Various Issues Around Protection of Water Bodies in India

Water bodies, whether man-made or natural, fresh water or brackish perform significant environmental, social and economic functions. Also, natural water bodies play a very important role in maintaining and restoring our ecological balance. In addition, water bodies perform the following functions:

• acts as a source of drinking water,
• recharges groundwater,
• controls floods,
• supports biodiversity, and
• provides livelihood opportunities to a large number of people.

To protect and improve the natural environment as a Fundamental Duty

Article 51 A(g) of the Constitution has mandated the following provision as a  Fundamental Duty:

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India, to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures”.

Present condition of India’ water bodies

At present, water bodies in India are in varying degrees of environmental degradation. Most affected of these are the lakes and wetlands. Rapid urbanization with scant regard for ecological concerns has destroyed most of these water bodies. Today many of the water bodies are encroached, full of sewage and garbage.

Consider the case of Bangalore, going by the records, at the beginning of 1960s, Bangalore had 262 lakes but now only 10 lakes holds water. Another example is Delhi. In the year 2010-11, it was found that 21 out of 44 lakes in Delhi were gone dry due to rapid urbanization and falling water tables. Also, let us consider the case of Chennai where recent floods have caused huge damage to life and property. In the 19^th century, the Madras area had at least 43,000 functioning water tanks. It was also estimated that just two decades ago, there were at least 650 water bodies. But, today only a fraction (less than 30) of them remains. Like these, there are endless examples in India which shows the sorry state of our water bodies. Although we have plethora of Policies and acts for the protection and restoration of water bodies, they remain insufficient and ineffective.

Water body encroachments identified as the major cause for the recent floods in Chennai

Chennai has seen the worst rainfall in 100 years. According to the press note released by the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE), unregulated urbanization and climate change-induced extreme weather are the reasons behind the crisis. Speaking on the subject, CSE director general Sunita Narain said: “We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that our urban sprawls such as Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Srinagar etc have not paid adequate attention to the natural water bodies that exist in them. In Chennai, each of its lakes has a natural flood discharge channel which drains the spillover. But we have built over many of these water bodies, blocking the smooth flow of water. We have forgotten the art of drainage. We only see land for buildings, not for water.”

In the absence of the water bodies which primarily acts a natural drainage system, the runoff water from the excess rains finds no place to go, which eventually causes floods. Further, the lack of water bodies creates scarcity of water during the time of drought. The recent floods in Chennai have once again highlighted the importance of protecting our water bodies.

What are the major threats to water bodies?

Pollution: Our population has been ever increasing without corresponding expansion of civic facilities such as adequate infrastructure for the waste disposal and management. This scenario is especially true for the urban areas. As a result, almost all urban water bodies in India are polluted and are relentlessly used to dispose untreated local sewage and solid waste materials.

Encroachment: Encroachment is another major threat to water bodies particularly in urban areas. Even a small piece of land has a high economic value in urban areas. These are relentlessly encroached thus shrinking the area of the water bodies. Charkop lake in Maharashtra, dipor bil in Guwahati and Ousteri lake in Puducherry are classic examples of water bodies which have been encroached.  According to the National Wetland Atlas, the Dal lake reportedly lost 88 per cent of its surface area due to unchecked encroachment over the past few decades.

Illegal Mining Activities: Illegal mining especially for building material such as sand and stones both on the catchment and on the bed of the water bodies are yet another reason behind the destruction of many water bodies. Surajkund lake in Haryana, for example have been destroyed by the illegal mining activities.

Eutrophication: Lakes and ponds are especially the victims of Eutrophication. Eutrophication results in the prolific growth of aquatic weeds in lakes and ponds that ultimately disturb and kill the ecology of the waterbody. Bheels of Assam is a well known example of high growth of hyacinth due to pollution.

Unregulated Tourism Activities: Unregulated and unplanned tourist activities near the water bodies have resulted in the relentless dumping of garbage into the nearby water bodies. Dal Lake in Srinagar is an example. In addition, unregulated tourism activities have been known to negatively impact the biodiversity of the area as a whole.

Cultural misuse: Misuse of water bodies for cultural or religious festivals is yet another threat to the water bodies. The activities such as immersion of idols in the water bodies are known contaminate the water bodies.

What are the Institutions involved in protecting the water bodies in India:

Traditionally, local communities took the responsibility of protecting and managing the water bodies in their vicinity. After independence, the government has taken control over the protection and maintenance of water bodies and water supply. Thus, this move has alienated the local communities from maintaining and protecting the water bodies.

Further, water bodies came under the jurisdiction of land owning agencies, of which most of them are interested in maximizing land availability and not in protecting water bodies. However, the survival and protection of water bodies also depends on the role of a number of other institutions and agencies such as the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development    and Ganga Rejuvenation, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and other local authorities, i.e., Municipal Corporations, Development Authorities, Tourism Department, Water Supply Boards, etc.

The Challenges and gaps in the management of water bodies in India

Lack of Data: India has a large number of water bodies and we do not have correct data on the number of water bodies that exist in a particular region. As a matter of fact, orderly and scientific census has not been conducted so far. So the data about their existence is highly unsatisfactory.

Lack of effective institutional framework: Another prime reason cited for the deteriorating situation of our water bodies is a complete lack of an effective institutional framework to manage our water bodies. There is also a complete lack of synergy, coordination and strategy among the implementing agencies.

Lack of acknowledgement of a water body as a land use category: The absence of a specific land use category for water bodies results in its use for other purposes. For example, the action of central government saved wetlands being acquired for Somepeta thermal power plant in Andhra Pradesh. Here, it will be relevant to quote the CSE director general Sunita Narain’s observation: “If you ask the obvious question of how construction was permitted on the wetland, you will get a not-so-obvious response: Wetlands are rarely recorded under municipal land laws, so nobody knows about them. Planners see only land, not water and greedy builders take over.”

Lack of awareness and people’s participation: Without making people to realize the importance of their local water bodies and ensure they participate in its protection and conservation, it becomes almost impossible to protect our water bodies. Unfortunately, most of the government policies do not rope in the local community in the conservation efforts.

Lack of Consensus among the stakeholders: Another big challenge for the protection and management of water bodies is to bring diverse groups of people together to arrive at a consensus to solve common problems. Local organizations, welfare associations, activist groups, political organizations and government agencies have very different ideologies, agendas and views. This difference of opinion often makes protection and management of common resources difficult.

What is the way forward?

For saving our water bodies the following steps has to be taken in the order:

• identify our water bodies, study the rate of disappearance, arrest the decline and,
• take steps to reverse the destruction caused to our water bodies.

Use of Technology- GIS and remote sensing:

There is an urgent need to monitor and identify our water bodies using technological interventions to obtain a better understanding of its use, which will go a long way in providing information for effective water management strategies and improving the necessary infrastructures.

What is Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing and how they are useful in water resource management?

Remote sensing: Remote sensing means assessing the characteristics of a place (usually meant as the surface of the earth) from a distance. The term is applied to the study of earth’s features from images taken from space using satellites, or from nearer the earth using aircrafts. In satellite remote sensing, cameras are fitted to the orbiting satellite and are focused towards the earth.

Geographical Information System (GIS) A GIS is a computer application program that stores spatial and Non-Spatial information in a digital form. Fundamentally, a GIS is a map in an electronic form, representing any type of spatial features. Additionally, properties or attributes may be attached to the spatial features. Geographic Information System (GIS) has wide applications in planning any spatially distributed projects. Apart from its spatial data analysis capabilities, it provides an interface to remotely sensed images and field surveyed data. This is helpful to regionally plan and conserve our water resources.

The integrated use of Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing technologies can help in:

• identifying water bodies,
• tracking water bodies,
• measuring water loss in water bodies,
• detecting changes in the water bodies,
• measuring the rate of disappearance of water bodies.

Indian remote sensing satellites provide highly accurate satellite images. Using the data obtained from satellites and GIS, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, dams and reservoirs can be mapped in 3D. The spatial water availability maps can be generated.

It is also important to capture data on a periodic basis to get an accurate depiction and it is highly recommended to set up a task force for the water body mapping so that these areas are mapped on a routine basis. Once these areas are mapped, it will allow us to quantify significant changes in the water bodies.

Also, tracking water bodies must start at local and regional levels. The concerned authorities can use the information for identifying the sites or regions that need effective protection and management. These techniques will provide a true picture to decision-makers, allowing them to make appropriate policy decisions. It also finds application in studying changes in land cover, forest density, coastal morphology, status of reef and biodiversity of islands even if, located in remote place.

Suggestions from experts for saving water bodies:

It is a well known fact that the rate of disappearing water bodies and wetlands has reached an alarming level, and the impact is being felt beyond the environment and into the socio-economic sphere. So, apart from plugging in the gaps and challenges mentioned above, proactive steps should be taken to address the issue in order to avoid another Chennai like floods. These include:

• Sensitizing city planners, local bodies and other stakeholders about the importance of water bodies.
• Regularly maintaining water bodies by cleaning sediments and improving the drainage infrastructure.
• Strictly implementing environmental rules and regulations and also the land use regulations. Environmental laws should be further strengthened to impose hefty penalties for law breakers.
• Framing the vision, mission and master plan to protect various water bodies locally and implementing them rigidly.

Unless there exists necessary political and social will, we will continue to be exposed to severe natural calamities.