Himalayan river basins to face acute water

shortage
Singapore, June 28, (DPA):

Himalayan river basins in China, Bangladesh, India and Nepal will face a
massive water depletion within 20 years, leading to a decline in food and
mass migration, a research group warned on Monday.

Due to natural reasons like glacial melting, the four countries would lose almost 275
billion cubic metres of annual renewable water in the next two decades, more than the
total amount of available water in Nepal at present, India-based Strategic Foresight
Group said in a report.

"What we are looking at here is a major catastrophe ... going to happen in 20, 25 years,"
the group's president, Sundeep Waslekar, told a seminar at the Singapore International
Water Week.

Water scarcity and effects like desertification and soil erosion would bring rice and wheat
yields in China and India down by as much as 50 percent by 2050, the report said.
"China and India alone will need to import more than 200 to 300 million tonnes of wheat
and rice," it said.

"This will create a havoc in the global food market ... for people everywhere, because the
prices will go up substantially," Waslekar said.

Water depletion in the river basins would displace millions of people in the four countries
by 2050, he said.

"We are looking towards a disaster of more than 100 million migrants," he said, "and
conflicts within and between countries."

The report called for more cooperation between the four nations in the management of
the river basins.

The basins of the rivers, including the Yellow River and the Yangtze in China and the
Ganges in India, are home to 1.3 billion people.

Bad pipelines blamed for water shortage in

cities
Bangalore, Apr 16, DHNS:
Leaks in decades-old dilapidated pipeline network has affected regular
supply of drinking water in major cities, Urban Development minister
Suresh Kumar said on Friday.

Addressing the media after conducting a video conference with

commissioners of corporations and Deputy Commissioners, the
minister said cities have sufficient water resources, but the citizens
get drinking water once in three or four days because poor pipeline
network.

Gulbarga Deputy Commissioner R Vishal complained to the minister

that the administration had not been able to supply water daily
although it had more than sufficient water available (120 MLD) for the city because of
poor network. Similar was the problem with Davangere, pockets of Belgaum Mangalore
and Mysore.

In Davangere, the major reason for poor drinking water supply is disruption in power
supply. Deputy Commissioner K Amaranarayan told the minister, “We have sufficient
water to supply on a daily basis. It has been difficult to ensure it because of erratic power
supply. Soon we are going for an express feeder exclusively for water supply”, he said.
The minister said the government had taken up pipeline improvement work in Hubli and
Belgaum cities.

Man-hole cleaning

Suresh Kumar said the city corporations will stop manual man-hole cleaning by March
2011. The corporations would purchase jetting machines to clear the drains. The
Davangere City Municipal Corporation (CMC) had already purchased one machine and
Belgaum had invited tenders for the purchase.

Each machine would cost between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 1.25 crore. The initial investment
in each corporation would be around Rs five to 6 crore, with an annual maintenance cost
of Rs 70 lakh. “But nothing is costlier than value of human life”, the minister said. The
Directorate of Municipal Administration has issued a circular to all urban local bodies to
adopt power saving measures.

Water shortage affects dairying in Bangalore

Prerana Sabnis and Poornima Nataraj, Bangalore, May 11, DH News Service:

Water shortage has been particularly scary this summer for citizens of
Bangalore, but it can soon lead to a milk shortage.
 Consider this: Manju and Ratna, a couple who
earned their living from dairy farming at their farm
at Palanahalli near Yelahanka, providing milk to
Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), have now
decided to give up their profession. Reason:
Rearing cattle with basic facilities has become a
huge challenge for them.

The couple had moved from Malleswaram to

Palanahalli in the hope of a better life and their
dairying business on a piece of land made life comfortable for a while. But what seemed
like a boon, soon turned out to be curse with water shortage making itself felt.

“Cows normally drink lots of water, especially in summer. The borewells here have dried
up and water tank providers refuse to supply our farm as there are no proper roads I am
planning to sell all my cows and start a new profession,” Manju told Deccan Herald.
The owner of the farming land had apparently converted 2.5 acre land into 70 sites of
30X40 area. He had allegedly even sold one site to more than one person. After his
death, people who initially bought the site, moved in for the fear of losing out on their
property. But lack of civic amenities in this area might force them to give up dairy
farming, their profession.

BBMP’s assistant executive engineer Mohan Gowda said that since the area was under
CMC, development work was delayed. “If the dairy farmers jointly give a representation
stating that they need a road to be constructed, we will take immediate action to asphalt
the roads in Palanahalli,” he said.

No ‘support price’

It is not just water and roads, some dairy farmers here are even deprived of their
‘support price’ which was initiated by Yeddyurappa’s government two years ago.

“Selling milk to KMF hasn’t helped us much. In Malleswaram, we used to sell the milk at
Rs 18 per litre, but here we get only Rs 15.80. The local co-operative society has not
given us the additional two rupees a little ‘support price’ initiated by Yeddyurappa’s
government,” says Ratna. Srinivas, another dairy farmer is unaware about ‘support price’
till today.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Yellappa, secretary to the Palanahalli Milk co-operative

society claimed that he was including additional ‘support price’ in the payments made to
the dairy farmers. “You can check all my accounts, I am sincerely giving the benefit of
‘support price’ to all the farmers,” he said.

Munendra Kumar, Corporator of Jakkur (Ward No. 5) of which Palanahalli is part is not
aware of the dairy farmers' problems here. “None of them have ever approached me. I
will have to do a spot inspection to understand and solve their problems," he said.
Bharatpur bird sanctuary to get water - finally
Jaipur, Aug 28 (IANS)

The famous Bharatpur bird sanctuary, which has been losing its winged
visitors due to an acute shortage of water, is set to get a new lease of life,
with the Rajasthan government finally releasing water from a dam.

Moved by the gravity of the situation, the government Friday released water from the
Panchna Dam of Karauli district for the sanctuary - also known as the Keoladeo National
Park or Ghana sanctuary - which used to host 370 species of birds and 375 species of
flowering plants before being hit by water shortage.

The sanctuary had not been receiving adequate water for the last two-three years,
threatening its very existence. The alarming water shortage had taken its toll on the
turnout of migratory birds. Large parts of the sanctuary had turned into dry land.
"We have released water from the (Panchna) dam for the bird sanctuary. The water
through river Gambhir is expected to reach Ghana by Sep 4," an official of the water
resource department told IANS.

The park, located at the confluence of river Gambhir and river Banganga, requires 500-
550 mcft of water every year.Earlier also the bird sanctuary had been getting water from
the Panchna Dam. However, the water was not being released from the dam for the last
two-three years due to strong opposition from farmers in the Karauli area, which in turn
had been receiving scanty rainfall.

Environmental and social organisations had urged Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot to keep the sanctuary going by maintaining its aquatic ecology.They feared that if
water was not released, migratory birds would stop coming to the sanctuary.

"Thanks to the government that it has finally released water for the sanctuary. There was
only a large pool of water left which used tube wells to replenish its level," said Babulal
Jaju, the state in charge of NGO People for Animals (PFA).

"Many domestic and migratory birds had been leaving the park in search of new
wetlands and the reduction in bird population had reached a giant proportion. But now,
we may see migratory birds flocking in again at Bharatpur," he added.

The sanctuary is spread over an area of 28.72 sq km with lake and wetland. It was
created by the Maharaja of Bharatpur in the 19th century.The area was designated as
Keoladeo Ghana Sanctuary in 1965 and was upgraded into Keoladeo National Park in
1981.

Incidentally, Bharatpur is one of the few districts in Rajasthan which received scanty
rainfall this year.
Asia facing worsening water crisis: ADB
Manila, Oct 12, (AFP):

Asian countries, including India, are facing a worsening water crisis that
threatens to curtail food production while taking an increasingly heavy toll
on the region's economies, the Asian Development Bank said today.

Governments, industries and people around the region urgently need to stop wasting so
much of the precious resource if they are to limit the shortage, ADB infrastructure
advisor Arjun Thapan said.

"The water footprint in our towns and cities, in our irrigation systems, our energy
production systems and in industry in general, is extravagant," Thapan said at a water
crisis conference hosted by the Manila-based lender. It needs to shrink and Asia needs
to become acutely conscious of the scarcity value of its accessible freshwater, and the
imperative of efficiency in managing it" he added

In a report, the ADB faulted weak enforcement of laws for the degradation of Asian water
quality, with between 80 and 89 per cent of all untreated wastewater leaching into fresh
water in east and south Asia, respectively.

"In short, Asia is witnessing a despoliation of its freshwater resources with disastrous
consequences for ecological balance and environmental sustainability," the bank said.
It also highlighted that while irrigated agriculture uses up 80 per cent of the region's fresh
water, there have been only very minimal irrigation efficiencies since 1990.

Climate change, rapid industrialisation, water pollution, dietary shifts and the drive to
grow biofuels are also expected to deepen the water crisis, according to Thapan.
On current trends, this would lead to a 40 per cent gap between water demand and
supply in Asia by 2030.

"The impact is going to be greatest on food production and investment in the energy
sector," Thapan told a news conference. "All of these, doubtless, is going to impact on
overall economic growth."

Among the region's largest countries, the ADB estimated India would have a water
deficit of 50 per cent by 2030 while China would have a shortage of 25 per cent.

China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Cambodia are
currently feeling the heaviest impacts of the water shortage in terms of food and energy
production as well as ecological damage, the ADB said.

World Bank report calls for immediate corrective measures

India’s ground water table to dry up in 15 years

Ajith Athrady, New Delhi, Mar 7, DH News Service:

About 60 per cent of aquifers in India will be in a critical condition in

another 15 years if the trend of indiscriminate exploitation of ground water
continues, the World Bank has said in a report.

In
its

latest report on the country’s ground water level, the bank has expressed concern over
the rate of depletion of water table in the country and has called for immediate corrective
measures.

Around 29 per cent of ground water blocks in the country are semi-critical, critical or
overexploited and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. By 2025, an estimated 60 per
cent of ground water blocks will be in a critical condition. Climate change will further
strain ground water resources, the report said.

India is the largest user of ground water in the world, with an estimated use of 230 cubic
km of ground water every year––more than a quarter of the global level. Now, ground
water supports around 60 per cent of irrigated agriculture and more than 80 per cent of
rural and urban water supplies.

“Out of a total of 5,723 ground water blocks in the country, 1,615 are classified as semi-
critical, critical or overexploited, and regulatory directives have been issued by the
Central Ground Water Authority for 108 blocks. However, neither the authority nor the
state ground water agencies have the resources or the personnel to oversee the
enforcement of these regulations.”

Among its several suggestions to prevent over exploitation and promote sustainable use
of ground water, the report calls for community management of ground water wherein
the user community is the primary custodian of ground water and is charged with
implementing management measures.

About urban water supply planning, the report said: “There is a need to move from
opportunistic exploitation of ground water resources to a more systematic evaluation of
the status of urban ground water use and the contribution it can make to meeting future
demand.

“Pricing measures, including volumetric charges, taxes and user fees, can act as
incentives to conservation and more efficient allocation of water resources, provided
they address concerns of equity and affordibility to the poor,” the report said.

The report titled was initiated to identify practical and politically feasible strategies for
managing ground water use in India.