24 x 7 water supply a distant dream for Indian cities!

Cities need to take a greener path to growth, both the crisis in availability of water and gaps in distribution are growing with increasing burden on existing resources and infrastructure. There is a water emergency already declared by Mother Nature and cities must rise to the wake up call without any further delay

ON 27th of April 2016, India’s Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti informed Parliament that almost 30 crore people of the country are facing drinking water scarcity. A few days before this the central government has informed the apex court of the country that 33 crore people in 256 districts across 10 states have been affected by the drought. The country has suffered two consecutive years of drought and this year is facing one of the severest heat conditions all across. Acute water scarcity has started to prevail since February in many parts and that has sent shock notices to people and planners alike.

Drought makes rural people migrate out to cities in search of better opportunities and facilities. However, cities are starting to crumble already owing to severe water scarcity. Eacy city is failing in its duty to accommodate the ever increasing immigrants, most of whom settle in shanty slums, with a life provided with even basic minimum facilities.

The decade 2001-11 has been a defining one as far as change in rural-urban population is concerned. This decade saw a 32 per cent growth rate of urban population in comparison to 12 per cent for the rural population. 31 per cent of people started living in urban areas in 2011 and it is set to increase to about 40 per cent by 2020. Larger cities drive much of this population growth.

Indian planners have also been drastically focusing their attention to urban areas, more so to such large cities.

The Smart City scheme is just one of the indicators of this. However, the Indian cities grow at the cost of the nearby villages – encroaching upon their farm lands, forests, rivers and other water bodies; and their own green spaces and water resources. This makes the cities draw more and more water from rivers, dams and reservoirs in nearby or far off places. Take Delhi for example.

Delhi: short in supply, high in discrepancy

India’s capital city has one of the most unreliable water supply systems. Not only that the city depends on other states for most of its water supply, but also it supplies almost about 20 per cent less than the requirement. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) supplies about 835 million gallons daily (MGD) whereas the current requirement of the city is about 1,025 MGD.

The city’s water supply has not only been insufficient but highly inequitable. An audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed this out well.
For the city, it is not only necessary to keep Yamuna alive but also restore all the lost water bodies. Delhi is said to have lost 200 water bodies in a few decades. It now has 600 water bodies as against 800 earlier. The remaining ones are in a highly degraded condition.

Cities have to stop growing at the cost of rivers, water bodies, floodplains and all sorts of water ways. Then the need to harvest rainwater with increased natural and infrastructural facilities is needed immediately. Ground water regulation and recharging has to be another major priority.

Dry reservoirs, suffering cities

As early as mid-February, the city of Bengaluru was under grip of an acute water crisis. Karnataka state’s reservoirs had dipped in their water reserves due to poor monsoon and heat was starting to grow early February. All the thirteen major reservoirs had much lower water than at the corresponding time last year. The city’s water supply of 1,400 million litres per day is provided from KRS and TG Halli reservoirs.

According to statistics available till mid-February, all 13 major reservoirs have lower levels than they did at the corresponding time last year. By mid-April, they are further down. While the live storage of major reservoirs of the country is at 23 per cent at the moment, the situation is worse at 15 per cent in South India’s major reservoirs.

All in the country, including the government, are hopeful of a ‘surplus monsoon’ in 2016. However, a surplus monsoon may not really give big relief to the water supply problems of the cities unless better conservation and management models are put in place.

Bengaluru again is a test case.

The state of Karnataka receives an annual average rainfall of about 1,248 mm but reports point out that the two million odd borewells constitute about 250 per cent of all the rain the state receives. In fact, the situation has gone so bad that a study by a former additional chief secretary of the state warns of a major crisis by 2025 to the extent that majority of people in Bengaluru may have to be evacuated.

Many other cities may also face a similar situation. In fact, this year most Indian cities are virtually on a water emergency bomb. The case of Hyderabad shows that aptly. The four major reservoirs that supply drinking water to the city have gone dry for the first time in three decades! Government spokespersons have informed that the gap of supply to demand has reached as high as 47 per cent, as the city is providing only about 335 million gallons of water as against the need of 660 million gallons. Water is being fetched from Godavari and Krishna rivers, almost 200 kilometers away.

Gap is only increasing

As per the Census 2011 figures almost 30 per cent of urban households did not have drinking water facilities within their premises, let alone being supplied with 24×7 water. The bigger challenge is that this supply is inconsistent, inequitable and not sustainable. Then, quality of the water remains another huge problem.

A working group report of the erstwhile Planning Commission pointed out the problems with the sources, because most cities fetch water from long distance; enormous inefficiencies; and also a big challenge that exists due to the huge gap between water supply to the rich and poor. It also pointed out how the water supply goes down with the reduction in the size of the cities. While class I cities had a 73 per cent coverage of water supply, class II cities had 63 per cent, class III cities had 61 per cent and other cities had 58 per cent.

The report also pointed out that about 40-50 per cent of water was being lost in distribution.

Solutions

With increased temperature, induced by climate change and local factors, water is going to get scarce. Unless the cities take a greener path to growth, both the crisis in availability and gaps in distribution will only grow. There is a water emergency already declared by Mother Nature and cities must rise to the wake up call without any further delay. Cities have to stop growing at the cost of rivers, water bodies, floodplains and all sorts of water ways. Then the need to harvest rainwater with increased natural and infrastructural facilities is needed immediately. Ground water regulation and recharging has to be another major priority. Then they need to adopt green construction technologies, reducing concrete areas and increasing green spaces with vegetation cover that promotes forest species suitable to local ecology. Source security and sustainability with climate change adaptation initiatives need to be put in place.

City water managers need also to start emphasising on two way water supply system: one that supplies treated water for drinking and another that supplies recycled water for other purposes. While trying to use, reuse and recharge most of the water inside thier own geographical limits, city governments have to start contributing to river basin management by working with rural governments as well. All this will gradually change the city water scenarios.