Water Talk Series at TISS, Mumbai on 7th September 2019

Team Malhar, students of Water Policy and Governance (WPG) and alumni of Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai in partnership with RRA Network proudly present the third annual session of "WATER TALK SERIES" on 7th September, 2019 at TISS, Mumbai

The Water Talk Series was started in 2017 with the objective of creating an intellectual platform to critically discuss the issues in practice as well as in policy. The event provides a space to water policy professionals, bureaucrats, academicians and activists to share their opinions on the importance of water in the contemporary Indian situation.

The theme for the Water Talk Series 2019 will be "The Discourse of Flood and Drought in India – The Question of Life, Livelihood and Ecology." The one day event will try to critically look into the meteorological, anthropogenic and institutional roots of flood and droughts. At the same time, potential solutions will also be presented and deliberated upon by best practitioners and policy makers from across the country.

The Discourse of Abundance and Deficit – The Water Security

One of the burning issues in water today is both the problem of scarcity - drought and the problem of plenty - floods. These disasters, among many, are affecting livelihoods, employment, socio-economic development, the functioning of the larger ecosystem.

The Crisis of Deficit

Droughts are the world’s costliest natural disasters and affect more people than any other form of natural disaster (Wilhite, 2000). They are also considered to be the most far-reaching of all natural disasters, causing short and long-term economic and ecological losses as well as significant secondary and tertiary impacts (UN WATER). 16%  of India’s geographical area is drought prone (GoI, 2013) and with the country having wide variations in physiographic and climatic conditions, the monsoon is also quite variable, both spatially and temporally.

Due to these features, even in a good monsoon year, various regions suffer from drought. And during drought years like 2002, 2004, 2009, 2016, 2019, the impacts are very severe affecting the poorest and most deprived sections of the society and there by affecting various sectors and economic development of the country. In 2019 itself, more than 43% of India’s geographical area is grappling with a crisis of severe drought

Even in areas which are naturally and historically water abundant (for eg: Kerala, Karnataka and cities like Bangalore, Chennai and so on), today the water demand outweighs the water supply. Population growth, increase in demand for water from agriculture, industries and urban centres has resulted in more demand over availability and supply. Exploitation of groundwater beyond the equilibrium of recharge along with destruction of recharge areas has resulted in the depletion of aquifers, worsening the situation. As the availability of water in the country is variable along with the Changing scenario of climate change, the availability of water for irrigation, drinking and domestic use becomes the need of the hour.

The Issue of Abundance

Monsoon triggered floods and mudslides have ravaged several parts of the country, including the North East India, Bihar, Odisha and killed thousands of people, displacing tens of millions of people. The situation has become excessively worse in the recent decade with the change in intensity and distribution of monsoon/ rainfall and anthropological induced changes to the ecosystem. There is also a “deficit in abundance” – the availability of potable drinking water is a problem during wide spread floods.

With increasing urbanisation, demand for land and economic development, the natural ecosystems are under great pressure. Degradation of the natural ecosystems has destroyed the ecological niche (role) of the wetlands to accommodate the flood waters. Urbanisation also brings in cementing of urban soils, destruction of natural drainage and recharge areas and inadequate artificial drainage aggravating the issue of flood resilience. Adding to this, high intensity and erratic rainfall/monsoon fuelled by climate change has resulted in huge storm water load resulting in urban flooding.

Both crises are of an urgent nature which needs to addressed at the local level by sustainable, pre crisis approach and problem solving and institution management.

Programme Schedule

RSVP details in the above poster.