Required Urgently: Urban GroundWater Management

Challenge in India is how to reduce surface run-off and increase groundwater recharge. Rainwater harvesting is one way to recharge the groundwater table though it cannot be an alternative to natural ground water recharge. We have to use rain water harvesting along with natural water recharge by protecting wetlands and stopping indiscriminate land use changes Archana Misra The level of ground water is rapidly declining and its reasons can be mainly attributed to excessive withdrawal and reduction in the recharge of ground water owing to various reasons, including rapid urbanisation. This urbanization has resulted in loss of green cover, open/agricultural fields as well as water bodies that were filled up to create colonies etc. One can understand it thus: The level of urbanisation increased from 27.81 per cent in the 2001 Census to 31.16 per cent in the 2011 Census, while the proportion of rural population declined from 72.19 per cent to 68.84 per cent. The data also reflected that 18.62 per cent of the country’s rural population lives in Uttar Pradesh and 13.48 per cent urban population lived in Maharashtra. However, five years since this data was compiled, the situation has worsened and a lot more fertile/open land has fallen prey to ‘development’. For example, in UP, the ambitious Agra-Lucknow Expressway project came at the cost of around 3,500 hectare of land from 20,456 farmers of 10 districts. For the Ganga Expressway, 33,000 acres were acquired mainly in Ballia, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Shahjahanpur, Badaun and Bulandshahr. Then the Metro project also took a toll on the existing open land and green cover. This goes on to show that since 2011, the pace of urbanization has increased manifolds in the country and the ‘urbanised’ area is much more than the last Census. Another reason for green cover and open fields being butchered during various ‘governmental development projects’ is because of the use of greenfields technology as against the earlier opted for brownfield technology. The biggest difference between a greenfield and a brownfield is that a greenfield has never been built on. A greenfield is an area of agricultural or forest land, or some other undeveloped site earmarked for commercial development, industrial projects or other construction projects. Conversely, a brownfield is an abandoned commercial development where hazardous substances or contaminants are typically present. Greenfields generally contain no significant amount of toxic materials. These sites are desirable locations for development because they are often on the edge of towns and cities and may have better access, less congestion, be in a more pleasant environment. Plus, if located on the edge of a town, there may be space and room to expand the development for future use. There are pros and cons to building on greenfields. Because greenfields are untouched land, they are usually in very good condition to develop on. This makes development on greenfields cost effective. However, the development of a greenfield comes at a price for the environment. Building new land contributes to urban sprawl and can lead to deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats. Groundwater recharge Underground water is one of the important sources of water in urban areas. With increasing urbanization, underground water has been indiscriminately exploited causing depletion in water table and water availability. It is very evident from the number of failing bore wells / open wells that it is unsustainable to pump out water from wells without recharging the same from the rainwater. To reverse the trend or to reduce the effect of over exploitation, ground water recharge needs to be taken up on large scale at residential and institutional buildings. The Ground Reality The latest CGWB 2016 report finds that only 35 per cent of monitoring wells have registered some rise in water level whereas it declined in 64 per cent of the wells. Average water levels in January 2016 were found lower than the average water level between 2006 and 2015. The CGWB has hinted at further increase in number of over exploited zones. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) 2011 report had found that about 50 per cent of groundwater in country was contaminated. The CGWB had categorized 62.2% of the total assessment units of 6,600 blocks, mandals and taluks as over exploited. The report also said 276 districts have high levels of fluoride, 387 report nitrates above safe levels and 86 districts have high levels of arsenic. According to a United Nation report, behind the trend of falling water levels is India’s 251 cubic kilometer (cu km) annual groundwater extraction rate–equivalent to 26 times the water stored in the Bhakra Dam–making India the world’s biggest consumer of groundwater. India’s dependence on groundwater supply is 80% to 95% of rural drinking water, 60% to 70% of water used in agriculture and 50% of urban drinking water. There are no reliable data sets for the percentage of groundwater used by industry, which usually clubbed along with domestic water use. Since drilling technology and hand pumps were introduced in India in response to the drought of 1972, it has proliferated as a business and reports now estimate that there are 40 million wells in India. Union Water Minister Uma Bharati has also stated that out of 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, 34 districts are over-exploited for groundwater on the basis of 2011 assessment report. Shamli and Pratapgarh districts topped the list with groundwater exploitation rate exceeding 140%, followed by Saharanpur (132%), Firozabad (117%), Agra (113%), Lucknow, Aligarh, Allahabad, GautamBuddhNagar, Ghaziabad, Kanpur (city), Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mathura, Meerut, and Varanasi among others. The Jal Nigam supplies over 310 million litre water daily (MLD) to a population of around 18 lakh in the urban areas of the district through 60 tube wells and estimates that scores of illegal borings in the city extract more than 300 MLD water. Scientists say dependency on groundwater has increased in the state from 67 per cent to 80 per cent over a decade. As per State Agriculture Department more than 70 per cent of farm irrigation is being done by using groundwater. In Agra, the situation is grim as the groundwater level continues to deplete at an alarming rate due to unregulated and excessive extraction and relentless concretization of green zones. According to officials, out of the 15 blocks in the districts under Agra division, 10 are in over exploited category while one block has been listed as critical. A recent survey has also found that industrial units are consuming excessive quantity of groundwater. On a daily basis, they are taking 18 times more water than the total water requirement of the entire human population in the district. In Lucknow, too, the situation is turning from bad to worse with over 700 million litre of water being extracted daily from over 15,000 deep boring systems. It is estimated that to meet the domestic, industrial and irrigation needs of growing population, the level of ground water exploitation will increase from 49.48BCM to 72.06BCM by 2025. This will mean more stress on ground water from the present level. Tube wells are the major source of irrigation followed by canals, ponds and lakes which makes the dependency upon ground water larger than on the surface water. The impacts of climate change will further add to this critical situation and act as an additional stressor. Shortage Of Urban Open Spaces One of the most important ways of improving ground water table is through ‘urban open spaces’. As a counterpart to development, the urban open space is a land and/or water area with its surface open to the sky, consciously acquired or publicly regulated to serve conservation. In land use planning, urban open space is open space areas for parks, green spaces and other open areas. The landscape of urban open spaces can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes. They are commonly open to public access, however, urban open spaces may be privately owned, like higher education campuses, neighborhood/community parks/gardens, and institutional or corporate grounds. In almost all instances, the space referred to by the term is, in fact, green space. Areas outside of city boundaries, such as state and national parks as well as open space in the countryside, are not considered urban open space. Streets, piazzas, plazas and urban squares are not defined as urban open space in land use planning. “This open space not only allows natural groundwater harvesting but also provides the urban population great benefits. Time spent in an urban open space for recreation offers a reprieve from the urban environment,” says deputy commissioner, UP Housing and Development Board, AK Singh. The conservation of nature in an urban environment has direct impact on people for another reason as well. As one lives more and more in man-made surroundings – i.e. cities – he risks harming himself by building and acting in ignorance of natural processes. Beyond this man-nature benefit, urban open spaces also serve as islands of nature, promoting biodiversity and providing a home for natural species in environments that are otherwise uninhabitable due to city development. In a sense, by having the opportunity to be within a natural urban green space people gain a higher appreciation for the nature around them. Therefore, open space offers the value of substituting gray infrastructure. It contributes to positive attitudes and social norms that encourage walking. Contact with the green environment translates to improved mental health and psychological well-being beside a lungful of pure air. But urban open space is under strong pressure. Due to increasing urbanization, combined with a spatial planning policy of densification, more people face the prospect of living in less green residential environments, especially people from low economic strata. This may lead to environmental inequality with regard to the distribution of (access) to public green space. 60% of India is expected to be living in towns and cities by 2025. The logical extension of a burgeoning population and urbanization is the conversion of open spaces into paved ground. This has resulted in flooding of cities as well as water scarcity due to groundwater depletion and the lack of rainwater harvesting. “Depending upon the size of the plots and the lane (road), some unpaved land has to be left outside every house, especially in case of medium and large housing colonies. In small housing colonies, this rule may be let off. Similarly there is a provision to maintain a lawn/ open space in front/within the house that should not be paved. At the most interlocking bricks can be used but here too, it is mandatory that the bricks are not cemented,” Singh informs. Interlocking bricks are designed to provide maximum seepage of rainwater into the ground. They are simple to arrange and only sand or ‘baalu’ must be used to bind them. The ‘baalu’ soaks water and tightly holds the bricks together. It is illegal to cement these interlocking bricks, he says. According to CP Rajendran, professor of geodynamics at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, “Challenge in India is how to reduce surface run-off and increase groundwater recharge. Rainwater harvesting is one way to recharge the groundwater table.” The numerous age-old water harvesting systems put in place several decades ago, which operate even today, show that the ancient man understood the importance of the rain and its proper storage. According to former principal secretary, forest & environment, VN Garg: “Depleting ground water can cause serious water scarcity, civil disturbances, riots and even wars among nations. It will also cause very adverse impact on agriculture, wildlife and all walks of life. Rain water harvesting is highly useful in increasing ground water recharge. While it can be a great help, I think it cannot be an alternative to natural ground water recharge. We have to use rain water harvesting along with natural water recharge by protecting wetlands and stopping indiscriminate land use changes.” Harvesting rain is desperately required Ground water recharge is important aspect of rain water harvesting and has to be taken into practice everywhere. While rural harvesting is mostly traditional and is carried out in surface storage bodies like rivers, tanks, ponds and lakes, urban harvesting is mostly in sub-soil storage due to lack of open space for capturing the runoff. Harvesting rain is crucial for sustaining both the surface and sub-soil water sources. “Ground water occurs like a film of water between the sand grains in the subsurface. Normally when water is pumped out a low pressure zone is locally created. Water from sides moves to normalise the pressure. But when there is no water to move in, the sand grains dry up and get compacted. This can lead to subsurface collapse and sinking. At times even houses are damaged. Such cases have happened in the past. This apart the same phenomenon takes place to keep the rivers in the alluvium like Gomti flowing. It takes water from groundwater and at places gives water to groundwater and survives. In other words, in such areas the river and the groundwater are complimentary to each other. Provided there is rain and large tracts of land are available for water to percolate, rainwater harvesting can help improve ground water. Rooftop rain water harvesting is a solution but till date in Lucknow it is in statistics only,” says former GSI director VK Joshi. However, according to executive engineer, UP Water Commission, Arun Kumar: “Rain harvesting provision has been made mandatory in all Jal Nigam projects. Similarly wherever there are sewage treatment plants, water harvesting systems have to be installed. As for us, we develop such systems on the lands of the municipal corporation. We create ponds that are covered but in which water/rain can flow in through channels and slopes. The water collected in them slowly seeps into the ground thus improving the groundwater level.” Deputy commissioner, AwasVikas, AK Singh also informed that “recently it has been made mandatory that plans for all buildings being built on 300sq ft or more will be approved only if they include a rainwater harvesting system. For the existing institutional buildings or housing complexes, there is not a legal compulsion but they should voluntarily opt for rainwater harvesting. Jal Nigam or Housing Corporation can be approached for assistance.” Harvesting rainwater not only takes care of immediate water needs, but also ensures a greater degree of certainty in terms of improved groundwater quality and quantity for the future. “However, there are many catches too- the area where rooftop harvesting is intended should be 1000m away from the river else the river may get that water! As I said river at places takes water from groundwater. The rooftop water travels underground. And depending upon the portion of the river, it can travel into the river. The Central Ground Water Board has prepared maps of all major rivers demarcating the portions of the rivers. But those maps are not consulted by the planners. Here nobody evaluates the bearing capacity of the land. Colonies are developed on the whims and no rainwater harvesting systems are put into place,” says former director, GSI, VK Joshi. “Water table fluctuation takes place in the vicinity of a major earthquake. In saturated soil pore water pressure rises and may lead to soil liquefaction. However seasonal changes or depletion of water table cannot be attributed to earthquakes,” adds Dr DK Paul, Emeritus Fellow, DEQ, IITR. How do we harvest the rain? The easiest way to harvest rainwater is to dig a pit in the ground and make a filtering system so that clean rain water can reach underground and can be reused, says executive engineer, UP Housing and Development Board, Gyaneshwar Prasad. The pit should be deep enough so that rain water would reach the porous layer of soil as it allows the water to pass though it and get added to the underground water. He explains: “Firstly it has to be ensured that the terrace is sloped in a way that the entire rainwater moves through the pipes into a chamber/recharge pit created underground. Its capacity should be enough to retain the runoff occurring from conditions of peak rainfall. This chamber is unpaved/uncemented at the bottom, though some people may get it cemented on the sides. The ‘kutcha’ bottom allows the rainwater to seep/soak into the ground gradually, thus improving the water table. The groundwater table has to be upped through deep boring to connect with the chamber. A screening system has to be put into place in the chamber to clean the water. This screening/filter system consists of layers of coal, pebble-gravel and sand. Water from the first rainfall is not collected and is allowed to runoff. After that the rainwater is collected, filtered and used.” “Ideally water from first level filtering is used mainly for irrigation purposes, from second level for household purposes like washing etc and the third level (deepest) screened water is fit for consumption,” he adds. One thing that has to be kept in mind is not to let sewage water flow into the pit/chamber because once sullied, it would be extremely difficult to clean it. For the rain water flowing on the street we can make clean drains or narrow channels on the street which would help rain water reach the recharge pit but, again, this should not include garbage. If we are able to channelize this runoff, it would not only help improve ground water level of that area but also address the water needs of the households the entire year. This would require extra efforts and investment, but the results would be well worth it! How much will it cost? A proper rainwater harvesting system will require deep boring, pit/well creation, filtration system etc and thus will cost at least Rs 1 lakh. Both multistoried as well as traditional housing societies can opt for this system. Anyone interested in getting it installed can approach the Jal Nigam or Awas Vikas. A rajmistri can construct it under the supervision of the consultant provided by the above mentioned authorities. The cost may vary depending upon the size of the house and the facilities required. Presently the government does not provide any subsidy, but if there is a well or a handpump in your vicinity, the cost of boring may be saved. Residential societies and even responsible citizens in traditional colonies can raise funds through contribution and get RWH facility in their areas. Recycling greywater Before underground sewerage was introduced in most cities, water followed a cyclical route. Water was drawn from dug wells within the premises. Refuse water from the bathrooms and kitchen were let out into the garden while water from the closets reached septic tanks. The soil treated the greywater and sent it back into the ground, thereby closing the household water consumption-reuse loop. The advent of piped underground sewerage has drastically changed the scenario in over 200 towns and cities in India. The greywater (sullage) gets mixed along with the blackwater (sewage) from the toilets. Water which has the potential to be re-used for non-potable purposes such as gardening or flushing is simply led out of the plot to be treated several kilometres away in centralized facilities, the fate of which is questionable. Instead of mixing sullage with sewage, we can effectively recycle this used water. A simple process involving plants, soil and sunlight can get rid of most of the organic material in greywater. To do this, the first step is to ensure that the pipeline from the bathrooms and kitchen do not join the underground sewerage line. This water can then be diverted into a bed of water-loving plants. These plants take up organics from the used water and the soil bacteria further polish the water as it moves deeper underground. Putting this in place will help reduce the load on external sewage treatment systems and recharge the ground, thereby replenishing the water table below. New proposals a ray of hope National Water Commission (NWC): In Feb 2016 the Union Water Ministry organized Jal Manthan-2 to discuss the ground water conservation and need for a National Legislation on water. The first Jal Manthan was organized in July 2014. In a significant move, restructuring of Central Water Commission (CWC) and CGWB to pave way for a National Water Commission (NWC) was proposed in this meeting with an idea to manage water resources in holistic manner. Officials in favor of the decision said that adequate attention had not been given to management of ground water till now, leading to indiscriminate pumping. It was also revealed that despite elaborate emphasis on large irrigation projects the result was sub-optimal. The report has recommended an urgent overhaul of the current water management systems. Headed by former planning commission member Mihir Shah, the committee said that a paradigm shift was required in both surface and groundwater management policies to face new national challenges. The committee has submitted its report. The report pointed out that the CWC (set up in 1945) and CGWB (set up in 1971) were created in an era when India faced a very different set of challenges. Then it was crucial to create irrigation capacity to ensure food self-sufficiency. But today the challenge is different and restructuring work on a new mandate in a manner that overcomes the schism between groundwater and surface water is required. “India faces unprecedented challenges of water management in the 21st century. As the water crisis deepens by the day, the old 20th century solutions appear to be distinctly running out of steam. These solutions were devised in an era when India had yet to create its irrigation potential. While big dams played a big role in creating a huge irrigation potential, today the challenge is to effectively utilise this potential, as the water that lies stored in our dams is not reaching the farmers for whom it is meant. At the same time, groundwater, which truly powered the Green Revolution, faces a crisis of sustainability. Water levels and water quality have both fallen creating a new kind of crisis, where the solution to a problem has become part of the problem itself. The new challenge is to manage our aquifers sustainably. We must take a multidisciplinary view of water. We require professionals from disciplines other than just engineering and hydrogeology. We need to adopt the participatory approach to water management that has been successfully tried all over the world, as also in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh,” the report said. The one issue that really highlights the need to unify CWC and CGWB is the drying up of India’s peninsular rivers, the single most important cause of which is over-extraction of groundwater. If river rejuvenation is the key national mandate of the Ministry of Water Resources, then this cannot happen without hydrologists and hydrogeologists working together, along with social scientists, agronomists and other stakeholders. We need to focus on river basins which must form the fundamental units for management of water. We have carefully studied the regional presence (or absence) of the CWC and CGWB and proposed a way forward whereby the NWC is present in all major river basins of India. If the current pattern of water usage continues, “about half of the demand for water will be unmet by 2030,” the report warned, pointing out that water tables were getting depleted in most parts of India. The commission report recommended that NWC be headed by a chief national water commissioner and should have full time commissioners representing hydrology, hydrogeology, hydrometeorology, river ecology, ecological economics, agronomy (with focus on soil and water) and participatory resource planning and management. Model Bill for the Conservation, Protection, Regulation and Management of Groundwater, 2016: The Union Government increased the budget allocation for Groundwater Scheme by 85 per cent in 2016 and released a model bill for the Conservation, Protection, Regulation and Management of groundwater that aimed to ensure groundwater security and proposes a penalty for its misuse. The bill recognizes that groundwater is the single most important source of water for all purposes and is the backbone of drinking water, food and livelihood security in rural as well as urban areas. Taking into account the looming serious groundwater crisis due to excessive overdraft and groundwater contamination, the bill calls for equitable and environmentally sound regulation of groundwater. Every person shall have access to groundwater without any discrimination and state shall ensure equitable distribution and access to groundwater as per provisions of this act. Once this model bill becomes law, no one will be allowed to abstract groundwater for industrial use or infrastructure projects without an authorisation issued by the appropriate government. The bill also has provisions to charge a fee for industrial and bulk use of groundwater. The bill says that whoever does any activity, which prejudicially affects the quality of groundwater or availability thereof shall be punished with imprisonment, which may extend to one year and six months or with a fine, which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both. As per the bill industries could only use recycled water, and activities such as gardening would require the use of treated sewage water. However, experts doubt the utility of the bill. They claim that water management cannot be seen in isolation of policies that promote balanced, sustainable practices in both rural and urban spaces. National Groundwater Management Improvement Program: The ministry also unveiled a draft bill titled National Groundwater Management Improvement Program (NGMIP) to build on current national and state efforts targeted at the long term goal of reducing groundwater level decline. Some of the negative impact mitigation suggestions include: (i) more favorable controls on groundwater quantity and quality require improved compliance and enforcement systems; (ii) improved irrigation efficiency will reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides by farmers; (iii) health impacts on community if waste water is not adequately treated; (iv) health and safety risks associated with high voltage transmission lines and recycling of pumping machinery; (v) ground water pollution if the source water is contaminated with fertilizers and pesticides; (vi) lack of proper disposal facilities; and (vii) model bill for regulating well drilling and pumping. Five states have been selected to participate in the programme—Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. The current states have been selected as they had some of the most heavily exploited groundwater areas in the country. New states can be added through the implementation period though. (Box) Points To Be Noted Water should be an important parameter in the planning of colonies and townships Roof top rainwater harvesting should be accorded top priority in Urban areas. Ground Water recharging should be adopted very carefully based on the realistic hydrogeological data Hydrogeological parameters should be strictly adhered to in the planning and designing of RWH systems The Central Ground Water Board, Lucknow should provide data/map regarding delineation of areas in UP where RWH need to be adopted and areas where it should be avoided. Along-with RainWater Harvesting, Water conservation should also be given equal priority To make RWH system a public campaign, the literature on this subject should be in simplified language and easy to follow Training of technical personnel and continuing water education is essential for capacity building and mass awareness There should be inter-departmental dialogue and exchange of data between various agencies/departments associated with Water Management. An integrated policy also needs to be framed with the coordination of these agencies