soons increased from approximately 40 to 45 per cent dur-
ing the same period. Clearly, the impact of climate change
has kicked in. Yet, these factors are not taken into account
to study water availability and resource management.
States versus states
Post-Independence, when the Indian states were reorgan-
ised based on language, the government formulated the
Interstate River Water Disputes Act, 1956, to resolve con-
flicts over use, control and distribution of interstate rivers or
river valleys. However, it failed to resolve any of the inter-
state disputes, which have become hot-button issues for pol-
itical clashes and civic unrests. At present, dozens of states
fight over sharing of water from dozens of rivers and dams.
“Every state wants to be prosperous and, as water is
crucial, everybody wants more,” says a senior state official
from Tamil Nadu. Interstate water conflicts depend on
several factors such as politics, water requirement, and
weather conditions. Dragging water conflicts to courts or
tribunals helps to justify to the populations that the govern-
ments are fighting for their shares.” Amicable solutions
aren’t possible in an environment of political and
bureaucratic egos, and the cases drag on.
The ambitious idea of interlinking rivers originated when
Sir Arthur Cotton, an irrigation engineer, suggested the
interlinking of the Ganga and Cauvery rivers for navigational
purposes. Post-Independence, the idea was taken up by late
PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and was formally launched during
Modi’s first tenure. This government hopes to implement
three sub-projects, including Ken-Betwa Link Project (Rs
35,000 crore), Damanganga-Pinjal Link Project (Rs 4,000
crore), and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Project (Rs 10,000
crore). However, experts have questioned their merits.
“Rivers change course, and there is no clear way to predict
it,” says an IIT expert. “River-linking will cause
deforestation, and lead to increase in water conflicts.” He
adds that if the Indian rivers don’t have enough water to feed
themselves, how can they help others?
Besides, the government hopes to tackle floods through the
project, but remains unconcerned about the situation in the
summers and winters. But politicians prefer big schemes,
which can be packaged as the future water temples to solve
the scarcity crisis. Most sections of society are excited by
them as they hope to get more water in the future. In the
process, what remains forgotten is that there are simpler,
more practical and sustainable solutions, which, more
importantly, individuals and groups have implemented
successfully in their local areas.
Recently, a message on social media talked of how the
various generations have imagined water, and its availability.
Our great grandparents and grandparents saw it in the form
of broad, full and fast-flowing rivers. Our parents witnessed
it in wells and bore-wells. For us, water is what is available in
bottles, and through machines (ROs). What about our
children? Will they imagine it in the form of drops. May be,
drops of tears?
For India, the time to act is now. O
with inputs from salik ahmed and abdul Gani5 august 2019 OutlOOk 39
Before the JD(S)-Congress
coalition government lost the
trust vote, Karnataka deputy
CM G. Parameshwara shocked
Bangalore residents recently when
he announced that there could be
a five-year ban on construction
of new apartments due to acute
water shortage. The government
intended to tap water from the
Sharavathi, a river 400 km away,
to meet Bangalore’s demand by- The reason for this thirst
is apparent—the city’s population
doubled in the past two decades,
and is likely to double again to 50
million by 2050. By then, the water
demand will jump to 45 thousand
million cubic feet (TMCF), 125 per
cent higher than the existing 20
TMCF. The city will need to think
ofsources besides the water it gets
from the Cauvery, 100 km away.
According to A.R. Shivakumar, a
former scientist at the Indian
Institute of Science, the water
needs to come from several
sources—rivers, rainwater
harvesting, recharging groundwa-
ter and recycled water. “The
alarm bells have begun to ring;
it’s a wake-up call,” he explains.
Ten years ago, rainwater
harvesting was made mandatory
in the city, and over 130,000
homes have such systems today.
The fact is that Bangalore has
sufficient water now, but there is
uncertainty about tomorrow.
“We are not going to run out of
water,” says S. Vishwanath of
Biome Environmental Solutions, a
design firm that deals with ecol-
ogy, architecture and water. At
present, the city gets 1,450 mil-
lion litres per day from theCauvery, which will increase to
2,225 million litres within three
years. If each person gets 100
litres a day, which is possible, it
is enough. “There is no resource
scarcity,” adds Vishwanath.
In fact, experts like Shivakumar
have proved that Bangalore can
manage the situation if it takes
the right decisions. His house,
which he built in 1995 in the busy
Vijaynagar locality, manages with-
out a municipal water connection,
and depends solely on rainwater.
He stores 45,000 litres in tanks,
and the excess recharges the
ground water. A single good down-
pour is enough to provide water
for a family of four for a month.
His household uses water from
the kitchen water and the washing
machine to flush the toilets. O
Ajay SukumaranBangalore Has a Plan
Pti