Draft National Water Policy (2012) fails to take into account the multiple, complex problems and issues relating to water in India says M S Vani

Guest post by:

 M S Vani

Perusing the draft, one comes across all the ‘right’ concepts, words liberally sprinkled throughout the document, describing the resource:-

• Natural resource
• Hydrological cycle
• Ecological needs of rivers
• Climate change
• Sources pollution

and our intended response to it :-

• Environment sustainability
• Water security
• Sustainable development
• Scientific planning on basin/sub-basin basis.
• A holistic and inter-disciplinary approach
• Integrated and environmentally sound basis
• Water footprints
• Right to life
• Livelihood
• Food security
• Unified national perspective.
• Public trust
• Groundwater -  a community resource
• Consultation with stakeholders.
• Equity and social justice
• Good governance
• Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation
• Water pricing
• Climate change mitigation at micro level
• Stakeholder participation in land-soil-water management
• Different agricultural strategies,
• Reducing soil erosion and improving soil fertility
• Cost sharing system between upstream and downstream regions
• Direct use of rainfall and avoidance of inadvertent evapo-transpiration
• Community based management of aquifers.
• Watershed development
• Demand management
• Water auditing
• Recycle and reuse of water,
• Water users associations
• Water Regulatory authorities
• Dam safety measures
• Flood forecasting
• Urban and rural water supply and sewage
• Resettlement and rehabilitation
• Recycling and reuse of water

One ought to feel reassured! But there is unease. Somehow the document does not ring true.

Something important seems to be missing.  The monsoon is missing from the national water policy! The monsoon, from which we receive all our precipitation either in the form or rain or snow- is almost completely missing- it is mentioned in only one place-  in the section on ‘Demand Management and Water Use Efficiency”-  a statement – “seepage from irrigation canals in monsoon results in recharging underground storage”

I may be asked - why is it important to take into account the monsoon - everyone knows that we in India get our rains through the monsoons.

The National Water Policy of 2002 had more to say about the monsoon - “precipitation is confined to only about three or four months in a year and varies from 100 mm in the western parts of Rajasthan to over 10000 mm at Cherrapunji in Meghalaya”. In the present draft policy, the statement in the Preamble that there is ‘uneven distribution across time and space’ is meant to convey the same idea. But both the 2002 and the 2012 Draft failed [deliberately] to carry the logic further and acknowledge the full nature of the Indian monsoon.

Unlike a number of European countries, India does not receive rainfall all through the year.

• It is largely concentrated during four months of the year .
• Here too, rainfall does not occur daily. In most parts of the country, there is precipitation during not more than 50 days.
• On the days when rainfall occurs, rainfall does not fall over a period of 24 hours. In fact, heavy showers are common.
• Most of the country receives rain for just about 100 hours each year.
• The thumb rule is that the number of hours of rain a place receives is equal to the number of centimeters of rain it receives annually.

The significant features of the monsoon rainfall patterns are that most of the country receives rain for about 100 hours each year, half of which is received in only 20 hours. Since very little precipitation in India is in the form of snow, harvesting rainwater when it falls and where it falls is critical to sustain all life–supporting systems and activities.

If this narrow interval of time in which the rain actually falls, measured in terms of hours, was fully acknowledged, it would entail an obligation to simultaneously acknowledge the necessity of a vast effort across the country in “monsoon harvesting” within a short window of time, no different from time-bound wheat harvesting or paddy harvesting. Such an effort could not be done by Government agencies alone- it would require large scale devolution of responsibilities and authority to communities across the country.  [Take into account the challenges of climate change, and the necessity for involving people becomes all the more acute].

There is no statement of recognition in the Draft Water Policy of 2012 that Rain Water Harvesting is indispensable to India as the first priority and starting point in water resources management. This is a matter of political economy - who owns the water? who controls [regulates] water? who manages [collect, retain, distribute, maintain] the water?

If the entire population was to be involved in rain water harvesting [which would necessarily include land management as well] then all citizens would logically have a  share in its ownership, control and management.

In the 2012 Draft, the principle of eminent domain is sought to be replaced by ‘public trust’; But it is still the State that holds the water in ‘public trust’. In section 7, on water pricing, the state will fix the water tariff after ascertaining the views of the “beneficiary” “public” at sub-basin, river basin and state level.

If the whole population is to be involved in water harvesting and its use and management, where is the question of the state fixing the water tariff? And being equally responsible for water, the citizen is no more a ‘beneficiary’ but an equal partner.

So what is the choice of this government with regard to the role it wants to confer on its citizens with respect to water? 

Mention is made of local self governance institutions in only two places in the whole document

• Section 3 – Uses of Water. Section 3.1 says that the “Centre, the States and the local bodies (governance institutions) must ensure access to a minimum quantity of potable water for essential health and hygiene to all its citizens, available within easy reach of the household”.
• Section 9.4 Planning and Project Implementation.  Local governing bodies like Panchayats, Municipalities, Corporations, etc., and Water Users Associations shall be involved in planning and implementation of the projects.

In the important section 13 on “Institutional Arrangements”, there is no mention of Local Governments! Local Bodies may be involved in “projects” but not with water as a “resource”.

Urban and Rural Local Self Governance Institutions in India are bodies with Constitutional status, but no powers. [Compare this with local governments in countries such as USA or UK, where such bodies have police powers, and land zoning powers].  

Water Users Associations are mentioned in this section, but not local elected bodies. These bodies are to be given statutory powers to “collect and retain” [BUT NOT LEVY] a portion of water charges, manage the volumetric quantum of water allotted to them and maintain the distribution system in their jurisdiction.

The determination of water charges is an authority that the state wants to retain for itself, and not share even with local governments, much less citizen groups.

With regard to regulation, a fundamental power of the State, the draft envisages the sharing of this power with state level Regulatory Authorities, but not local Governments. A state level regulatory authority may manage to regulate a handful of private players and a handful of disgruntled citizens, but can it manage a population of say 19 crores in Uttar Pradesh or 16.7 crores in NCT of Delhi,  or even 607,688 citizens in Sikkim?  That too, taking into account the multiple, complex problems and issues relating to water in India!

The Draft Water Policy of 2012 is old wine in a new fancy bottle. All the new words are beguiling and deceptive. The government of India has a new partner - the private sector. There is no renewal of its relationship with the people of India for the governance of water resources in the country - notwithstanding climate change and impending natural catastrophes.

M S Vani is a water law and policy expert and can be contacted at Development Centre for Alternative Policies, 5, Babar Road, New Delhi 110001, India;

Email: vanims2001@yahoo.co, msvani@gmail.com

The draft National Water Policy 2012 (in English and Hindi) as well as a summary list of important references is available at India Water Portal here