Declared as a drought-hit state, acute water woes are at Kerala’s doorstep
Text: Madhulika Ra Chauhan Illustration: Jithin Mohan Images: FWD Media
For a state that is better known as the ‘Land of 44 Rivers’ and one whose entire western boundary is made up of pristine shorelines, the biggest issue being faced in Kerala is that of a lack of water, not just any water, but potable water. Water scarcity is turning out to be a major cause for concern with Kerala being declared a drought state in the year 2016. It is the worst drought to have hit the state in 115 years. If the forecast of the State Meteorological Department is mapped together with the reports coming from the groundwater authorities, Kerala is on the verge of a crisis of mammoth proportions.
From the year 1881 to 2000, there were 66 drought years in the state. But the 2016’s has been touted as the most severe. The absence of summer showers made the situation even worse, while the state had received a deficient of 33.7 percent rains from the South West Monsoon (SWM) from July to September this year, the North West Monsoon (NWM) winds which more or less deserted the state between October and December gave the state a harder blow. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) called upon the government to brace itself for the impending crisis. For the first time ever, the state proposed to impose a water rationing system across households and industries as recommended by the KSDMA. Irrigation has already been stopped across three districts in the state.
In a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on 28 October, the government decided to enforce stringent controls in the use of the remaining stored water in the state. The KSDMA suggested a 26-point agenda which the state government has put in place with the motto of ‘3Rs’ – ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. An order of preference has also been decided for use of water until May 2017 with drinking water at the top, followed by use of water for the household purpose, and then for industrial use.
Impending Power Crisis
As the monstrous water crisis is all set to deepen its ugly tentacle further, its impact is already showing on the power sector and the already slow moving realty sector, which still not recovered from the effects of demonetization. While the state needs annually 24,000 Million Units (MU) of power only 7,100 MU are generated at home while the rest is sourced from outside. As the rains cease and water storage decreases the internal generation will fall to 5,200 MU hinting that close to 2,000 MU of power will have to be again bought from outside, putting a financial burden on the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), which is already feeling the heat of the drought. At the Idukki hydroelectric project which is the largest producer of power in the state, there is only enough water to generate 40 percent of its total capacity. With all the power plants put together in the state, a stock taken on 22 December, only 1,988 MU of power can be generated against previous years. While in 2015 it was 2,754 MU, in 2014 it was 3,246 MU taken on the same date.
Root Cause of the problem
Urbanisation and imbalanced growth where natural resources were used at an unprecedented rate. While the people and the state are left to deal with the impending crisis, which deepens as the days go by, the reason can not only be the Southwest monsoon or the climatic changes. The reason can not only be due to the sudden change in cyclonic winds. The problem lies much deeper. The question which needs to be addressed is – Have the natural resources been burdened far beyond the capacity leading to overall ecological imbalance? The expanding ‘footprint’ of cities like Chennai anxious to secure new water supplies leading to competition for scarce resources being one. Problems such as catchment deforestation, habitat fragmentation, dams and diversions, sand mining, incorrect land use, pollution and encroachments into rivers, have contributed to dying rivers which have long served the growing demands. Information on visible data is collected very selectively – such as all land details, rainfall, crop details, water (surface and groundwater), income and consumer expenditure, assets and liabilities, livestock etc. have fueled the problem of water scarcity in the state.
Data such as pollution of river basins, surface and groundwater, solid waste, bio-medical waste, urban sewage, e-waste generation and floods and droughts (socioeconomic losses and expenses incurred by way mitigation) have never been collected or mapped before, hence there is no way data can create a map which would tell a story of the ecological damage. Can we afford to neglect the invisible data? Despite being rich with rivers, majority of the population in Kerala uses contaminated water for drinking and bathing. The important rivers of Kerala Periyar, Bharathapuzha, Pamba, Chaliyar and Chalakudy – are either dead or dying. The major interventions contributing to dying rivers are catchment deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Western Ghats, dams and diversions, sand mining, incorrect land use, pollution and encroachments into rivers.
What is being done
Both government and nongovernment bodies are allocating their energies to tackle the Water scarcity at their end, yet it seems like a drop in the proverbial ocean. an Amendment to the Municipality Building Rules, 2004 under which Rainwater Harvesting became an integral part of the all new building constructions. Despite the government measures, there is a need of a larger initiative to make way for a more sustainable resource management.
What still needs to be done
Sustainable resource management: Defining and measuring sustainability is a major challenge. However, these limitations need not stop us from trying to identify and value the possible impacts of what needs to be done. A continuing task of water resource planners and managers is to identify the multiple impacts and tradeoffs resulting from what we who are living today may wish to do for ourselves and our immediate generations. This task must involve professionals from other disciplines in a context much broader than just water management. Sustainability can only be ensured through participation. No revival process no matter how fool proof can work without holistic participation. All of us need to be a part of this decision-making process. Anna Hazare’s Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra, Hardev Singh Jadeja’s small dams project in Gujarat, Rajendra Singh’s check- dam scheme in Rajasthan, a water harvesting project in Kuil Thottam, a slum settlement in Chennai, Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s rainwater harvesting programme in Madhya Pradesh – all show that change is possible through community involvement and participation.
Augment Ground Water Schemes: In order to augment the depleting groundwater resources, it is essential that the surplus monsoon runoff that flows into the sea, is conserved and recharged to augment ground water resources. Partnering with NGO’s which have been involved in rainwater harvesting to augment ground water resources to reach out to far-fetched areas. Building a watershed, a basin like a landform defined by peaks which are connected by ridges that descend into lower elevations and small valleys. The watershed carries rainwater falling on it drop by drop and channels it into soil, rivulets and streams flowing into large rivers and in due course sea. Thus raising the water table in the process.
Revival of Dry Rivers: Reviving the dry and dying rivers which have been supple in the past and provided for the needs have to be brought back from the brink of extinction. Perhaps a lesson from Rajasthan’s revival of Arvari and Rupa and Sarsa among others can lend a helping hand to the dying cause.
The story of Arvari
More than being the story of the revival of a dead river, it is a story of the people who did not give up facing the environmental problems in their area – chronic drought, degraded land, distress migration and poverty. Neither did they get bogged down by the administration. So how did the common folks of Rajasthan, which has no perennial river running through the State, brought back dead rivers – Rupa, Sarsa and Arvari in Alwar districts – to life for their own benefit is a story that needs to be told and retold. It tells a tale of how conventional wisdom and practising simple traditional wisdom made the dying river flourish again. The ecosystem of the Aravalli range, which earlier sustained the region, had been ravaged since the Seventies. Monsoon run-off had eroded and washed away the topsoil, leading to crop failure, women trekked long distances to fetch a potful of water. The land lay barren and the cattle dead or dying as not a single blade of grass could be seen. The Aravalli lost 40 percent of its forest cover and each subsequent year, four per cent of the Aravallis was becoming a wasteland, according to reports in the Seventies and Eighties.
The dying river played an economic leveller as the richest and the poorest of the villages were the same as far as their economic condition was concerned. Ecological destruction had led to economic and social degradation. No one could predict the change in the fortunes of the village at least nothing as dramatic than the transformation of the villages along the banks of the dried up Arvari in the following years could be thought about. It was in October 1985, when five young men arrived from Jaipur to Kishori village in Thanagazi Block in Alwar district – which had been declared a “dark zone” by the State then, owing to lack of water. They belonged to Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), and NGO. Though not quite realising it then the men had actually come to the right place at the right time.
In an interview given to the Hindu, the Tarun Bharat Sangh’s secretary, Mr Rajendra Singh, recollected: “It was like coming to a battlefield, not knowing whom to fight. Then Mangu Ram Patel, an elderly man from nearby Gopalapura village, told us to talk less, dig tanks and build johads to get results.” Before they lost rights over their common lands and forests, the people of the region had a rich tradition of building johads – a crescent shaped rainwater storage tank or check-dams which capture and conserve rainwater, improve percolation and recharge groundwater. The tradition was still alive in the collective subconscious, but yet no one was confident and willing enough to come forward and help.
For the next six months, 15 members of TBS worked up the first talab (pond) and only after it got filled up with rainwater were people convinced. It was a sure proof of what could be achieved by building johads. The word of water in a barren land spread like wildfire in all neighbouring villages. Since then, TBS – which acts more as a facilitator now – with the help of villagers, has constructed 3,500 such water- harvesting structures in 650 villages of Alwar.
Conclusion
2016, the year when Kerela has been declared a drought state, should not just be seen as an isolated incident but rather a war-cry for saving and reviving the vital resource which sustains life on the planet. What has happened in Kerala is not an isolated incident but an indication of what can happen anywhere in the country or the world if the resources are not prudently used and the ecological balance not maintained. The government, however, is not and should not be the only instrument of change. It has to be a collective and coordinated effort by all those involved to bring back the glory of lost rivers, build structures which can conserve water and like the old man Mangu Ram Patel words “talk less, dig tanks and build johads and get results”. The people have to come together collectively to raise awareness and conserve the resource for a sustainable future.
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