5

Water

Introduction

If we could collect all the water on this planet in a one-litre bottle, freshwater would represent about two drops; barely 2.5 per cent of world’s water is freshwater. Out of this, 70 per cent is frozen in the Antarctica and Greenland ice caps. Barely 1 per cent of total freshwater is available for human consumption. These are stored in lakes, ponds, underground aquifers, streams and rivers—easily and cheaply accessible. In South Asia, agriculture accounts for 86 to 98 per cent freshwater withdrawal, domestic use accounts for 2 to 8 per cent withdrawal and 0.6 to 5.4 per cent is attributed to the industrial sector. Thus, agriculture is a major user of freshwater.

Freshwater resources are getting scarce in terms of quantity, and increasingly polluted in terms of quality. Freshwater, though renewable, is a highly vulnerable natural resource. It caters to the needs of multiple stakeholders for a variety of purposes ranging from domestic water supply to irrigation, hydropower and industrial production. Globally, over a billion people are currently without access to improved water supply. Most of these people live in Asia and Africa. Access to clean water remains one of the major challenges for the region. This is partly because of the seasonal nature of the water supply, but also to a great extent due to degrading water quality.

The Hindukush-Himalayan region (HKH) is one of the largest storehouses of freshwater in the world, and its mountains are the source of major river systems that serve over 500 million people in South Asia. These rivers are not only a source of water but also hold immense religious and cultural significance. Most of the large rivers in South Asia pass through more than one country and may lead to conflicts on water-resource allocation.

Water scarcity in South Asia is not only the result of its abuse and wastage but also of general mismanagement of natural resources and climate change. Half a century of South Asia’s conservation-led water development has failed to address the root causes of suffering of the people. It has not provided wholesome drinking water to rural, urban and suburban areas. On the contrary, current development approaches have ignored the diverse social contexts of water. Rural dwellers have been forced to migrate to overcrowded cities without adequate infrastructure, employment, housing and sanitation. In the meanwhile, overcrowded cities, generating large quantity of solid wastes, sewage and greenhouse gases (GHG) add to the increasing level of pollution and further strain the supply of freshwater.

Marine water resources are also exposed to dumping of untreated urban solid and sewage waste, industrial effluents, ship-based wastes and oil-spill pollution. As a result of increased pollution, marine biodiversity is facing serious threats to its survival. South Asian countries, such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Madives that share the water of the Indian Ocean, also share the responsibility of protecting their common marine waters from the threat of pollution.

South Asia has one of the world’s largest deserts. It also experiences water scarcity due to low or no rainfall in the arid and semi-arid parts. The desert communities are the poorest of the poor in the region and are, therefore, highly vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks. A slight change in the climate may lead to prolonged drought, forcing millions of desert dwellers to migrate to other parts in search of food and grazing lands.

South Asia had inherited a conservation-based use of water resources. It never faced any problems of water pollution that the region is facing today. Indigenous techniques were used for water harvesting, storage and use, which were mostly conservative and in line with maintaining its quality. Now the water bodies—rivers, canals and reservoirs—are mostly silted due to increased erosion, global warming due to emission of GHG, intensive agriculture and other anthropogenic factors that have resulted in loss of water resources in the region. The most serious problem that the South Asian region is facing is the release of untreated sewage and industrial waste into the water bodies, which has completely destroyed the water quality.

Pressure

A variety of direct and indirect factors that either reduce the availability of water, or pollute its quality are in operation in South Asia. Insecurity about water is connected with environmental insecurity and social uprooting. Growing population, deforestation, overgrazing, conventional developmental economics and unsustainable agronomy—all contribute to the water scarcity that today plagues South Asia.

Population Pressure

Population increase directly affects water availability as well as its quality. As the population grows, the stress on available water resources intensifies. In 1985, per capita freshwater resources available were 3,485 m³/yr, which has dropped to 2,511 m³/yr in 2005. In 2000, per capita withdrawal of 6,856 m³/yr was almost three times greater than the per capita availability of 2,585 m³/yr. In addition, per capita domestic withdrawal has increased by 150 per cent and industrial withdrawal by 186 per cent during 1985 to 2000.

Climate Change   Global climate change—a consequence of anthropogenic factors like emission of GHG from domestic, transportation and industrial sectors—is adversely impacting water availability. It has completely changed the hydrologic cycle of the affected areas in South Asia.

In high Asia, about 18,065 glaciers contain 3,734 km³ of ice.¹ However, a recent study shows that 95 per cent of the sample glaciers was found to be retreating, and only 5 per cent is advancing.² It implies that water availability from snowmelt is declining.

Consequently, riverflow and sub-surface water availability are greatly affected. The intensity, duration and timing of precipitation has a great bearing on the water storage capacity of land as the splash floods may result in surface flow and may not allow infiltration and recharge of aquifers. Global warming and climate change have completely changed the hydrological cycle in South Asia and the rainfall is now mostly associated with floods, land slides and other disasters.

Intensive Agriculture

To feed the growing populations, the agricultural system has completely been changed and farmers prefer intensive agriculture for earning more from a small piece of land. This requires great deal of inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides and heavy machinery. Chemical fertilizers not only require enormous amounts of water to be effective, they also contaminate water sources, making water even more scarce. The use of such fertilizers has now become routine in South Asia. Land fertility without the use of fertilizers and biological pestcontrol has become the story of the past. Cultivation of rice requires 4,000 litres of water per kilogram. In order to meet the water requirements of the intensive cropping system, agricultural withdrawal per capita has increased by 29 per cent during 1985 to 2000.

Urbanization

Rate of urbanization will increase from 28.58 per cent in 2005 to about 42 per cent in 2030. Over 18 million persons would be added to the cities every year till 2030 and South Asia will have to build new cities, or expand the existing ones. This will require increased quantity of water in addition to coping with the increasing level of pollution in available water.

Declining Ecosystems and Watershed

Water supply and purification are two important ecosystem services (see Box 3.3). Due to anthropogenic causes and climate change, watersheds are in decline, particularly in the Himalayas that sustain entire South Asia. (see ecosystem destruction in Chapter 3)

Industrial Effluents and Sediments

In recent years, industrial effluent discharges have become a major source of land and water pollution in the region. Effluent discharge from the textile dyeing and printing industries into the ephemeral streams has contaminated the surface and groundwater downstream. Use of such toxic water for irrigation has also degraded the land. It has been reported that beach tar along the west coast of India is now a severe problem, with total deposits of up to 1,000 tones per year.³ Considerable damage has been noted on some of the Indian atolls and coral reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. In Pakistan, mortality among flora in the harbour of Karachi and the tainting of commercial edible shellfish have also been reported. The presence of toxic heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead has also been detected in the seas and coastal waters of the region.

Deforestation

Deforestation has a direct bearing on hydrological cycle, water storage capacity and recharge of aquifers. Forests help in increasing the water vapours in the atmosphere through transpiration, besides reducing the chances of soil erosion as a result of rainfall. In addition, forest trees store water as mini reservoirs and release it slowly in the atmosphere. Forest generates a large quantity of humus that may help in retaining water for a long period and therefore reduces the water requirements by vegetation and agricultural sector if used wisely. Therefore, deforestation may act as a serious pressure on water resources. For mountain region, it should be noted that mountains act as water table. They hold enormous quantity and release these during winter from which small streams and rivulets are formed. Deforestation destroys this natural balance. Deforestation in the Himalayas will seriously jeopardize agriculture in Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh as is evidenced from lower carrying capacity of rivers. Many streams have become seasonal; some have dried up.

The amount of sediment in the coastal areas of the South Asian region is high, mainly due to soil erosion. Annually, about 1.6 billion tones of sediments reach the Indian Ocean from rivers flowing from the Indian subcontinent. The total annual sediment load of the river system of Bangladesh alone amounts to about 2.5 billion tones, of which the Brahmaputra carries 1.7 billion tones and the Ganga, 0.8 billion tones.⁴

State

Trends

Water availability is declining right across South Asia. Even in the least industrialized Bhutan, the per capita total renewable water has declined from 60,394 m³ per inhabitant per year to 39,715, a decline of 34 per cent. In India, the decline is 27 per cent (from 2,381 m³ to 1,729 m³), in Pakistan 37 per cent (from 2,193 m³ to 1,381 m³), and in Nepal about 34 per cent (from 12,104 m³ to 7,995 m³).⁵

Water Availability and Hydro-electric Projects

Against this background of declining water resource, the desire of South Asian governments to tap Himalaya’s water resources for hydro-electric power, to the extent of 250,000MW of estimated potential, is fraught with dangers. Project authorities running the existing hydro-electric projects are resorting to diversion of waters from small streams to augment the flow in the main dammed rivers. This is adversely affecting the livelihoods of mountain communities.

Water Withdrawal

Against this backdrop of declining freshwater availability, with the exception of Nepal and Bhutan, the per capita water withdrawal is higher than the world average of 632 m³. This figure stands at 980 m³ for Afghanistan, 1,187 m³ for Pakistan and 635 m³ for Sri Lanka.

The Rainfall Anomaly

There is a global trend that while rainfall is increasing, much of the rain is falling in the oceans. A group of scientists says that the primary cause could be the high degree of industrialization in the northern hemisphere, with spewing of GHG and SPM, which has caused a shift in the rain band towards the equator.

Transboundary Water Resources and Problem of Siltation

Three of the world’s mightiest rivers flow through countries of the Indian subcontinent. The Indus river system is the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world with a command area of 20 mha and an annual irrigation capacity of over 12 mha. The Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna region comprises the catchment areas of three major river systems that flow through India, Nepal, Bhutan, China and Bangladesh. This system is second only to the Amazon with an annual discharge of 1,350 billion m³ and a total drainage area of 1.75 million km². With the population growing, there is considerable pressure on the region’s resources (see Table 5.1).

The Mahakali river, which flows along the Nepal–India western border, was fixed as the western boundary between Nepal and British India in 1816. Nepal’s rivers have the potential to generate 83,000 MW of electricity through hydropower generation, most of which could be exported to India to meet its growing energy needs—northern India currently faces a power deficit of 9,500 MW, which is expected to rise to 20,000 MW by 2010. Although both states have reached numerous water resource development agreements, Indo-Nepali cooperation on the river systems has been slow.

These river systems, which serve as a major source of water to most of the population in South Asia, are faced with the problem of siltation as a result of soil erosion, unusual melting of glaciers due to global warming, increased withdrawal of water for intensive agriculture, industrial and domestic uses and pollution of water by dumping untreated industrial effluents, and urban sewage. Response to effectively control the water scarcity and pollution appears to be weak and inadequate. In addition, the desert communities are forced to migrate due to prolonged droughts and lack of food and fodder.

Table 5.1 Major River Basins in South Asia

Privatization of Water

While availability of freshwater is declining, water resources are being privatized. This is happening right across South Asia, without exception.

The Plachimada Case   In 2000, Coca-Cola established a plant at Plachimada, a village in the Palakkad district of the southern state of Kerala. The conditional licence granted by the village council authorized the use of motorised pumps, but the company drilled more than six wells and illegally installed high-powered electric pumps to extract millions of litres of pure water. The level of the water table fell from 45 to 150 metres below the surface. This was coupled with the pollution created by the company in the region. As a result, the local community took legal recourse against the company, and after a hard-fought legal battle managed to get the Coca-Cola plant shutdown.⁶

Privatization of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Drinking Water   The issue of privatization of Kathmandu Metropolitan City drinking water is another example in this regard. The Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) is responsible for water supply and sewerage for greater Kathmandu and 11 other towns. In 1997, the government decided to privatize management of water supply in the Kathmandu Valley, leading to widespread opposition by NGOs and several civil society groups. This ambitious move by the government required the setting up of the US$ 464-million Melamchi Water Supply Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The cost incurred for this project, in turn, would lead to the NWSC raising the price at least five times. The Melamchi Project cost is equivalent to 70 per cent of the overall government investment for water and sanitation projects for over 10 years, while only 6 per cent of total population benefiting from it. In May 2004, local groups and a national federation of water and energy users and communities filed a complaint at ADB’s inspection panel.⁷

Water Dispute Between Nepal and India   For the last several years the dam and water debate between Nepal and India has been a major political issues between these countries. This debate also includes various past and proposed large dam projects in Nepal–India transboundary rivers such as Koshi, Gandak, Karnali, West Seti and Mahakali. The agreement made between the governments of Nepal and India in 1996 was highly debated in relation to the benefit distribution mechanism in the Mahakali river. A dam, over 300 meters in height, was proposed to be built across the Mahakali river at Pancheshwor. According to the pre-feasibility study of this project, the volume of the storage reservoir would be 11.3 billion m³. The average annual flow of the Mahakali river at the dam site is 654 m³ /sec. As soon as the agreement was reached between the two countries, a number of civil society groups, cadre of political parties and parliament members of Nepal protested the pact. It is perhaps due to the substantial differences in the interpretation of the treaty provisions that certain issues still remain pending. Apart from these issues of interpretation, the issue of the Sharada Sahayak Canal, raised by India in getting better right, hints another big headache in implementing the treaty.

Response

Response may be at regional, national and local level by public sector institutions, civil society and private sector stakeholders. As the public sector institutions are responsible for developing policies, strategies and plans for water resources conservation and sustainable use, they are obliged to play the lead role in developing these resources on sustainable basis. Therefore, various control measures are being adopted by the public, private and civil society for the control of water loss and pollution using formal and informal institutional arrangements. But given the fact that per capita water availability and quality is decreasing year after year, the responses are inadequate.

Existing Response

Regional institutions like the South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (SAARC), the South Asian Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) and the South Asian Seas Programme (SASP) are coordinating the water-related issues with national governments and international agencies. Due to low priority coupled with lack of capacity, the existing response in addressing the regional water issues is not up to the mark. Besides, at national level, the public sector institutions are either not motivated or lack the capacity to address the growing water resources issues effectively. The civil society and private sector has not so far come forward to take the lead role in addressing the water issues.

Policy Gaps and Weaknesses in Implementation

The policies currently being framed and implemented by the South Asian countries are limited only to either one or the other aspect of water management and do not address the issue holistically, aiming at sustainable management of water resources. For instance, the departments of irrigation focus only on reservoirs and canal management without showing any sensitivity on the management of catchment areas, glacier melting, drought and rainfall pattern, and water pollution. Similarly, the hydropower-generation departments focus only on power generation. In most of the policies and plans, the concerned stakeholders from communities, civil society and private sector are not involved. Consequently, such policies and plans fail when implemented due to lack of ownership by the concerned stakeholders.

Lack of coordination among the institutions working for water resources at various levels in the regions is at the core of most of the problems associated with implementation of policies and plans. In addition, weak capacity of various institutions is another factor that affects the implementation mechanism. As per reports, a particular soft-drinks manufacturing company’s production process uses 2–3 litres of water to produce a single litre of soft drink. However, when adding the quantity of water used to grow the sugar, it takes the total to 160–180 litres. At times such issues have led to conflicts between big companies and local communities over the amount of water used by them in their production processes.

Future Policy

In order to be able to formulate effective policies and plans for the future, it is necessary to have reliable data on the status and trends of a range of environmental indicators from the whole of a river basin, through information sharing between countries. The severe shortage of reliable data on environmental indicators, and especially on water quality, is hindering attempts to address water issues in the region. Therefore, the future policies must focus on these issues besides streamlining coordination among countries and concerned institutions within a country. The future policies must be dynamic and market-based so as to appreciate the value of the resource and its market value.

Conclusion

Implementation of policies and strategies aiming at controlling the factors that lead to reducing the water quantity and various sources of water pollution by the governments of South Asia—either jointly at regional level or individually at national level—is a complex and sensitive task. It may require innovative policies and plans. There is a need to streamline coordination among the regional and national institutions and information sharing for drafting effective policies and plans. Regional institutions like SAARC, SACEP and SASP should take the lead role at regional level in addressing the fresh and marine water issues in a holistic manner.