zones of the Naini lake, especially Sukhatal, have been encroached due to rampant illegal construction activities in Nainital town during the past three decades. Sukhatal is a main recharge zone of the Naini lake and has been drying, shrinking and disappearing due to indiscriminate construction activities. 

NGT orders hygiene survey of the Musi river

The National Green Tribunal has directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) to conduct a hygiene survey of the Musi river with experts to find out if pathogenic bacteria are present in the river. The tribunal has sought the survey report by July end this year. The tribunal has also asked CPCB to submit a report on the status of operation of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in and around the Musi River. At present, out of the 1,400 million litres per day of waste, only 592 mld is discharged into the catchment of the Musi river. 

SC pulls up Maharashtra government for its careless approach to clean Ulhas river

The Supreme Court has reprimanded the Maharashtra government for the poor efforts taken to reduce pollution in the Ulhas and Waldhuni rivers that supply drinking water to the Badlapur-Thane belt. Despite the court's order in November 2017 directing the Maharashtra government to release Rs 100 crore to restore the Ulhas and Waldhuni rivers, a recent report on water quality has shown that the water in the two rivers is highly acidic. The court has asked the principal secretary (environment) to come back with steps taken by the state on compliance with previous SC orders on restoring the rivers by the next hearing on July 17.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from April 10 - 16, 2019. Also, read news this week.

India has, over the last 50 years, spent approximately $50 billion on developing water resources and another estimated $7.5 billion on drinking water, with little to show for the money (Devraj 2002). Apart from big dams and irrigation systems, the government has encouraged the digging of millions of tube wells and borewells energised by electric and diesel-driven pumps that now provide half of the country’s irrigation. Still, around 120 million people in India do not have access to safe drinking water, and about 21 percent of all communicable disease in this country are water related.

Doomsday scenarios that give the impression that there is too little water and that demand will rise exponentially in the future are far from the truth. India is one of the wettest countries of the world, receiving about 4000 billion cubic metres (BCM) of rainfall every year. India, currently, uses barely a third of potentially available water supplies (FAO 2002), though among all resources, water is the greatest open-access commons.

Historically, access to a common resource was controlled by norms and customs, either articulate or inarticulate. The ever-increasing demand for these resources due to a growing population, economic development and improving technologies began to put pressure on the informal norms and customs that controlled the use of these resources. The process of state control began under the British but continued unabated even after Independence. So, what could be a probable solution? The solution is to put these resources back in the hands of the people and convert informal arrangements that had worked before into formal and legally enforceable rules and contracts. The single change of legal ownership and genuine participation of people would address many of anomalies of the current state management. Ownership brings responsibility.

The Government of India’s National Water Policy 2002, acknowledges the changed realities and emphasises a new institutional set-up for managing water resources. The basic principles of this policy are: 1) water should be treated as an economic good instead of a free service 2) the approach should be demand driven and not supply driven 3) the government should function as a facilitator and not service provider 4) users should be fully responsible for the operation and maintenance of services. These policy directives are a right step, but only the first step.

In India, a mixture of state monopoly and a “free for all” situation exists. In recent years, many countries across the world such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey have initiated programmes to transfer some or all responsibilities for management of irrigation and related water services to local organisations of farmers. In fact, farmer-owned and managed irrigation systems were in existence for several hundred to 2000 years in Nepal, Sri Lanka, China and also in the form of tank irrigation in south India. They served over 70 percent of irrigated land in Nepal, still dominate in Bali, and before independence, served the most land area in south India and Sri Lanka.

All these schemes across different cultures and nations share and exhibit a consistent and common set of institutional principles basic to sustainable, fair and affordable use. They provide a crucial lesson for evaluation of the ongoing transfer programmes. Water rights of farmers in sub-areas receiving water under the schemes and between different schemes on the same stream is established by priorities and are honored by farmers.

The success of any programme aimed at transferring control of water to user communities is dependent on the establishment of well-defined, proportional property rights. In India, authorities of water projects generally enter into long-term contracts with municipal corporations and other government agencies for the supply of fixed quantities of water for various purposes. The categories of these projects based on use are rural (domestic use and irrigation) and urban (domestic use and industrial use). Thus, if the currently used system of public allocations is firmed up and formalised, it can serve as a system of property rights over surface and ground waters. These quantitative allocations will ultimately need to be converted into proportional allocations of water rights for irrigation, domestic (rural and urban) or industrial use.

Also, a framework is required where the rights can be traded among various user groups as their needs change over time. Introducing a system of tradable water rights allows a price and an opportunity cost to be assigned to the value of the water right. Open market forces will lead to the most efficient allocation of these water rights.

Once the project allocations are decided, Water User Associations should be given the responsibility of operating and managing the delivery systems, either on their own or by hiring a private agency. Implementing this should not pose much of a problem since the physical delivery infrastructure (i.e. pipelines, treatment facilities etc.) is already in place in most areas.

While there are many success stories of rural communities, actively participating in the operation and management of water delivery services, the same cannot be said of the urban areas in India. Many of the urban water privatisation cases in the rest of the world have been synonymous with steep rate increases, health crises, water riots, and general social turmoil. Actually, water users, not the government, should be able to decide who will operate and manage their supply systems. Also, long-term contracts result in the monopoly, with the community not having the option of opting out in favour of better offers. Selling an entire water utility to a private company may result in the loss of local control, however, community control could increase in the case of short-term operation and management contracts.

Private provision of water services is most successful where the operation and maintenance contracts are not offered by the central authority but by the local water users, thus encouraging competition, which is what is also needed. Besides this, domestic and industrial water users could form Water Users Associations at the ward or constituency level. In addition, various types of contracts are possible, depending on the degree of private sector participation, ranging from Divestiture/Build Own Operate contracts to service or management contracts.

Getting the right amount of water to the right place, at the right time, requires localised solutions that put control over water resources in the hands of those who use them. The principles recommended here are old wisdom: user rights, user ownership and responsibility for managing collective services and common resources.

Parth J. Shah is the director of the Indian School of Public Policy and the founder of the Delhi-based Centre for Civil Society. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of India Water Portal.

India, the second largest population in the world, is facing a water crisis with over 600 million people facing acute water shortage, as per a report by Niti Aayog, the government think-tank. India’s water crisis is expected to worsen, threatening the country’s food security as over 80 percent of our water is used in agriculture. Twenty-one cities are likely to run out of groundwater by 2020, despite increasing demand, as per the report.

“Meghalaya, home to Cherrapunji which receives bountiful rainfall of over 11000 mm was at the bottom as per the report's rankings. The crisis is "only going to get worse" in the years ahead unless significant steps are taken by shifting from supply side to demand side water management,” says U.P. Mishra, secretary, ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, speaking at a panel discussion held on World Water Day on March 22 by the National Water Mission in New Delhi. The speakers and attendees included representatives from government, research institutions and civil society.

Meanwhile, unchecked groundwater extraction has led to groundwater plunging in its levels to record lows especially in the states of Punjab and Haryana where the groundwater extraction is 200 percent more than the recharge. This is clearly unsustainable and can be attributed to a faulty crop procurement system that favours the rice-wheat cropping in these two states.

“Industrial use of water is just 10 percent. A lack of proper wastewater treatment from industrial and domestic sources has contaminated our rivers, lakes and groundwater, increasing health risks to humans and the ecosystem. We need to move away from the largely technocratic models built around surface water schemes towards sustainable systems of water use and management,” says Mishra.

The panelists stressed the need for an innovative and forward-looking approach to securing water for vulnerable populations. Civil society activists have been championing alternatives to the conventional water management solutions implemented by the government. Here are some of the solutions presented by the panelists.

Participatory groundwater management in command areas

Development Support Centre, a national NGO working on providing knowledge-based support to village-level institutions, has been promoting participatory irrigation management in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. The centre presented its experiences on participatory groundwater management at the discussion. In the water-scarce north Gujarat, it conducted an analysis of groundwater use in the canal irrigated command areas. The Dharoi, Guhai and Mazum irrigation schemes in Mehsana and Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat was characterised by exploited groundwater systems that posed management challenges beyond those of conventional canal-based surface water management.

“We held discussions with people telling them how the area’s prosperity from dairy and agriculture was short-lived given the poor state of water resources management. We worked on integrated water resource management and set up many sujal samiti (water user groups) in the command areas of the irrigation systems,” says Sachin Oza, Development Support Centre speaking at the panel. These groups have initiated participatory groundwater monitoring by bhujal jankaar (para workers trained in hydrogeology) and prepared water balance and water security plans. They also promoted sustainable agriculture activities, forward-backwards linkages and integration through farmer-producer organisations in both rainfed and irrigated areas with the help of government and other donors. This has helped bring in sustainable water management in the area.  

Promoting water harvesting systems in Bundelkhand

“Bundelkhand has always had a water problem and faces drought regularly. However, the traditional storage systems—the Chandela and Bundela talab—made water available to people who grew two crops. Over the years, they have fallen into a state of disrepair, largely due to the breaking up of the sense of community. The Apna Talab Abhiyaan promotes the building of private talab on peoples' lands to help improve groundwater recharge in Bundelkhand,” says Pushpendra Bhai, who spearheaded the movement in the region. Several voluntary organisations and individuals are involved in the Apna Talab Abhiyaan as a part of which private talab (ponds) are being promoted on a mass scale in the district.

Hundreds of individuals are financing the building of these ponds on their private lands. The people of the region aren't princely any longer, but in their own way, are trying to emulate the legacy of the past by building them. The work began from Charkhari, an erstwhile princely state in India and home to intricate water management systems in the past. The government provides encouragement by felicitating individuals for their contribution in reviving the water bodies of the area.

Restoring the river Hindon

“Hindon River, a 350-km long river is dying a slow death due to substantial water abstractions and severe pollution loads it receives from various sources along its course. The condition is manifested in degrading ecological characteristics, contaminated ground and surface water and cultural disconnect with the river,” says Manu Bhatnagar, INTACH, a Delhi based non-profit organisation. The basin has several irrigation channels and regulation works such as escapes from Upper Ganga Canal which not only irrigates parts of the basin but also transfers Ganga water to the Hindon river. This transferred water is diverted at Ghaziabad through Hindon Cut Canal to feed Yamuna River and thereafter the Agra-Gurgaon Canal system. The use of the river as a water transfer canal, upsetting the entire ecosystem, has created a situation where it is neither fully a river nor wholly a canal.

“The organisation has conducted a study using existing data on water quality as well as availability and integrated them into a holistic scenario considering basin-level features such as the water budget of the basin, the impact of using irrigation water imported from adjacent basins, the widespread cultivation of water-guzzling crops such as sugarcane, the near extinction of forest cover and the widespread pollution in the basin,” says Bhatnagar. The basin-level conservation plan it prepared shows that the health of the river cannot be isolated from the environmental health of the basin. Bhatnagar recommended a landscape approach at the basin level which requires a certain amount of crossing out of jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries. It also entails a high degree of coordination amongst all stakeholders such as line departments, research institutions and NGOs. 

NGT seeks report on constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees

The National Green Tribunal has ordered the environment ministry to submit a report on the constitution of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) at the local level in every state within three months. Taking note of blatant noncompliance of the provisions under the Biological Diversity Act 2002 and the failure to give proper attention to the unique biodiversity prevalent in India by the state governments, the NGT in August 2018, sought constitution of the BMC at the local level in every state. Despite court orders, however, only 1,44,371 BMCs have been formed as against 2,52,709 panchayats where BMCs were to be constituted.

FAC grants final clearance to Jharkhand's North Koel dam project

The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the environment ministry has given Stage II clearance for the construction of the North Koel Dam in the core area of Palamau Tiger Reserve in Latehar and Garhwa districts of Jharkhand. With the clearance, the state government has been allowed to start construction and set up the villages which will be submerged by the project before closing the sluice gates of the dam. The project was given Stage I approval in February with the condition to settle the project-affected people before the construction starts but this condition has now been amended to allow the execution of the project. However, activists fear that if people are not settled till the gates are closed, it may not happen once the dam is constructed. 

Authorities take note of Arunachal's Kameng river turning into dumpyard

The Deputy Commissioner of East Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh has directed the District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) to stop dumping garbage in Kameng river. The commissioner has been informed that ever since the start of the Swachh Bharat Mission, DUDA has been collecting garbage door-to-door and dumping them at the confluence of the Kameng, the Kuchi river and the Macha Nallah. Although DUDA implemented the SBM well, it did not know how to dispose of the waste as they did not have any waste treatment plant or a landfill site. 

Delhi's environment impact assessment body lying defunct for a year

Experts and activists have urged the Delhi government to reconstitute the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) of Delhi, which expired in April 2018. The SEIAA not only approves Category B projects listed under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, but it also ensures compliance of the environment safeguards of industries, construction operations, energy and several other projects in the state. The experts have highlighted that with no SEIAA, there is no monitoring of the environment safeguards of projects such as the Signature Bridge or the Okhla waste-to-energy plant.

SC bans mining in Kaziranga National Park in Assam

The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on mining activities along the southern boundary of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam. A ban has been imposed on carrying out construction activities on the routes that form nine animal corridors. The ban has been done as per the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which stated in its report that illegal mining and stone crushing activities are being carried out in the elephant corridor connecting the Kaziranga National Park and Karbi Anglong Hills. 

This is a roundup of important policy matters from April 17 - 23, 2019. Also, read news this week.

Ganga laden with high proportion of antibacterial agents: Study

As per the study Assessment of Water Quality and Sediment To Understand Special Properties of River Ganga conducted by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI), the Ganga river water has a significantly high proportion of organisms with antibacterial properties. The assessment compared the numbers of bacteriophages, a kind of virus that kill bacteria and are frequently found in proximity to bacteria, present in the Ganga, the Yamuna and the Narmada rivers. Although there isn't any evidence that the bacteriophage species were unique to the Ganga, they were approximately three times more in the samples of the Ganga than other rivers. 

Delhi's Signature Bridge chokes Yamuna river

It has been five months since the inauguration of the Signature Bridge in Delhi but the debris dumped into the Yamuna river to carry out the construction of the bridge has not been removed. Experts have informed that the debris has combined with the soil and hardened, seriously affecting the flow of the river. Moreover, if the debris is not removed before the 2019 monsoon, it could even alter the river’s morphology by creating new islands. However, as per an officer from the Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC) involved in the construction of the bridge, the debris removal has just been initiated and will be completed before the monsoon. 

Government makes false assertion on drain clean-up

Under the Namami Gange programme launched in 2016, the union government took the initiative of Sismua drain-tapping in Kanpur at the cost of over Rs 60 crore. As per the government, the Sismua drain which discharged sewage into the Ganga river has been tapped but a report by IIT-Kanpur has found the government claims to be wrong. The sewage from the Sismua drain is diverted to two sewage treatment plants--Bhingawan STP and Jajmua STP. When IIT-Kanpur analysed the effluent discharged from the Bhingawan STP, it was found that the discharge was below the normal standard. Not just Sismua, several other drains in Kanpur that were supposed to be tapped under the Namami Gange initiative are still discharging directly into the Ganga river. 

Marathwada's farm ponds may lead to groundwater crisis in the long run

With the beginning of Maharashtra's farm pond on demand scheme in 2016, the number of ponds in the region has shot up. Nearly 1.2 lakh ponds have been built under the scheme so far at a cost of around Rs 540 crore. Although these ponds benefit individual farmers allowing them to grow high-value crops, studies highlight that digging them may lead to overexploitation of groundwater resources. The ponds that are meant to be filled with rainfall runoff are being filled with borewell water and are also lined up with plastic, thereby stopping the percolation of water. 

Study confirms sea is moving closer to Chennai

A recent study published by researchers from Anna University and National Water Centre, UAE University, has predicted that by the year 2100, a stretch of land from the mouth of Adyar near Foreshore Estate to Thiruvanmiyur on the South Chennai coast could be underwater due to rising sea levels. Moreover, the seawater is expected to enter 40 metres into the land from the existing shore. The researchers carried out a simulation to understand the response of the groundwater table to rise in sea level till 2100 and studied three different scenarios. Based on the simulation, the researchers have come to the conclusion that there will be 1.5 sq km of inundation if sea levels continue to rise. 

This is a roundup of important news published between April 17-23, 2019. Also read policy matters this week.

India is on the brink of a major water crisis. With drought looming over the southern and western parts of the country, the existing water resources are in peril. Rivers are getting more polluted, their catchments, water-holding and water-harvesting mechanisms are deteriorating and groundwater levels are depleting at an alarming rate.

Yet, issues related to water scarcity and its management have failed to appear as major issues at the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, argues the paper Challenges in water governance: A story of missed opportunities by Himanshu Thakkar published in the Economic and Political Weekly. The paper highlights the water sector challenges that need urgent attention in the country.

Various water woes plague India

India is drying up fast

The northern part of the country is getting depleted of its groundwater resources with western and southern India not far behind. But neither the national policy nor national or state water resource establishments acknowledge this reality. There is an urgent need to make efforts that focus on enhancing groundwater recharge and regulating groundwater use.

Focus on large water storage structures is worsening the crisis

A myopic understanding of water resources at the policy level has led to a continuing focus on surface water resources. The overemphasis on irrigation, hydropower and river-linking projects continues despite questions being raised about their feasibility, effectiveness and the irreversible environmental impacts that they are feared to unleash.

This excessive focus on large storage structures has led to the neglect of the essential principles of water storage at local levels that involve protection and sustainable use of water systems, rivers, wetlands, forests, soil and groundwater aquifers through the involvement of communities.

This has increasingly led to rural distress as depleting water levels continue to force farmers to dig deeper in search of water. At the same time, no concerted efforts are being made to change the water-intensive cropping patterns practised in a number of states such as sugarcane in Marathwada, western Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, the Cauvery belt in Tamil Nadu, the Gangetic plains in western Uttar Pradesh and the wheat-rice cycles in northwestern India. Even the existing water infrastructure fails to meet its mark and no attempts have been made to address the issue of dam safety. No dam safety act exists as of now to deal with the issue.

Rivers in the country need urgent attention

The state of rivers in the country continues to be pathetic. Current efforts made by the government to revive the Ganga are representative of the narrow understanding of looking at rivers not as living entities but as resources to be harnessed and manipulated for securing water needs. Thus, temporary and knee jerk measures to improve the waters of the Ganga before events such as Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj have done little to revive and maintain the long term health of the river.

Even worse has been the planning of massive projects such as waterways, riverfront development, highways, hydropower projects and interlinking of rivers that have been taken up on the rivers without any impact assessments, public consultations, appraisals or clearances.

Lack of genuine efforts to revive the dying rivers through regular monitoring of water quality and environmental flows, by protecting the floodplains and maintaining river biodiversity is leading to the gradual death of rivers.

Cities are drying out

Current efforts made at development ignore the crucial role of water management for sustainable cities. Aggressive infrastructural projects in cities are destroying local water bodies and tree cover, ignoring the fact that many of these cities are dangerously water stressed and need better policies to treat their sewage properly, harvest rainwater, and use their water resources with utmost care.

Communities most affected by climate change continue to be marginalised

Little or no systematic effort is being made to evaluate the impact of climate change on those affected the most by it mainly the farmers, fisherfolk, tribals and mountain residents.

Environmental impact assessment processes are being diluted

Credible environmental and cumulative impact assessments, public involvement at various stages of planning and project implementation, appraisals involving independent experts and monitoring and compliance are crucial to evaluate the impacts of any intervention on the environment. However, efforts have consistently been made at the governmental level to dilute the whole process rather than strengthen it.

What needs to be done on an urgent basis

Water governance needs reform

Water governance institutions in India continue to have the top-down, bureaucratic, unaccountable, non-transparent and non-participatory approach in their functioning. These non-democratic governance mechanisms continue to hinder progress and need to be made more transparent, accountable and participatory in every sub-sector, be it in the management of rivers, groundwater or floods.

Credible and systematic evidence is needed to trigger appropriate action

While droughts, floods and acute water scarcity continue to threaten India’s future, lack of credible information has led to a poor understanding of the gravity of the situation. Accurate and reliable data on water storage, groundwater, water flows, rainfall and snowfall levels are needed to understand the urgency of the situation and undertake action.

India's water crisis is real. The paper argues that while the current government has been unable to find sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the water sector, no longer can we afford to be ill prepared to deal with the situation as it threatens to worsen with climate change. Irrespective of the outcome of the elections, sincere acknowledgement of the growing water crisis and concerted and urgent action is the need of the hour.

Is the government listening?

A longer  version of this article can be found here

A copy of the paper can be downloaded from below:

The Yamuna was considered a nurturing and life-enhancing goddess in the past. Legend has it that bathing in the sacred waters of the Yamuna, the sister of Yama, the god of death, frees one from the ordeal of death. The 1376-km river is a tributary of the Ganga and originates in the Yamunotri glacier in the lower Himalayas. It passes through several states in north India including Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi where the river was once its lifeline. Its water has been diverted about 200 km upstream of Delhi at Hathnikund barrage through the western and eastern Yamuna canals for irrigated agriculture while wastes from 50,000 industries and sewage from eight million people tear the natural system asunder.

At Delhi’s Nigambodh ghat located on the banks of the Yamuna, one can see a series of bathing and ceremonial stepped piers leading to the waters of the river. River enthusiasts, activists and researchers have assembled there for a curated walk along the Yamuna and a boat ride with “sensors”. The river has been abused so much over time that it symbolises death in its 22-km stretch through Delhi today. “It is mid-April, and we are lucky that the river has not been reduced to a sludgy stretch, which it normally is at this time of the year,” says Himank Sharma, who has been working on the Water-to-Cloud project on the Yamuna.

Sensor reveals dismal state of river

The project, conceptualised by a team of researchers from the University of Chicago, US helps demonstrate that scalable water quality mapping systems can detect and predict water contamination. We are taken on a boat equipped with multiple submersible automated sensors to gather data. The boat sets on a sail at different times of the day on a predefined route. “The sensor measures parameters of interest such as temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand and turbidity using thermometric, electrometric and turbidimetric techniques. These parameters are measured in-situ using the real-time data logging sensors and the data is made public at the project website,” says Sharma.

The dissolved oxygen levels or the amount of oxygen dissolved in water in this stretch has severely depleted due to high levels of organic content in the water. It ought to be a minimum of five mg/litre, but there is nearly no dissolved oxygen (DO) in any stretch of Yamuna downstream of Wazirabad to Okhla barrage. The performance of the sewage treatment plants has been dismal and the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) or the amount of dissolved oxygen needed for microorganisms to breakdown the organic matter in water has not met the standard of being upto three mg/litre. This indicator of water pollution is very high. Total coliform and faecal coliform, which are crucial parameters to gauge the biological contaminants present in water, too show very high values.

Maps to monitor polluted stretches

“This time-stamped and geo-tagged data is filtered and superimposed on geospatial maps to create two-dimensional area heat maps for ease of interpretation and predictive analysis,” says Subhojit Goswami, manager, Communications and Outreach for the project. These easy-to-interpret heat maps are intuitive and can help even laypersons decide which polluted stretches of the river they should avoid. To support the in-situ field measurements, detailed lab analysis is done on a regular basis. The project applies mathematical tools to predict the spread of pollution, interpolate sparse data, and identify specific sources of pollution.

“The damming of the river has altered it completely making it tiny, fragile and strewn with trash. The river’s health is dismal and it is heavily polluted, and is without continuous flow for nine months of the year,” says Bhim Singh Rawat, a river conservationist who is associated with SANDRP, a Delhi-based NGO. Even the Delhi Pollution Control Committee admits that the 22-km stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla, which is less than two percent of the river length from Yamunotri to Allahabad, accounts for about 76 percent of the pollution level in the river.

“The water quality of Yamuna could be bettered by augmenting its flow and treating wastewater from municipal and industrial outlets, which adversely affects water quality,” says Sushmita Sinha of Local Feedback, a start-up working on urban development.

The Water-to-Cloud project shows the importance of detecting river pollutants and locating pollution sources accurately. There is a lack of real-time monitoring of Yamuna so far. In 2018, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had recommended a mechanism to be worked out jointly with the Central Pollution Control Board to install an online system for quality testing of water in the Yamuna at Palla and Wazirabad.

“A continuous, real-time, and in-situ water quality would not only measure standard parameters but also ammonia because this is brought up as a recurrent problem which impacts drinking water supply to Delhi. Time-stamped, and geo-tagged data through in-situ measurements as done by the Water-to-Cloud project can reveal the full picture of complex pollutants in the Yamuna,” says Sharma. The project has done the groundwork for developing a scalable, low-cost real-time sensing network using mobile sensing platforms to obtain high frequency temporally and spatially varying water quality data.

MGNREGA's performance unsatisfactory in drought-stricken districts in 2018-19

An analysis of the performance of MGNREGA for 2018-19 shows that the scheme has failed to be of any help to drought-stricken districts as the significant work related to water conservation and irrigation under the scheme has been left incomplete or suspended, making them useless for farmers. In 2018-19, more than 1.8 million water-related projects were abandoned or left incomplete and the governments spent close to Rs 16,615 crore on structures that are of no use. Moreover, of the 8.26 million MGNREGA projects started in 2018-19, only 26.07 percent could be completed, which is the least in the five years. 

DJB's three-pronged approach to turn Delhi into city of lakes

Delhi Jal Board has finalised three different revival models for the restoration of 155 water bodies in consultation with the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute. With an aim to achieve biochemical oxygen demand of 10 ppm and total suspended solids score of 10 mg/litre, treated wastewater would be used for water bodies located in the proximity of sewage treatment plants in the first model. For the second model, a natural constructed wetland with bio-digesters would be created that will be recharged by sewage from nearby inhabited areas. In case the land is not available, moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and electromechanical systems would be taken up. 

NGT flags mismanagement of solid waste during Kumbh

Taking note of the poor management of solid waste during Kumbh held in Allahabad in the winter of 2018-19, the National Green Tribunal has asked the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to appear before it. As per the tribunal, Kumbh brought Allahabad to the verge of an epidemic as nearly 18,000 metric tonnes (mt) of waste was generated in Kumbh and had been collected at Baswar Solid Waste Treatment Plant which was lying nonoperational since September 2018. Even the groundwater has got polluted during the Kumbh as soak pits where dirty water was collected from toilets had not been lined. Moreover, 50 percent of sewage from toilets was allowed to enter the Ganga river directly. 

New project announced to quench Madurai's thirst

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced a new project to bring drinking water directly from Mullaperiyar dam to serve Madurai city’s growing population. The new Mullaperiyar drinking water project is worth Rs 1,120 crore and envisages laying a 143km long pipeline from Lower Camp near Gudalur to Madurai city. Madurai currently receives 170 mld of water but in summers, the city is left with only 150 mld of water leading to water supply cuts in the city. However, with the implementation of the new drinking water project, Madurai will be receiving an additional 125 mld of water and there would be a round-the-clock supply of water. 

Keshopur wetland in Punjab inches closer to be Ramsar site

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) experts and officials of Punjab forest department have conducted a joint inspection visit of the Keshopur wetland in Gurdaspur as part of their assessment of a potential Ramsar site. The wetland which is being used by more than 20,000 migratory and native birds and is habitat of critically endangered/near endangered/vulnerable species will be the fourth Ramsar site in the state after Harike, Kanjli and Ropar wetlands. The inspection team will be sending its report to the environment ministry for the final declaration. As of now, the wetland is being jointly managed by the forest department and the locals of five villages as it was declared the country's first notified community reserve in the year 2007.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from April 24 - 30, 2019. Also, read news this week.

Leela Patel (19) explains how women at Wali, a tribal gram panchayat in Kurabad block, just 30 km away from Udaipur, manage menstruation by using old scraps of cloth. She’s aware of cases when women have had to use ash, dust and soil to soak up their periods. Buying a pack of sanitary pads is a luxury in this poverty-stricken belt. Despite cramping and pain, women here would hide it away and pretend like it doesn't exist. The sign of misogyny, of the feminine as the other, is dominant in the area. Menstruation is considered dirty and disgusting. “There's a long history of menstrual taboos across nearly all cultures and these continue to manifest in subtle ways in this area as women find it difficult to even dry their washed lal kapda (menstrual cloth),” says Anushree Bapna, project manager, Female Health Project, Jagran Jan Vikas Sanstha (JJVS), Udaipur.

The JJVS has, as a part of a recent initiative, launched a sanitary pad manufacturing unit in Wali village that produces sanitary pads at a low cost. Though Rajasthan government has taken a lead in promoting menstrual hygiene by announcing the launch of a new scheme across the state’s rural areas to help provide free sanitary napkins to girls and women, through schools, colleges, anganwadi centres, sub-health centres and annapurna stores, there are issues related to its implementation. Its campaign—chuppi todo, sayani bano (break the silence and grow up) gained traction among adolescent girls in government primary and secondary schools but left out most other women in the rural areas.

Tackling health and hygiene issues

“A study we did on women’s health in 2016 indicated that they face acute health and hygiene problems such as boils, severe itching, fungal infection and contact dermatitis. The study done on 256 women indicated that there was practically no use of sanitary pads until then. Ninety percent of the incidence of diseases like leucorrhea (vaginal discharge) was reported among women. That set us thinking on introducing better menstrual hygiene practices and in May 2018, we started the manufacture of low-cost sanitary pads,” says C.P. Patel, an ayurvedic doctor working on the project.

In each of the five gram panchayats taken up under a female health project, over 11000 women have been targeted under the project. The JJVS is working on the promotion of local health workers, such as Gunis, to expose traditional tribal practices and organises health camps regularly. The members of women self-help group (SHG) too have been roped in. “The facilitators have been handed over the task of spreading awareness on the importance of sanitation and menstrual hygiene. They have been trying to break the taboo around the issue and encourage women to purchase a pack of sanitary napkins and keep themselves clean and safe during periods. The target group is girls and young women (9-19), who are showing greater interest in switching from cloth to safer menstrual pads,” says Bapna.

“The JJVS has been trying to close the gap in knowledge about menstruation and hygienic practices among women and girls. This was leading to increased health risks, absence from school and work, and loss of dignity. We recognised the impact of poor menstrual hygiene on the overall health of women and introduced it as a core component of our female health project,” says R.K. Deshwal, an ayurvedic doctor working on the project. The initiative focuses on enhancing access and use of sanitation at the household, school and community levels. Our focus is on hygiene promotion, behaviour change and capacity building of women, says Deshwal.

The cost of the machine, which is semi-automatic and easy to operate is Rs 1,00,000. The unit has the capacity to produce 1200 biodegradable sanitary pads in a day. “The effort is to bring down the cost of manufacturing by half from Rs 2.5 per pad at present that can barely cover the material cost. The plan is to run the unit to its capacity,” says Bapna.

Creating job opportunities

Leela Patel is among the five women who have been employed in the unit. Leela, from a low-income family, was trained to work on the set of five machines in the unit. Working in the unit has helped her get a livelihood apart from improving her confidence. Today she is open about her menstrual needs and feels no shame discussing it.

Women have begun to break the taboo and are speaking freely about menstrual hygiene. At the discussions in the women’s self-help groups, topics covered include the process of menstruation, how to manage menstruation hygienically, the importance of tracking the cycle, myths and taboos, types of hygienic pads and other absorbents and proper disposal of menstrual waste. The attempt has also been to include the whole community, especially men, in breaking the silence on the subject of menstruation and management.

“Creating the platform between pad manufacturing unit and the community poses the biggest challenge,” says C.P. Patel. The pads have been tested by many users in the field over the last year and were found to not cause any skin rashes or allergies. “We are not pushing it as an aspirational product but as a safer option. A very important component of our initiative is to dispose of sanitary waste safely. We are conscious of the environmental impact of non-compostable, disposable sanitary napkins, so, our facilitators provide sufficient information on safe and hygienic disposal methods to the women,” says Bapna.

Cyclone Fani, strongest to hit India in 20 years, causes widespread destruction in Odisha

Cyclone Fani, that made its landfall in Odisha on May 4, has caused widespread destruction in the coastal parts of the state, with Puri being the worst hit. The death toll has risen to 35 in the state and severe damage has been caused to the power infrastructure. An aerial survey of the Puri district and adjoining areas has been conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has announced Rs 1,000 crore financial assistance for immediate relief and restoration works. Although the cyclone was the strongest to hit India in 20 years, due to the state government's well-targeted evacuation plan, loss of life has been minimised. Even the UN agency has lauded the state for disaster reduction and the Indian Meteorological Department for its early warnings.

Thanks to humans, earth's biodiversity declines at an alarming rate

According to the first-ever Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services by Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), one million animal and plant species are under extinction. Moreover, thousands of these would get extinct within decades. The assessment has blamed human activity for the loss and added that extinction is a threat to human well-being as well in all regions of the world. The report is the first-ever comprehensive assessment prepared by a group of 145 expert authors from 50 countries based on more than 15,000 scientific and government documents. It took three years to complete.

Researchers find a way to predict reservoir levels three months in advance

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, have developed a statistical model to provide reservoir storage anomaly forecast one to three months in advance for the dry season. Based on the analysis of the observed precipitation, air temperature and data from catchment areas of 91 major reservoirs in the country, researchers have developed a regression-based statistical model to predict reservoir storage anomalies three months in advance. For the model, the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) daily precipitation and maximum and minimum temperature data has been used while India-WRIS database was used for getting weekly reservoir storage data for all 91 reservoirs. 

Acute water crisis may turn Bengaluru uninhabitable in the next few years, experts ring alarm

As per the revised master plan for the city published by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), Bengaluru's population will increase by approximately eight million and reach 20.3 million between 2019 and 2031. The population growth at this alarming rate will put a strain on the city's natural resources and will lead to the depletion of lakes and wells, warns a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Moreover, the Cauvery river water supply to the city is not sufficient, forcing dependence on tankers and borewells. The study has forecasted that groundwater in the city will come down to 3,670 litres by 2025.  

City-wide network to come up for the clean-up of Mumbai's rivers, mangroves and beaches

To address the issue of domestic waste choking water bodies, a first-of-its-kind city-wide network of citizen volunteers, environment groups, corporates, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), state mangrove cell, college and school students, will all come together in operation Jallosh-Clean Coasts. As part of the initiative, partnered by the Hindustan Times, a three-day clean-up drive around World Environment Day (June 1, 2 and 5) combined with awareness programmes will be held across beach fronts, rivers and mangrove forests. The efforts under the initiative will be collated in the form of a report and submitted to various state agencies for follow-up action.  

This is a roundup of important news published between May 1 - 6, 2019. Also read policy matters this week.

Under Namami Gange mission, only 10 out of 100 new sewage projects completed

As per the records, the government has been able to finish only 10 of the 100 sewage infrastructure projects under the Namami Gange mission. Nearly Rs 28,000 crore has been sanctioned for the sewage management work under the mission but only Rs 6,700 crore spent till date. According to a report on the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) website, most of the projects completed under the current government's regime are the ones that were commissioned before the Ganga mission. The incompletion of projects is being reflected in the quality of Ganga river water. 

UPPCB probes pollution in Hindon river

After farmers complained to the Uttar Pradesh pollution control board (UPPCB) about oil being discharged by unidentified factories into the Hindon river, a UPPCB team collected water samples from the river near Momnathal village in Noida, for a probe. Villagers observed oil-like waste enveloping the water flowing through their village and birds and animals dying drinking the water. As per the UPPCB officials, the exact cause of water turning oily and dark will be known only after the investigation reports are out. 

Ahmedabad initiates three-pronged approach to meet the city's water demands

As the water crisis worsens in several parts of the city, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is providing water to citizens through tankers. As per the data of the civic body, more than 19 lakh litre of water is being distributed by the tankers. In a single day, nearly 70 tankers deployed to provide potable water, make about 383 trips to different parts of the city. In order to tap its groundwater resources, the civic body is conducting a massive survey and mapping of tube wells that have been lying defunct. The survey has identified over 250 defunct tube wells in the city.

Greenfield international airport in Goa and waterfront development plan for Mundra Port get green nod

The ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) has granted environmental clearance to the development of a greenfield international airport in north Goa and approved terms of reference (TOR) to the expansion of a waterfront development plan for Mundra Port by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ). However, as per the environment experts, green laws have been violated in both the projects. In both cases, there have been incomplete environmental assessments while the existing and potential impacts have been clearly established under these projects. 

Union minister rejects global report on pollution death

As per the US-based Health Effects Institute report, around 1.2 million people were killed in India in 2017 due to air pollution. However, the union environment minister Harsh Vardhan has disagreed to the claims. According to him, pollution can cause premature illness and other health effects but not death. He further added that the report has been prepared to create panic. He highlighted that Centre is making several initiatives to tackle air pollution in the country.

This is a roundup of important policy matters from May 1 - 6, 2019. Also, read news this week.

As the world’s largest democracy is all geared for its biggest test - for voters to select their Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister, the top issues that dominate the electoral agenda at the national level have been increased jobs opportunities, controlling inflation, and reducing farmers’ distress. While these could be the top priorities for the rest of India, what dominates the agenda at the local level are every day issues that may seem mundane to many - water and sewage lines. From drought-hit regions to emerging colonies in expanding cities, what matters most to voters are basic provisions for everyday living.

While water did manage to find a little space in the election manifestos of the top two national parties, it is important that the commitments around access to adequate and safe drinking water made to the electorate be converted into action. Apprehensions do exist that they might be diluted because they are perceived to be female-oriented issues. But with women constituting almost half the share of total votes in the country, their mundane and everyday needs should be given equal significance as the top priorities are likely to get. 

In much of the world, and developing countries in particular, women and girls have been traditionally responsible for domestic water supply and related household chores. Men in any society, no matter how contemporary, have seldom been associated with water related tasks. While the truth remains that water is an important element of survival, another truth linked to it is the indispensable relation between women and water. So if water related tasks at home are expected to become women’s chores, the minimum that can be ensured to make life little convenient for her is access to a water source within home and safe and adequate drinking water for all members of the family.

Even though women are the ones who manage water related tasks at home right from the break of day to dawn, they seldom participate in decision making processes with regard to this resource. Contrary, men usually involve themselves in one time task related to water like deciding on the type of water source to be built, site selection, maintenance, and usage structure by the community, and keep themselves away from day to day labour intensive tasks.

Looking beyond water, women across many countries of the world, spend considerable time on other unpaid work like sanitation and hygiene, collecting fuel, washing, cooking, and care services for the dependents. They are also the world's principal food producers and providers and are assuming an increasing role in agriculture.  Women, on average, comprise 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries and account for an estimated two-thirds of the world's 600 million poor livestock keepers . Nonetheless, their unpaid role in all these different tasks becomes a crucial factor for their disadvantaged position in the labour force.

Substantiating the above claim is a report released by Oxfam- an international human rights group- in January 2019, in which the ‘female face’ of women’s unpaid work in India was emphasised. The report shared that in India, the unpaid work done by women looking after their homes and children is worth 3.1% of the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Women spend 312 minutes per day in urban areas and 291 minutes in rural areas on such unpaid care work, it added. In comparison, men spend only 29 minutes in urban and 32 minutes in rural areas on unpaid care work. 

In Asia, women and girls spend 21 minutes on average in rural areas and 19 minutes in urban areas for one roundtrip to collect water (UNICEF, Aug 2016). In addition to the fetching time, carrying heavy loads of water over long distances several times a day leads to adverse impact on their physical health, generally causing neck and spinal injuries. Apart from heath risk, there are many cultural consequences that women face on account of being ‘water carriers’. One of the unfortunate fallout of water shortage on women can be witnessed in the drought-prone Denganmal village of Maharashtra where the practice of keeping water-wives has been a norm for many years. Men, in this village, practice polygamy of a surprising kind – they marry ‘extra’ wives solely for them to fetch water for the household, many times a day.

Since the past few years, building toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission in a full-fledged mode, in the absence of alternate arrangement for access to water, has made the situation even more unfavourable. With toilet use being promoted using both reinforcement and coercive measures, in households lacking water availability within premises, women have the additional task of fetching water for sanitation purposes.

It has been long that women have been bearing a disproportionate burden of unpaid water-work in India and across the world and policy space is little gender sensitive. While complete equality between men and women is not happening anytime soon, policies that are most conducive to the attainment of substantive equality between women and men should be identified and drafted covering areas like access to water, sanitation and hygiene, health and nutritional security, and education. The objective should be to enable that women’s participation grow from manual workers to decision makers and from disproportionate and unrecognised work to more visible and paid tasks!

Nirma Bora is the Policy Research & Advocacy Officer at WaterAid India. She has worked extensively on issues related to climate change, sustainable agriculture and water resource management.

References:

The female face of farming

Infographic source: UN Women - Women in the changing world of work

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of India Water Portal.

Life is getting back to normal after an ‘extremely severe’ cyclonic storm Fani hit India’s eastern coastline. It ripped through several districts of Odisha and West Bengal and brought in torrential rains and winds of up to 200 km/hr. But improved responses to the disaster by way of timely warning, advance planning, evacuation, rescue and restoration operations helped mitigate casualties and damage to the region.

Massive evacuation efforts by the government of Odisha wherein nearly 1.2 million people were evacuated and sheltered saved people during the crisis. The state has been witness to nearly 10 years of capacity building for cyclone management when it was hit by the severe cyclone Phailin in October 2013. To enhance storm management capacity and reduce vulnerability in cyclone-prone areas, the state undertook many steps like making people aware of the disasters, informing them of the dos and don'ts, strengthening village-level institutions to provide immediate help and act as the link between the government and community, establishing cyclone shelters and equipping those with modern infrastructure.

A paper by Saudamini Das highlights how, with increasing threats from climate change, it is essential that the effectiveness of evacuation measures is evaluated and limitations addressed. The paper titled Evaluating climate change adaptation through evacuation decisions: a case study of cyclone management in India examines the evacuation behaviour of different coastal communities in the 480-km coastline of the state that runs along six districts bordering the Bay of Bengal. These communities had received similar disaster-preparedness training. Yet, there is heterogeneity in responses of these groups.

This study explores the impacts of such interventions implemented prior to the severe storm Phailin which damaged four of the six coastal districts of Odisha. The paper first reviews people’s preparedness efforts, their initial response to government warning and evacuation orders, and then conducts statistical analysis to examine the features affecting the evacuation behaviour. Evacuation responses are compared across the coastal districts to capture the effect of sociopolitical heterogeneity.

Evacuation a social process

Cyclone evacuation is a social process, and people’s decision to evacuate depends on how they perceive the risk from the warning message. The characteristics of the warning message—such as content, source and frequency—have important implications for disaster evacuation. When public authorities issue evacuation orders appropriate for the strength of the threat and disseminate these warning messages effectively across multiple audiences, compliance could reach as high as 90 percent in high and medium-risk areas.

Public response to risk communication was linked to perceived risk (understanding, belief, and personalisation), where perceived risk was defined to be a function of the features of warning information received (specificity, consistency, certainty, accuracy, clarity, channel, frequency, source), and personal characteristics of the warning recipient (demographics, knowledge, experience, resources, social network, cognition).

Other possible determinants were described as the presence of children in households, prior training or education for coping with crisis, neighbours evacuating, access to transport, economic condition, female head of the family, etc. Families having livestock did not evacuate as there were no facilities for livestock at the shelters.

As per the paper, the public response to the evacuation order was overwhelming. In some areas, as many as 95 percent of the residents evacuated, and they were aware of the precautions to be taken before a storm strikes whereas some other areas showed as low as 33 percent evacuation and least interest in training and capacity building programmes and maintenance of critical infrastructure like cyclone shelters. Analysing evacuation responses with logistic regression, social economic issues like unemployment, the prevalence of theft, and no provision for the evacuation of livestock to safety explained the evacuation failure significantly.

The state took many innovative steps after this cyclone to adapt to such climatic future disasters. It formed specialised disaster management departments like the Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) and the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force. The state implemented various disaster management programmes and trained volunteers and conducted other capacity-building programmes at the grassroots level to help and motivate the coastal population to face such calamities in the future.

This was followed by programmes that aimed at providing technical support to strengthen the capacities of government, communities, and institutions to fast-track implementation of the planning frameworks on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Such efforts enhanced the cyclone management infrastructure capacity of the state. There is a Cyclone Shelter Management and Maintenance Committee (CSMMC) in each shelter village to sustainably manage the shelters and to mobilise community members for the annual awareness-generating cyclone drill, help them in preparedness and evacuations after cyclone warning is issued, and manage them in shelters after evacuation. There are other village-level groups, like the village task force, village volunteers, and disaster management teams, to help and mobilise villagers and help the CSMMC. These groups have been trained in first aid techniques, safety, and rescue operations.

Conclusion and policy implications

In the future, such extreme events are predicted to hit coastal areas with more intensity due to climate change, and this necessitates that governments address such socio-economic problems along with cyclone adaptation programmes to make disaster management more effective.

Based on evidence from cyclone Phailin, the disaster management approaches and policies adopted by the Government of Odisha, with help from the Government of India, World Bank, and the UNDP, seem to have been successful in reducing the region’s vulnerability to tropical storms. The state conducted many institutional capacity-building programmes because of which compliance with evacuation orders was high.

These findings on social behaviours and responses call for a differential disaster management strategy taking behavioural and social traits of the area into account, rather than a generic one, to mobilize civil society in different areas.

In some districts, the evacuation was very high and one of the reasons could be repeated training and mock evacuation drills being carried out in those areas. Though such trainings and drills seemed to be effective in sensitising some people and making them realise the threat to their lives, there are others who are yet to realise it. Probably, they require a differential training inclusive of behavioural and social traits to be sensitised. Simultaneously, other social issues like theft, employment options, and arrangements for evacuation of livestock also need to be addressed to manage storms better.

The paper can be accessed here