We can't solve problems

by using the same kind of

thinking we used when we

created them

Albert Einstein

We are what we think

All that we are arises with

our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make

the world

Gautam Buddha

(quoted in the

Dhammapada)

Sustainability Issues in

Water

Neeraj Doshi

Research Advocacy and Innovation in Water ( RAIN Water)

Korean Demilitarized Zone

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a strip of land

running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a

buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ

is a de-facto border barrier, which runs along the 38th

parallel north.

It is 250 kilometers (160 miles) long, approximately

4 km (2.5 mi) wide and, despite its name, is the most

heavily militarized border in the world.

DMZ Ecology

This natural isolation along the 155 miles (249 km) length of the DMZ has created an involuntary park which is now recognized as one of the most well-preserved areas of temperate habitat in the world.

The endangered Amur Leopard that may have found unlikely protection within the Korean DMZ.

Several endangered animal and plant species now exist among the heavily fortified fences, landmines and listening posts. These include the extremely rare red-crowned crane (a staple of Asian art), and the white-naped crane as well as, potentially, the extremely rare Korean tiger, Amur leopard and Asiatic black bear. Ecologists have identified some 2,900 plant species, 70 types of mammals and 320 kinds of birds within the narrow buffer zone.

The DMZ owes its varied biodiversity to its geography, which crosses mountains, prairies, swamps, lakes and tidal marshes. BUT ABOVE ALL TO INADVERTANT CREATION OF A NO MAN’S LAND

WaterRain / Snow

Rivers ponds, lakes, well – CLEAN WATER

colonization

Industrial revolution

Energy /power

Cities

Modern education

homogenization

Modern plumbing – CLEAN WATER

Dams / artificial Storage

River, ponds, lakes, wells – sewage repository

Energy / power

water from aquifers below – CLEAN WATER

River, ponds, lakes, wells – sewage repository

Modern plumbing – commode

Health problems – fluoride, arsenic, calcium, radio active materials

UV / RO – CLEAN WATER

RO is dead water (add salts to make it closer to rain water ( the Golden Standard)

Water recycling to reclaim water – aim 100% efficiency

Piping to get water from faraway places – CLEAN WATER

River, ponds, lakes, wells – Sewage repository

Status of Water In

Rajasthan

Some Facts The status of water in the State is most critical.

Out of the total 142 desert blocks in the country, 85 blocks are in the State of Rajasthan.

Out of 249 blocks in the state, only 30 blocks are in safe category.

According to NASA image, almost 90% of our underground water is gone

Underground water is poisonous. It has very high fluoride content.

Average annual rainfall of the State is 531mm.

The State had over 3000 manmade lakes and ponds which are now either dried or turned in to sewage and effluents dump. The dependency on underground water is above 90%!!

The per capita annual water availability in the State is about 780 cubic meter (Cum) against minimum requirement of 1000 Cum. It is feared that the availability would fall below 450 cum by the year 2050.

As per the international accepted norms, availability of water below 500 cum is considered as absolute water scarcity

Facts Contd.. Chambal is the only perennial river in the state.

At present there are 104 major and medium irrigation projects and 4786 minor irrigation projects in the State and the irrigation potential created has increased to 28.12 lac ha.

State Water Resource Vision 2045

To achieve the objective of sustainable development of water resources and optimum utilisation of this scarce and precious natural resources our vision for the year 2045 regarding water sector is :

Make Rajasthan the foremost in management of water resources.

Harness all the (16.05 BCM) economically utilisable surface water through improved planning, design and construction.

Full utilisation of created irrigation potential and maximum crop production per unit of water.

Facts Contd.. At the turn of the century Rajasthan had over 3000 lakes

and ponds ( and thousands of stepwells and Wells) which were the main source of water

Power availability lead to underground water exploitation and energy intense dam and canal building. ( there are 227 dams in the state of Rajasthan)

This has sounded the death knell for all most all the lakes and ponds. They have either turned into cesspools or dried and used for settlements.

And still, cities remain thirsty!! ( Jaipur, Delhi for example!)

Urban / Domestic

Copyright www.Dailymail.co.uk

Industry

Agriculture

Bajra Facts Dry land crop farming – Millet

Highly nutritious: contains more twice amount of calcium than rice. Finger millet contains 40 times more calcium than rice

In terms of protein, fibre, iron and other minerals, millets are way ahead of cereals like rice and wheat.

One ton of wheat require 1000 ton of water to grow !

One ton of rice require 2000 tones of water to grow !

Bajra takes less than 500 tonnes per ton and it can withstand sever drought conditions, sand salinity.

One litre of CocaCola requires 4 litres of water

No need to pop calcium pills!

Bajra Facts India is the largest producer of bajra. The fifth most

important cereal crop bajra is consumed largely by the poor

segment of the society

In Punjab and Haryana, its is also used as poultry feed.

It is primarily consumed in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan,

Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It is widely distributed in arid

zone and semi-arid tropics.

Rajasthan Government in its advance estimate has

estimated the area of bajra at 39.55 lakh hectare and

production at 38.39 lakh tones in 2012-13

Some thoughts

Technology

Tech Contd…

Government of Rajasthan has allocated almost 550

Crore to bring Chambal River Water to six northern

districts including Alwar, Dhaulpur, Bhilwara Bharatpur,

Jaipur, Ajmer.

Colonial System

In 1863, British took over water systems through PWD

(Public Works Department). This calamitous event

uprooted a thriving water culture to put in its place an

extractive system turning water into a commodity for

state and private benefit, which continues even till

today.

Homogenization

Only Wheat and Rice

for country which has

tremendous diversity,

has 25 agro climatic

zones

Key Takeaways

Context, Context Context…..

Context influences all your development – Industrial,

Agricultural and Urban.

The Ultimate Whammy??

Ideas for Auditors???

neerajdoshi@gmail.com+91 99103 50600

www.linkedin.com/neerajdoshi

mailto:neerajdoshi@gmail.com

Water Sustainability –

Chambal River in

Rajasthan

Neeraj Doshi

What come to mind when hear the

word “Chambal” ??

Him…..

……or her?

…..and sometimes this too..

Meet Chambal

Chambal River – Some Facts The Charmanyavati, describes the Mahabharata,

originated from a mountain of dripping leather (charma) after King Rantideva sacrificed thousands of cows.

Chambal rises from Vindhya mountains in Mhow near Indore. It traverses 965 Kilometers in MP, Rajasthan and UP before finally meeting Yamuna near Etawah,UP.

Total drainage catchment of the Chambal basin expands143,219 km2. Its tributaries include The tributaries of the Chambal include Shipra, Kalisindh, Banas, Parbati Mej, Parwati.

Chambal, Some Facts

Contd…. Both due to the ancient curse since Mahabharata and later due to the

infestation of Dacoits, Chambal is probably the only relatively unpolluted river in the country – what was a Bane turned out to be a Boon!!.

It hosts the largest gharial population of the world and high density of the Gangetic dolphin per river km.

In addition, the major fauna of the River includes the mugger crocodile, smooth coated otter, seven species of freshwater turtles, and 78 species of wetland birds. The major terrestrial fauna of the adjacent areas are Indian wolf, golden jackal, caracal, jungle cat, desert cat, ratel, small Indian civet and neelgai.

650 Km stretch of the river is declared as National Chambal Sanctuary

Chambal in Rajasthan Only Perennial River of Rajasthan

Flows exclusively in Rajasthan for 225 Km and then for 217 km b/w Rajasthan and MP border before entering UP.

Chambal and its tributaries drain almost 31,460 km2 in Rajasthan ( 77,293 Sq km including Banas)

Total Mean Annual Surface Water Potential 8059 Mm3/year (Utilized 2775 Mm3/year)

Total Groundwater Annual Recharge 2635 Mm3 (Utilized 963 Mm3/year)

Water Transfers from Chambal Basin

- To Banas Basin 634 Mm3

- To Gambhir Basin 214 Mm3

- To Parbati Basin 50 Mm3

Chambal in Rajasthan: Water

Development Projects

Existing Surface Water Projects: There are 7 Major (Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar, JawaharSagar, Kota Barrage, Parwati Pick-up Weir, Harish Chander Sagar and Gudha Dam), 12 Medium and 134 Minor irrigation projects in Chambal River Basin

Kota Barrage is a diversion dam to supply irrigation water to MP though canals.

Ongoing Surface Water Projects: 52 irrigation projects, including 7 Medium projects with a total live storage capacity of 271 Mm3, are under construction in Chambal River Basin. An additional area of 502 kha will be irrigated on completion of these projects, expected between 1997 and 2015.

Proposed Surface Water Projects: 376 irrigation projects, including 10 Major (Manohar Thana, Parwan Dhanwas, Kalisindh, Gugar Lift, Soni, Dholpur Lift, Indira Lift, Pipalda Lift and Chambal Lift), with a total live storage capacity of 1743 Mm3, have been proposed in Chambal Basin. An additional area of 630 kha will be irrigated on completion of these projects.

Drinking Water: 9 Major cities and districts receive water from Chambal to meet their annual demand. Kota, Bundi, Baran, Alwar, Dholpur, Bharatpur, Bhilwara.

A 340 Km pipeline is proposed to bring Chambal water to Bisalpur which feed Jaipur and Ajmer (Ajmer City, Nasirabad and Beawar)

Sustainability Issues Over Exploitation - storage, extraction and diversion of water, sand

mining, fishing and riparian cultivation

After Kota Barrage, chambal turns into a trickle which continues till

pali where parbati joins it. At the confluence, Parbati is 3.7 mtr

deep while chambal is only 0.6 mtr deep. The situation doesn’t

change till it meet yamuna.

The dams and irrigation canals were planned to utilise surplus

monsoon water. But, over time the needs have expanded and so

these projects refuse to release any water in the river channel

during the summer months.

It means ‘zero’ flow for chambal in summer months and

irreversible damage to its health.

Water Flow - River water flow receded to as low as 16.38 cubic

meters (or 16,380 liters) per second during June-July in 2009. The

average lean flow of the Chambal is 58.53 m3/sec in April. Less

Sustainability Issues

Ecology – Threat to Indian Gharial and Gangetic Dolphin due to low water flow (The minimum flow and depth required for gharials is 151 m3/sec and 5 m while Gangetic dolphins, India’s national aquatic animal, need at least 266.42 m3/sec flow and 7 m deep waters

River Pollution – Industrial and Municipal discharge from Industrial town of Kota alone – 26000 cusec / day ( 740,000 liters per sec)

Interstate conflicts: MP is developing major projects on its part of Chambal near Mohapura and Sajapur.

Almost dead!!

What is what??

Key Questions Water is a key element for survival – domestic, Agricultural and

Industrial. Chambal being the only perennial river, what should be the sustainability policy of a dry state?

Artificial water availability for shorter duration trigger permanent settlements. human time scale v/s geological?

Over dependency on single source rather than holistic approach. What is the impact on local water sources?

What is the impact on local capability?

Impact on governance structures?

Water migration: If water from kota is brought to Jaipur where will people will kota go to?

…..Again

neerajdoshi@gmail.com+91 99103 50600

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mailto:neerajdoshi@gmail.com