Water Sector in Maharashtra

Apoorva S Deshpande

Present scenario of Water sector in IndiaGrowing water demand means growing scarcity• The pace of growth in demand halves

between 2025 and 2050, but remains high enough to outstrip supply. Unit is billion cubic metre

Irrigation dominates water usage• In future, energy generation will

use up an increasingly greater share of total water used

Water-carrying potential of India's rivers• Only a little over one-third of total

water potential of Indian rivers can be used. Unit is billion cubic metre.

India has the 3rd highest number of dams in the world• Unchecked construction of

dams has inflicted severe damage on river ecosystems.

Introduction: Water resources of Maharashtra

• The geographical area of the state is 30.7Mha and cultivable area is 22.5 Mha.(73%GA). Out of this 40% area is drought prone and around 7% area is flood prone

• Maharashtra is the third largest State in Union of India considering population as well as area. The population of the state is about 112 million

• The highly variable rainfall in Maharashtra ranging from 400 to 6000 mm occurs in 4 months period and number of rainy days vary from 40 to 100 days

• 58% of average annual availability is found in 4 major river basins (Krishna, Godavari, Tapi & Narmada).These 4 river basins comprises 92% of the cultivable land & 75% of the people living in the rural settlements and fast growing town & industrial area

• Annual availability of water resources consists of 164 km3 of surface water & 20.5 km3 of subsurface water

Present scenario of Water sector in Maharashtra

• An Irrigation potential of 48.25 lakh ha. has been created through an investment of Rs. 71,000 crore

• Maharashtra has the highest number of large, medium, and minor dams in the country at 2,559, of which 1,845 are large projects. Yet, only 18% of the state’s total cultivable land of 22.5 million hectares has so far been provided irrigation, leaving more than 80% of the state’s nearly 14 million farmers at the mercy of rainfall

• The Union ministry of water resources has agreed to fund 132 incomplete irrigation projects worth Rs.7,188 crore in 14 districts

• Irrigation sector in Maharashtra has faced multiple huge scams which has lead to lack of proper development in the irrigation sector

• An estimated 49% of the area of these river basins containing 43% of the population is already considered deficit or highly deficit in regard of water availability.

Table showing differences among regions within state

Konkan Madhya Marathwada Vidarbha

Crops Grown PaddyCashewnutMangoVegetables

Maize, Wheat, Vegetables, Pomegranates, Sugarcane

Cotton, Wheat, Rabi Jawar Gram, Sunflower, Soyabean, Groundnut, Sugarcane, Banana, Wheat, Bajara,

Cotton, Wheat, Gram, Sunflower, Orange, Kharif Paddy, HW Paddy

Rainfall rate High Medium Very low Very Low

Drought rate Low Low Very high Very high

Farmers suicide rate

Low Low Very high Very high

Water use by different sectors in Maharashtra

Different river basins in Maharashtra

Major Issues in water sector in Maharashtra

• Dominance of large urban centres or the big cities over water sources (Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik). Water supply to big cities not reduced during drought

• Dams were of little help during drought for towns in Marathwada and Vidharbha

• Policy to regulate the urban water supply remains non-existent

• Huge scams worth Rs 70,000 crore for various irrigation schemes from 1999-2009

• Water supply projects taken up across the state remain dependent on dams

• Undesirable cropping pattern followed in the state for a long time

• Lack of rainfall in Marathwada and Vidharbha region has led to droughts which has resulted in mass suicide by farmers

• Large scale water diverted to industries (sugarcane, liquor etc) rather than agriculture

• Important state institutions like Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) or Maharashtra State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority and State Environment Appraisal Committee failed to perform their duties.

• Scam ridden Maharashtra dams get the highest share of budgetary allocation

• State Government took no lessons from the success stories of drought proof villages

• Failure to stop westward diversion of Krishna River water

• MWRRA remained as non-existent

• Jalyukt Shivar Yojana fell prey to severe criticism

• From easing sand mining laws to collapse of bridge on Savitri

• Mah-Telangana Water Sharing agreement in violation of laws

• Revival of the controversial dam projects

Measures taken by the Maharashtra government • Governor: Maharashtra Government to double farmer income in 5 years

• Centre has charted out a roadmap for early completion of 99 identified projects under PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojna by 2019-2020. Out of the 99 projects, 26 projects are in Maharashtra

• Maharashtra CM announces Rs 49,248 crore development plan for Marathwada this includes irrigation, agriculture, roads, railways, sports, housing and forest development

• Besides water supply measures, the state will launch the food security scheme in various parts of the state, restructure farm loans and strengthen health security under the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Yojana’

• Maharashtra government has decided to construct 1,00,000 wells and create 50,000 farm ponds starting from August 15

• Increased budget for water conservation

• Farm Pump connections and repair and maintenance of old structures

Policy measures that should be implemented for improving efficiencies• Irrigation Sector Reforms

• Adoption of Scientific Water Management Practices

• Technological up-gradation

• R&D Efforts

• Water Audit

• Remedial measures for improving Efficiencies (Metering, Leakage Control, Tariff, Water conservation measures , Restricting over-exploitation, Pressure Reduction)

• Pricing a tool for demand management

• Institutional and policy reforms

• Public Awareness and Participation (Water saving Techniques such as Plumbing, Toilets etc.)

• Reuse of water

Improving efficiencies using Apps

Irrig Pumping Plant Efficiency:

• Can help you identify irrigation pumping plants that are underperforming and need to be adjusted, repaired, or replaced with a better design

• Developed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, this app (UNL A10001) uses existing records to help determine when pumping plants should be tested by a professional

• An easy-to-use design guides the user to input six numbers related to pumping lift, pressure at the discharge, acre-inches of water pumped, fuel price, and total fuel used. The app then calculates a pumping plant performance rating. It also provides an estimated cost to bring the pumping plant up to standard and the number of years necessary to pay back the investment at various interest rates

Cost: $1.99Available in both Apple and Google app store

Agriculture Irrigation Costs:

• IrrigateCost models center pivot and gated pipe irrigation systems and the most commonly used energy sources

• The user inputs information such as acres irrigated, pumping lift, system PSI, pump and pivot life, and inches applied as well as related costs such as for the well and engine, labor, energy, district fees, and taxes

• The app (UNL A10002) then calculates total irrigation cost as well as total ownership and total operating costs. It also breaks down costs by irrigation well, pump, gear head, pump base, diesel engine and tank and system and calculates per acre annual cost and per acre-inch annual cost

Cost: $1.99Available in both Apple and Google app store

Benchmarking Indicators for comparisons

Domain Performance Indicator

System Performance 1. Water delivery capacity Index 2. Total annual volume of irrigation water supplied/delivered (m3 /year) 3. Field application efficiency 4. Annual Relative Irrigation Supply Index 5. Annual irrigation water supply per unit command area (Cum/ha) 6. Annual irrigation water supply per unit irrigated area (Cum/ha)

Agricultural Productivity 7. Output per unit command area (Rs/ha)8. Output per unit irrigated area – Tons/ha cropwise, Rs/ha 9. Output per unit irrigation supply (Rs/cum) 10.Output per unit crop water demand (Rs/cum)

Domain Performance Indicator

Financial Aspects 11.Cost recovery ratio 12.Total O&M cost per unit area (Rs/ha) 13.Total cost per person employed on O&M works (Rs/person) 14.Revenue collection performance 15.Revenue per unit volume of irrigation water supplied (Rs/cum) 16.Maintenance cost to revenue ratio 17.Staff numbers for O&M per unit area (persons/ha) 18.Total O&M cost per unit of water supplied (Rs./cum)

Environmental Aspects 19. (a) Average depth to watertable (m) 19. (b) Land Damage Index (a) Water quality: Ph/Salinity/Alkalinity Index 20. (b) Salt balance (tones)

Maharashtra needs to benchmark itself by comparing the above mentioned parameters with states like Tamilnadu, Punjab and Rajasthan

Conclusion

To conclude, the state of Maharashtra has huge potential in terms of developing the irrigation systems but because of high corruption the progress has been hindered. The central and the state government are working together to improve the irrigation facilities by initiating new schemes and programs for the famers

Climatic conditions have also had a big impact on Marathwada and Vidharbha region where severe droughts have resulted due to lack of rainfall. The other reason for draught is diversion of water to developed cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur

The state government needs to initiate and implement new policies for the welfare of the farmers by constructing dams and building canals. In addition the government should encourage the farmers to use technology in order to improve the yield. This can be done by supporting the farmers with necessary funds at lower interest rate. The government should encourage participation of people in reusing the water and conservation of water at local level

The government should have proper mechanism to control and monitor the projects which have been initiated, so that no fraud and corruption takes place.

Thank You