'Society Needs To Treat Water As A Resource, Not A Product'

Gujarat has two major legislations to manage water resources in the state.

The Gujarat Water Users’ Participatory Irrigation Management Act, 2007 provides for the constitution of water user’s associations (WUAs) for equitable and sustainable distribution of irrigation water. It gives a lot of autonomy to WUAs for the construction of field channels and fixing water charges.

The second legislation is the Gujarat Irrigation and Drainage Act, 2013 and Rules 2014 (amended in 2019), which provides for the development of infrastructure and institutions required for sustainable and equitable distribution of irrigation water. 

The state has also drafted the Gujarat State Water Policy in 2015, but it is yet to be enacted. It proposes to enact a water framework law in the state, and a mechanism for sustainable management of groundwater resources.

The hydro-geological setting of a region plays a crucial role in the water retention and replenishment capacity of the aquifer system. The prominent hydro-geological settings in India are hard rock and soft rock formations.

In Gujarat, it consists of high relief areas in its eastern, north-eastern and south-eastern parts, which are covered by archeans (hard rock) and Deccan traps, with a steep topographic gradient. This results in high run-off, with little scope for groundwater recharge.

Gujarat is underlain by diverse rock types of different geological ages, from pre-Cambrian to recent. As much as 60 per cent of the state is underlain by hard rock and the rest by soft rock/alluvium formations.

Total annual groundwater recharge of the state has been assessed at 27.35 billion cubic metre (bcm), and annual extractable groundwater resources as 25.41 bcm. Meanwhile, the annual groundwater extraction has been assessed at 13.13 bcm, while the stage of groundwater extraction (percentage of water extracted against the total water recharged) is 51.68 per cent.

Out of 252 assessment units (talukas), 23 units (9.13 per cent) have been categorised as ‘over-exploited’, 8 units (3 per cent) as ‘critical’, 20 (7.94 per cent) as ‘semi-critical’, 189 units (75 per cent) as ‘safe’, with 12 units (5 per cent) are categorised as ‘saline’.

Along with cities like Banaskantha and Gandhinagar, the state capital Ahmedabad falls under the over-exploited category, and sees 87 per cent groundwater extraction. 

Gujarat is one of those states that needs to immediately examine their stage of groundwater extraction, which has only marginally improved from 53.23 per cent to 51.68 per cent in the last four years. 

The state neither has a groundwater authority, nor has been able to legislate fresh laws in the wake of the Model Groundwater Bill. While it is hard to predict the necessary regulation, and easy to press upon their necessity, it is time to understand the necessary policy measures, if at all such legislation sees the light of day.

“Another aspect that is completely missed is groundwater contamination through industries. The Khari river is completely polluted. Whatever borewells exist on its banks, releases coloured water. Some industries recharge the groundwater with industry effluents, just to save money on implementing actual best practices. Add to that natural pollution," Alka, director of People in Centre, told The Secretariat. 

Necessary Policy Interventions

“Simply passing policies where polluters can pay their way out of unhindered extraction won't do. We immediately need metering of groundwater. There are case studies in Ahmedabad, where they have put a meter in place. In all these cases, even the electricity charges for the building fell, as the power used to pump water reduced, also reducing the maintenance costs for households," said Alka, talking about callous overexploitation in the absense of metering. 

A critical review of India’s latest groundwater policy and its impact on groundwater resource and management by departments of Civil Engineering at NIT-Raipur and IIT-Bombay, says, “besides robust policy, encouraging farmers, key stakeholders and local agencies in participatory groundwater management, all essential units of hydrological components, including surface water and groundwater interaction, should be considered as a fundamental part of overall planning and management”.

The review emphasises that much of what the Model Bill proposes are exactly what would improve Gujarat’s management of its groundwater resources. 

Firstly, to avoid confusion, free-riding and passing the buck as a result of different institutions standing for the same statutory functions, a state-level authority is highly recommended.

As the Constitution of India lists water supplies — including groundwater — under the State List, the states have jurisdiction over groundwater regulation. The Model Bill too recommends the establishment of state-level authorities or agencies, suitable legislation for regulating groundwater by modifying and adapting the salient features of the Model Bill(s) according to their specific circumstances. 

The Model Bill for the Conservation, Protection, Regulation and Management of Groundwater, 2016, expands the public trust doctrine’s scope to encompass groundwater. The recognition of groundwater as a public trust is a radical change in a situation where groundwater has been generally viewed as the landowner’s private property for decades.

However, over the years different states and UTs have passed acts and rules to regulate groundwater following the Model Bill.

A strict legislative mandate on registration of tubewells and extraction of groundwater would prove to be helpful, as has been the case in states like Andhra Pradesh, which has a groundwater department, and drilling is permitted only after receiving a report from a hydro-geologist. A similar permission is required for motorised extraction in Bihar. 

A second imperative would be to have — after having created suitable legislation and authority — an integrational executive action through joint know-how exercises by experts and state bodies, with the participation of user groups and stakeholders in groundwater management. Capacity-building, along with exchanging data and knowledge, should occur within and across each level. 

Gujarat already boasts of a success story. The MARVI (Managing Aquifer Recharge and sustaining groundwater use through Village-level Intervention) project is about a village-level participatory approach to measuring groundwater levels and improving groundwater productivity.

The overall aim of the project was to improve cooperative decision-making for sustainable groundwater use, focussing on developing a village-level participatory approach, models and tools to help improve groundwater supplies and reduce groundwater demand.

Farmers and other affected stakeholders, including local schools, were directly involved in the collection of scientific data by citizens through the engagement of Bhujal Jankaars (BJs), a Hindi word meaning ‘groundwater informed’ volunteers.

With appropriate training and capacity building, BJs monitored groundwater levels and quality, giving a village perspective on what was happening to local groundwater availability. BJs conveyed this information to farmers and others in the local language.

A significant finding from MARVI is that community-based groundwater monitoring can open pathways for ownership of the problem, and solutions involving sharing and using groundwater sustainably.

Something like this only needs to be upscaled and implemented state-wide. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, a significant task of the state and its agencies as trustees of groundwater is to develop measures for the conservation and protection of the resource.

This includes, but is not limited to, provisions for rainwater harvesting and reusing water, adequate measures to ensure the maintenance of water quality, prohibition on contamination of groundwater by individuals and industries, well recharge projects, incentives to shift to less water-intensive crops, and the implementation of best practices to reduce groundwater requirements for water intensive crops.

“Preserving groundwater over a long term, especially in cities, requires a comprehensive and sustainable approach that combines policy, technology, community involvement and urban planning. We have to start working towards a water-conscious society that doesn’t treat a resource as a product," said Ashish Upadhyay, associate professor of Geography, Sabarmati University, to The Secretariat.

(This is the second part of a series on groundwater policy. You can read Part 1 here)