Regulatory Mechanism For Conservation Of Wetlands

The Government is planning to set up a legally enforceable regulatory mechanism for the conservation of wetland as envisaged in National Environment Policy, 2006. Recognizing the value of wetlands and taking cognizance of the facts that their does not yet exist a formal system of wetland regulation, National Environmental Policy, 2006 sought to set up a legally enforceable mechanism for wetlands to prevent their degradation and enhance their conservation. In pursuance of the policy resolution, a multi-disciplinary expert group was constituted and a draft regulatory framework on Wetland Conservation has been put on the website (moef.nic.in) for wider consultations.

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Shri Jairam Ramesh in a written reply to a question by Prof. (Dr.) Ranjan Prasad Yadav in Lok Sabha today.

Source: PIB, GOI, 4th Aug, 2010

Rs 35L project to preserve wetlands

In a first-of-its-kind project to preserve the East Kolkata Wetlands, the South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE), in collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, will undertake sustainable cultivation and harvesting of medicinal plants and conservation and wise use of endemic species of fish in the area.

SAFE chairperson Dipayan Dey said this will be the first project of its kind to preserve a Ramsar site through a private initiative. "We are working to kick off the project, possibly from next month. The total project cost will be around `35 lakh," he said.

The first project will be to cultivate and harvest medicinal plants in the wetland area on a massive scale. The main focus of the project should be on motivation, training, information dissemination, technical and financial assistance for raising nurseries, cultivation, harvesting, storage, processing and marketing with collectors and farmers. The second project will be to conserve the endangered fish species.

Source: TOI 29 Aug 2010

Fight between HUL and Eureka Forbes in the water storage market

The fight between HUL and Eureka Forbes is a square one in the water storage market.

The Pallonji group-controlled Eureka Forbes had a solo run in the Rs 1,500-crore water purification market for long. Then came fast moving consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) with its Pureit brand of water purifiers, changing the market dynamics forever.

Pureit was rolled out nationally in 2008 after undergoing rigorous test marketing for four years. In typical FMCG style, HUL was quick to scale up operations following the launch. It has never looked back since then. Pureit sales are said to be close to 1.3 million units in comparison to Eureka Forbes’s 500,000 units. This is in the Rs 300-crore water storage market also called the non-electrical segment which is growing at close to 40 per cent per annum.

The other segment, electrical, is much larger in size, at Rs 1,200 crore, but growing at about 15 per cent per annum. Products in the electrical segment are ultraviolet or reverse osmosis-based. Typically, products here are higher-priced ranging from Rs 4,500 to Rs 9,000 for UV-based purifiers while RO-based products are costlier at Rs 8,000 - Rs 16,000 per device.

The storage segment, in comparison, is the entry point to the market, say experts, with products competitively priced at Rs 999 (for a Tata Swach) to Rs 1,000 (for a Pureit Compact) to Rs 1,390 (for a Eureka Forbes’s AquaSure). Higher priced variants also exist here such as Pureit Classic at Rs 2,000, Pureit Autofill at Rs 3,200 and Pureit Marvella at Rs 6,990. Eureka Forbes, on the other hand, has a range that goes up to Rs 1,800 from the entry-level Rs 1,390, says the company’s chief executive officer, direct sales, and senior vice-president, marketing, Marzin Shroff.

“But there are advantages that storage devices have. They do not require electricity; plus the storage aspect ensures there is no requirement of a continuous water line,” says Vikram Surendran, general manager, water, Hindustan Unilever.

It is this affordability factor that is driving competition in the storage market pitting HUL and Eureka Forbes squarely against each other.

Though Surendran and Shroff decline to give market share figures, industry observers say HUL’s Pureit has over 50 per cent share of the chemical sub-segment under the storage market. Eureka Forbes, on the other hand, has a share of about 20 per cent. Tata’s Swatch is a fringe player at this point.

Chemical, for the record, means that the storage water purifier uses either chlorine or bromine to purify water. HUL’s Pureit uses a four-stage purification process involving chlorine and carbon, while Eureka Forbes’s AquaSure uses brominated beads to purify water.

According to industry experts, chlorine is one of the most commonly used chemicals to purify water though not necessarily the best method to do so on account of its ability to produce disinfection byproducts, which are harmful chemical compounds. “Chlorine reacts quickly with contaminants that are naturally present in water. Bromine, in contrast, doesn’t react as quickly as chlorine does. The risk of reaction is lower with bromine, which is why it is safer to use the latter as opposed to chlorine. Bromine-based technology is also far more expensive than chlorine-based,” says Raman Venkatesh, chief technology officer, Eureka Forbes.

But there are some voices in favour of chlorine too. J. Erik Fyrwald, chief executive officer, Nalco, a $4-billion US company specialising in industrial water treatment and energy solutions, says the flow of chlorine should be regulated in water to prevent it from causing disinfection byproducts. “Most users of chlorine do just that. I don’t think a user would want to cross the permissible limit,” he says.

HUL’s Surendran agrees as much. “There are some absolute standards of safety that a water purifier has to adhere to. That’s what we do. These standards are prescribed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. They are stringent. We meet them. Technology, let me tell you, is a means to deliver safety. It is not a goal in itself. Whether you use chemical or non-chemical, UV or RO, the point is safety has to be delivered.”

But Eureka Forbes thinks otherwise. The company has just launched a new Rs 2,290 variant of AquaSure that does not use chemicals at all to purify water. “Instead it uses a complex maze of positive charge attractors that trap disease-causing bacteria, virus and cysts,” says Venkatesh.

“This is a product targeted at those who realise that use of chemicals to purify water is not the most appropriate way to do so. Our research has showed that. We have been working on this product for the last seven years. We have launched it now,” says Shroff of Eureka Forbes.

In little over a month since the launch, the product, says Shroff, has achieved sales of 22,000 units. “We are hoping to touch sales of 50,000 units per month. For that we would have to scale up availability of the product as well. We right now reach 15,000 retail outlets in 1,500 towns. The game plan is to reach 25,000 retail outlets in the same number of towns. This way there’s a greater chance of increasing offtake,” he says.

But is HUL impressed with its rival's efforts to push a non-chemical water purifier in the market? Is a shift likely to happen from chemical to non-chemical in the future? “I will not comment on what competition is doing,” says Surendran. “As far as our entry into the segment is concerned, it is contingent upon whether it offers safety and clear consumer benefits. Technology, as I said earlier, is not an end in itself. It is a merely a means to deliver safety.”

Source: BS 30 Aug 2010

Coke, Pepsi claim to have reduced water use.

Coca cola and Pepsi have come out with a claim that they have dramatically reduced the use of water for manufacturing their soft drinks.

According to a Business Standard report "just four years before, Coke factories consumed over four litres of water for every litre of beverage sold. Now, it is 2.5 litres, a reduction of 34 per cent. Coke’s global and key competitor, PepsiCo, has followed a similar pattern, slashing unit water usage from 7.1 litres in 2001 to 2.4 litres currently."

The reduction of water use could be a result of the shift from glass bottles to pet bottles as they do not need water to wash the glass bottles for reuse any more. So now we have less water use but more plastic bottles.

Here is the News Report.

'The rainwater harvesting idea is catching on in Bangalore'

With reports of the contamination of ground water, the drive to harvest rainwater gains special urgency. Chairman of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB),
PB Ramamurthy, spoke to DNA.

Do you think more people now want to harvest rainwater?
We are happy that there has been a drastic change in mindset. We’ve used a carrot-and-stick approach. More people now seek to have rainwater harvesting facilities as we have used the threat of losing the BWSSB water connection if these are not installed; even the realisation that water needs to be saved, and that individual households should take the initiative in the matter is now more widespread.

We’ve had reports of the contamination of ground water.
The water table is receding, and there is contamination in ground water. Rainwater is the purest form of water. It can be conserved and used even for drinking after a simple purification process.

So the system for installing a rainwater harvesting system is now working satisfactorily?

We have documented everything house-wise. Those who have got the rainwater harvesting system in their homes can go to the nearest BWSSB sub-division office and register their houses for documentation. This will offer benefits in the water bills. We required at least 55,000 houses in the city to have the rainwater harvesting system in place, but we have records of only 20,000 houses having done it. We are seeing an average of 300 to 400 new applications each month. This is good news.

Do you have a mechanism to answer queries?
We have water adalats, meetings with residents’ welfare associations, and regular campaigns organised by the BWSSB. All these have also been used to urge people to put in place a rainwater harvesting mechanism. There is now even a help desk where people can call to know all about rainwater conservation and harvesting. At all our 126 sub-divisions in the city, there are officials who will help residents to install the rainwater harvesting system. Our endeavours have been yielding good results.

We do not have too many options, when it comes to water.

As the water table goes deeper and deeper, borewell water gets contaminated.We have been in touch with the pollution control board. Meanwhile, I would suggest that for drinking purposes, people use Cauvery water supplied by the BWSSB. It is treated, chlorinated. If you must use borewell water, there are some purification procedures: reverse osmosis, for instance.

Published: Monday, Aug 30, 2010, 9:27 IST
By Aparajita Ray | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Campaigners accuse Coca-Cola CEO of not being open with investors about the potential liabilities it faces for environmental damage in water-stressed

Ecologist, 23rd April, 2010

Campaigners accuse Coca-Cola CEO of not being open with investors about the potential liabilities it faces for environmental damage in water-stressed areas of India

Coca-Cola is misleading investors about potential financial and criminal actions against the company in India, according to campaigners.

Last month, a government-appointed committee in the State of Kerala published a report recommending that Coca-Cola pay $48 million for damage caused by its bottling plant in the village of Plachimada.

The committee, which included heads of Kerala’s Agriculture, Groundwater, Health and Pollution Control Departments, said the company unlawfully depleted groundwater, polluted water resources and could face criminal charges on top of a financial penalty.

However, at Coca-Cola’s AGM in Atlanta this week, CEO Muhtar Kent said accusations against the company were ‘unfounded and false.’

‘There have been several scientific studies and litigation on the allegations that Coca-Cola depleted water and contaminated the environment but none, I repeat none, concluded that the Coca-Cola company or any of its bottlers were the cause,’ said Kent.

He also said the call to pay damages was ‘simply a recommendation from a committee' and that Coca-Cola would ‘rigorously defend any actions that result.’

Forced closure

A spokesperson for Coca-Cola has since said that any government committee or panel reviewing claims 'should first determine through an established process of law whether any damage was caused to the residents of Palakkad, and second, if such damage was caused, who was responsible'.

The spokesperson continued: 'It is unfortunate that the committee in Kerala was appointed on the unproven assumption that damage was caused, and that it was caused by Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages.'

Campaigners say they still believe the company could be forced to pay damages and close some of the 56 bottling plants it operates across India.

‘It is only a matter of time before Coca-Cola will have to shut down its plants in water stressed areas and pay damages for the compensation for damages it has caused. Arrogance and incompetence are not traits suited for long-term sustainability,’ said Amit Srivastava from the India Resource Centre.

Groundwater levels

There is also further controversy surrounding another of the Coca-Cola’s bottling plants in the north Indian state of Rajasthan. Campaigners say groundwater levels have dropped over 22 meters since Coca-Cola started operating the facility in the desert region nine years ago.

A study paid for by Coca-Cola and conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute in 2008 recommended that the plant be shut down, relocated or stop extracting groundwater. But the company continues to extract groundwater in Kala Dera, say campaigners, even during last summer’s drought.

‘Coca-Cola has no business operating in Kala Dera when children, women and even farmers don’t have enough water to drink and make a living,’ said Mahesh Yogi of the Kala Dera Sangharsh Samiti, a local campaign group.

Coca-Cola continues to insist it aims to be a 'net-zero' user of groundwater in India by the end of 2010.

Government Moves to Claim $48 Million Compensation from Coca-Cola

Will Set Up Claims Tribunal to Process Claims from Affected Parties

For Immediate Release

July 2, 2010

New York: In a major step towards holding Coca-Cola accountable for damages it has caused in India, the state government of Kerala decided on Wednesday to move forward with the formation of a tribunal that will hear and award compensation claims against the Coca-Cola company.

The Kerala state cabinet's decision is based on the report and recommendations of a High Power Committee which released a report on March 22, 2010 holding Coca-Cola responsible for causing pollution and water depletion in Plachimada in the state of Kerala in south India.

Using the "polluter pays principle", the High Power Committee had recommended that Coca-Cola be held liable for Indian Rupees 216 crore (US$ 48 million) for damages caused as a result of the company's bottling operations in Plachimada.

The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada has remained shut down since March 2004 as a result of the community-led campaign in Plachimada challenging Coca-Cola's abuse of water resources.

The tribunal will consider claims of compensation from the Coca-Cola company relating to "water and air pollution, loss of agricultural crops and animals, diseases affecting human beings in the surrounding area due to the excess drawal and pollution of groundwater and surface water by the Company," according to the report accepted by the state government. The tribunal will also consider claims related to "loss of wages and loss of educational opportunities."

The report noted that the suggested figure of $48 million was "indicative in nature" and "should not be treated as the outer limit of compensation." The report also stated that the "actual compensation will have to be calculated by an Authority duly set up for this purpose."

Local activists engaged in the campaign to shut down Coca-Cola's bottling plant and hold the company accountable for the damages it has caused welcomed the move by the state government. They also called for pursuing criminal charges against Coca-Cola for the various laws it had violated, a course of action also supported by the High Power Committee.

"The Kerala government's integrity and decisiveness can be demonstrated only when it follows up on the other recommendations of the High Power Committee which unequivocally stated the compensation is not to be viewed as a quid pro quo for not initiating criminal charges," said R. Ajayan of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee, a statewide organization that has been instrumental in moving the compensation process forward.

In spite of the overwhelming evidence implicating Coca-Cola in Plachimada, the company denies any wrongdoing in Kerala. Coca-Cola has also questioned the legitimacy of the High Power Committee, a body set up by the state government of Kerala that is one of the highest possible empowered committees to be set up in the state.

Recent reports also suggest that the company will use legal maneuvers to tie up the compensation process in courts.

"Coca-Cola has been forced to shut down its operations in Plachimada since 2004, and no amount of legal maneuvering will help it recover its disrepute or change the final outcome. The best thing Coca-Cola can do is to accept the will of the people and the state - pack up, pay up and leave," said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, an international campaigning organization.

The recommendations of the High Power Committee are here.

A list of the members of the High Power Committee is here.

For more information, visit www.IndiaResource.org

Contacts:
R. Ajayan, Plachimada Solidarity Committee +91 98471 42513
C. R. Bijoy, People's Union for Civil Liberties +91 98431 72584
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center +1 415 336 7584 (US)

---ends---

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Milking fog: the science of collecting drinking water

There is more to fog than you might think. Hundreds of litres of water, for example, and most of it of such a high quality that it can be drunk. It is possible to capture that water using nets and a group of experts in Germany have been discussing the concept of “milking fog” to supply drinking water in arid regions of the earth.

London once had a reputation as a foggy city but less well known is the mist of Iquique in northern Chile. However, this coastal city on the Pacific is a Mecca for fog scientists, according to Professor Otto Klemm. The climatologist’s eyes light up every time he mentions the place. “The fog is very dense there -- perfect for milking.” Klemm works at the Institute of Landscape Ecology at the University of Munster. By “milking” he means capturing fog for the purpose of scientific study. But the enormous nets Klemm and other scientists place in the landscape of South America and elsewhere are also used to collect drinking water.

The subject was discussed at the recent fifth International Conference on Fog, Fog Collection and Dew in Munster in northern Germany. Some 140 experts on fog from over 30 nations came together for the first time in Europe to discuss the topic.

Dry regions of the earth such as Iquique, which lies at the edge of the Atacama desert, have plenty of fog, a fact that could prove very useful to coming generations. Desert fog can supply water to areas where it is in short supply or where it may be scarce in future. “We’re not just talking about South America or Africa. Spain, for example, will probably experience a shortage of water in 50 to 100 years time.” Spain is already considering diverting rivers and building huge desalination plants.

A few regions in Spain, however, have plenty of fog. “There is a mountain chain on Spain’s eastern coast, for example, in the region around Valencia close to the sea. It has a similar geography to the Pacific coast of South America and Africa’s east. Clouds form over the sea, move over the land and fog is trapped by the mountains which can be milked,” says Klemm. But he also points out that milking fog cannot solve the problem of water shortage -- “at least not on a big scale.” But the German charity the Water Foundation is increasingly looking at fog as a source of water. “A few years ago we were laughed at. But we managed to achieve some success supplying water to small farmers and schools in Eritrea,” says Ernst Frost from the foundation. “In the foggy season it is possible to collect up to 170 litres of top quality water a day with a net. That’s enough for a really big family.” It has proven to be difficult, however, to train locals to maintain the nets. Frost says more education must be invested in that area. Because many Africans cannot afford to buy water from a tanker truck many women and children must walk miles to the next waterhole.

Klemm also highlights the low cost of collecting water with a net that costs about 13 dollars. The frame to support the net can be made of materials found at the site where it’s used. It is also not necessary to specially manufacture the nets. “The nets are made from woven synthetic fibres and are the same nets already used in many hot regions to provide shade from the sun,” he says.

The experts attending the conference also discussed ideas for using satellites to locate fog. Such information is already used by weather forecasters and by air traffic controllers. “But much of our work is basic research. We investigate what constitutes fog, how it develops, how polluted it is and what chemical reactions are taking place in the fog.” Klemm is conducting part of that research in a fog—rich forest in Taiwan. He has spent many nights there with local researchers trying to learn more of the secrets that are hidden in fog.

Source: The Hindu, 16th August 2010

Water levels in free fall

Groundwater levels in the state in free fall

GraphsThe quantum of groundwater Andhra Pradesh received earlier from 100,000 borewells is now obtained by drilling 260,000 borewells, said A K Jain, special secretary to the state’s irrigation and command area development department.

B Peddiraji, tehsildar of Butchayyapeta in Visakhapatnam district, added there is tremendous pressure on groundwater, with the level down to 91 metres in most villages. For instance, he cited, “Butchayyapeta mandal depends heavily on borewells as assured irrigation facilities are available only in three of its 32 panchayats.”

The April 2010 groundwater level report also said groundwater levels in the state is falling fast. Compared to last year there was a fall of 23.15 metres in Dhone mandal of Kurnool district. More than 80 villages across the state have seen a fall of more than four metres between 2009 and 2010, the report said.

“The quantum of water that was received by drilling 100,000 borewells is now obtained by drilling 260,000 borewells” — A K JAIN, Special Secretary, Irrigation and Command Area Development

“The fall of groundwater cannot be pegged to one cause (borewells). It is the result of deficit and infrequent rain, reduction in recharge area and lastly, over exploitation,” said Murli Krishna, director of the state’s groundwater department.

The April 2010 report also says that the groundwater level on an average in Andhra Pradesh has fallen 12 metres below ground level in the past year, the lowest since March 2007. Between May 1998 and March 2010 the water level has fallen two metres below average in the state (see graphs).

Despite heavy rains in 2008 the groundwater levels have only margi - nally risen in the state. According to officials the continuing fall is because of uneven rainfall across the state.

“Rainfall is the main source of groundwater recharge and during the last decade this source has become erratic and sometimes very low,” said Krishna. “People resort to groundwater because it is economical and easily available, and it consumes less time to drill a borewell,” he added. This is more so because of the limited surface water resources and their uneven distribution. Thus the strain on groundwater aquifers, mostly in upland areas, is increasing every day, Krishna said.

According to the Bureau of Statistics and Economics in Hyderabad, the total cultivated area in the state in 2008-09 was 6.7 million ha. Of this, 3.3 million ha was under surface irrigation and 3.4 million ha under groundwater irrigation. In 2006-07, the area under groundwater irrigation was 2.8 million ha, surface irrigation was 3.1 million ha.

As per the 2006-07 data of the groundwater department, there are 132 overexploited basins, 89 critical, 175 semi-critical and 833 safe basins (see table).

Andhra Pradesh is divided into 40 drainage basins and 81 sub basins of major and minor rivers. The 81 sub basins are divided into 1,229 groundwater micro basins of 100-300 sq km area based on drainage, geomorphology and hydrogeology. There is an addition of more than 50,000 groundwater extraction structures every year, said Krishna. In the last three decades well population—borewells and dugwells—increased from 0.8 million to 2.5 million.

But there is no record of the borewells that are dug illegally, admits C Suvarna, special commissioner at the state rural development department. The reason, she said, was the district water management authority under the groundwater department does not send them regular data. “When we question them they say the line departments, which include the mandal revenue office and the power department, do not submit any information to them,” she added.

They can just count the number of transformers in villages to find out the number of borewells, said Narshimha Reddy, a farmer from Velgonda village in Mahabubnagar. A 100 KW transformer supports 20 borewells.

Officials of the groundwater department say they collect and collate data in the state and have no policy-making or law-enforcing powers. “We are a technical department and can only assist other implementing agencies like the irrigation department and the rural development department in water conservation or regulation projects,” said Krishna.

Source: Down To Earth

No one is following regulations

Farmers take no permission, officers do not survey wells

Farmers say they don’t need permission to drill borewells because it is their rightThe Water, Land and Trees Act (WALTA) was enacted in 2002. Meant to regulate groundwater use, the Act requires farmers to register their borewells with the mandal revenue office after getting clearance from the district groundwater office. Farmers like Muniratnam Naidu in Chittoor district laugh at the idea of taking permission. “All one needs to do is hire a rig, pay money to a geologist and drill a borewell,” he said.

T Basavaiah, deputy tehsildar of Chittoor district’s K V Palle mandal, admitted to widespread violation of WALTA in the district. “We have seized three borewells this year for which permission was not sought,” he said. But the Act has helped monitor and record the extent of groundwater use and generated awareness among farmers, said A K Jain, special secretary to the state’s irrigation and command area development department.

Farmers consider groundwater their right. “The authorities have not provided us with alternative sources of irrigation. How can they stop us from finding something that is ours?” asked K Basappa, resident of Ramanapalli village in Mahabubnagar’s Hanwada mandal. Basappa drilled three borewells between 2009 and 2010 and did not apply for permission. No one questioned him either, he added. Hanwada mandal’s revenue officer, Anjana Devi, maintained no one could drill borewells without their knowledge.

Basappa said at least 300 borewells are functional in his village; there is no count of failed borewells. But the data with the mandal office shows one farmer sought permission to drill a borewell and only one drilled borewell without permission, which the district officials stopped well in time.

Officials get to know of borewells only if there are complaints, which are rare, said Basappa. Often if one farmer strikes water, his neighbour attempts to drill a borewell close to that spot. If there is disagreement between two farmers, cases go to the mandal revenue officer. After investigation, either one or both the borewells are sealed.

Mandal revenue officers claim they submit monthly reports to the groundwater department on the number of borewells. The revenue inspector and the village revenue officer are mandated under the law to visit each borewell site for verification. Farmers say officials hardly ever conduct field surveys.

Then there are bribes

Bal Swami of Burugupalle village in Mahabubnagar district said he tried to get permission for two borewells six years ago. He was denied permission but decided to get them drilled.

“We are required to go through different departments and that makes it tough. Bribes for permission can be expensive,” he said. In some cases farmers bribe mandal officials for power connections instead of taking permission, said B Peddiraji, tehsildar of Butchayyapeta in Visakhapatnam district. He admitted to WALTA violations. He said he received 100 applications for drilling borewells in Butchayyapeta mandal this year but the actual number of borewells drilled would surely be double. “They are doing it illegally all the time,” he said.

“To get permission for a borewell we are required to go through different departments. Bribes for permissions are expensive” —BAL SWAMI, Burugupalle village

In East Godavari district some farmers drill borewells without permission but manage approval certificates and power connections. Narisi Srinivas of Pydikonda village in the district’s Thondangi mandal said he spent Rs 85,000 on his borewell, which included money paid for clearances. The practice is rampant in the area, he added.

The tehsildar of Thondangi, C H V R Sudhakar, denied the bribery charges but admitted WALTA is violated. “It is not possible to verify everything physically. We received 85 applications for borewells this year; 40 were granted permission. We found people had sunk borewells at sites different from the ones mentioned in their applications. We have cancelled a few permissions because some of the applicants failed to maintain a minimum distance of 250 metres between two borewells, as is stipulated in WALTA,” said Sudhakar.

Jain, though, claimed that the legislation had facilitated complaints. He gave the example of a water bottling plant in Ranga Reddy district, which was shut after residents complained about it last year. He also said his department was framing policies to demystify the belief that groundwater is farmers’ property. “Farmers need to realize that groundwater is not an infinite resource,” he added.

Although WALTA is one of the best pieces of legislation on groundwater use it has not been effective on the ground because of lack of coordination between departments, said Palla Narendra, a hydrologist and associate professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Hyderabad.

Bappu Reddy, a farmer in Medak’s Yavapur village, said technology is the need of the hour. “We need technological assistance to locate groundwater,” he said.

WALTA is under review, said C Suvarna, special commissioner at the state rural development department. “We will either improve it or bring in a new law. We will involve experts and NGOs before formulating the policy,” she said.

Source: Down To Earth

Andhra's groundwater crisis & a trail of suicides

Groundwater has failed Andhra Pradesh’s farmers. Between 1997 and 2006, about 4,500 farmers committed suicide, unable to repay loans they had taken to drill borewells. MOYNA and ASHUTOSH MISHRA found farmers scoffing at rules to dig deeper for an uncertain resource. They have few alternatives. The Andhra government intends to check the increasingly depleting groundwater reserves by roping in farmers to monitor groundwater use. Will it result in a shift to less water-intensive crops?

Photos: Moyna

MAHABUBNAGAR

A Shekhar, 25, committed suicide a year ago. A resident of Burgupalle village in Andhra Pradesh’s Mahabub - nagar district, he had bought half a hectare (ha) for growing paddy.

He borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh to sink three borewells but did not find groundwater. Shekhar could not repay the debt, so he hung himself in his house. His wife, along with their two and four years old sons, left the village to find work in Hyderabad, said Bal Swami, once Shekhar’s neighbour.

Swami has a debt of Rs 5 lakh. He sunk 15 borewells between March and April this year. The deepest was 106 metres. Over the past six years he has sunk 39 borewells. Two yield water. He uses them to grow paddy on about a hectare to make ends meet. His remaining four ha lie unused.

In Velgonda village, 25 km from Burgupalli, farmer Venkat Reddy, 50, sank seven borewells—the deepest at 122 metres—in one day in April. Two yielded water. Rig owners refused to drill further because the rig was not powerful enough to drill through the rock bed. He is now contemplating a loan from a bank to repay the interest for the Rs 4 lakh he borrowed from lenders in his village. R Krishtaya Naik, sarpanch of Macharam village in the district, had to sell 1.2 ha to repay the debt incurred four years ago after sinking three borewells.

Explaining the desperate attempts of farmers to find water, Swami said if one hits water, one earns. And then the loans can be repaid in two to five crop seasons. Otherwise, it’s a difficult life forcing farmers to take extreme steps such as suicide.

Finding groundwater is a gamble. Between 2009 and 2010 the groundwater department of Andhra Pradesh investigated 15,263 sites and recommended 7,335 sites for borewells.

“There is no foolproof way of finding water,” said Sudershan Reddy of Vepur village where 80 borewells were drilled this year; four yield water. Geologists sometimes help farmers find the spot where groundwater would be found. They charge Rs 1,000-5,000. Sometimes people blessed with special powers, or water diviners as they are called, bail out farmers by locating the right spot. They use coconuts, neem twigs to locate groundwater, and usually charge Rs 500 or more

“Even with machines and gadgets we are not 100 per cent sure of hitting water. We cannot disregard native knowledge,” said N Eswara Reddy, capacity building expert with the groundwater department. “Use of coconuts for precision could be debated, but not dismissed,” he added.

CHITTOOR

Dhanalakshmi’s eyes turn moist every time she looks at the portrait of her husband in her house in Ayyavandlapalle village in Pulicherla mandal. Her husband Siddaiah Naidu consumed pesticide in 2004 after the five borewells he sunk on his 1.2 ha failed.

Dhanalakshmi’s husband killed himself after five borewells failed him (Photo: Saroj Mishra)His neighbour, K Muniratnam Naidu, has sunk seven borewells in the past nine years. He is planning one more this year. “I cannot let my land be at the mercy of nature. If it does not rain the groundnut crop will be ruined, and we might starve,” he said.

In the nearby K V Palle mandal, Raja Reddy who owns about five ha, has tried to kill himself thrice. Seven borewells failed Raja; he has a debt of Rs 2 lakh with an interest rate of 3 per cent per month. He returns late to avoid creditors who pester his wife Lakshamma.

Raja’s daughters live with relatives 20 km away because of the everyday embarrassment with creditors. “He asks me to leave the village with him because he cannot stand the humiliation of turning a pauper. But where do we go and what do we do?” his wife asked.

Raja drilled his last borewell to 198 metres. He wanted the water for his tomato crop, which fetches good returns. Fellow villager A Venkataramana Reddy said there were a few small tanks in the village for irrigation, which remain dry in summer.

“We need water and cannot grow anything without borewells, so we keep trying despite failures,” he said. Venkataramana, who grows groundnut, has two failed borewells, a debt of Rs 1 lakh with an interest of 3 per cent per month.

Drilling to new depths

Chittoor is prone to drought, which makes it worse. As per official records about 56 per cent of the total irrigated area in the district is watered through borewells. Therefore, drilling to new depths is not unusual. The average depth of groundwater in the western mandals of the district is about 152 metres, said Vijay Shekhar of the nonprofit, Foundation for Ecological Security. T Basavaiah, deputy tehsildar of K V Palle mandal, though, claimed groundwater in the mandal is at 106 metres. A farmer claimed it is deeper.

K Muniratnam will try drilling the eighth borewell. Or, he will starve (Photo: Saroj Mishra)“We drilled to 170 metres on the advice of a geologist. We did not find water. The geologist asked us to drill to 213 metres, but the rig was not powerful enough. We gave up,” said Muniratnam Naidu of Ayyavandlapalle.

The density and depth of borewells are a result of the shift to commercial crops, lack of alternative irrigation sources and deficit rainfall, said B Venkat Reddy of the non-profit, Sahajeevan. “Chittoor has seen a shift to tomato farming. It requires intensive irrigation between February and July, the driest period,” he said. “Tomatoes fetch good money, with farmers receiving as much as Rs 35 per kg at times.”

VISAKHAPATNAM

While the dry regions of the state take the lead in the number of borewells, coastal areas are not far behind in groundwater exploitation.

Donkina Jaleswar Rao, former sarpanch of Butchayyapeta village, borrowed Rs 60,000 from a moneylender two years ago for digging a borewell in his 0.6 ha. Despite drilling to 100 metres, he could not find water. He has a debt of Rs 1.4 lakh and has no clue how he will clear it. The rig owner charged him Rs 80 per foot (0.3 metres) of drilling; the pipe, called casing, came for Rs 250 per 0.3 metres. He gave up after 100 metres as he had spent all his money. “Now I have to depend on the rains for paddy and sugarcane,” he said.

D Bheema Shankar Rao, deputy director of groundwater department, denied pressure on groundwater in the district. Groundwater in the 42 basins of the district was within the safe limit, and while the average groundwater level in the district during May was 8.2 metres, it was 5.57 metres in November, which was normal, he said.

With Visakhapatnam emerging as an industrial hub, organizations like Fishermen’s Youth Welfare Association led by T Sankar have launched a campaign against groundwater mining by industries. Last year, Sankar wrote to the chairman of the state Coastal Zone Management Authority and the member secretary of the state pollution control board alleging that Hetro Drugs, a pharma company, was drawing water at Rajayyapeta village turning the water in surrounding areas saline. He is awaiting reply.

There is an undercurrent in Tagarapuwalsa town, 25 km from Visakhapatnam, against Divi’s Laboratory. The pharma unit has set up a pump house with four borewells on the banks of the Gosthani, which serves the drinking water and irrigation needs of over a million people. Rao, though, said the unit had not polluted the river.

Source: Down To Earth

Water crisis hits paddy farmers

NIZAMABAD: While many of the districts in the state are reeling under heavy rains and floods, Nizamabad district seems to be facing a peculiar problem of water scarcity. The worst hit are the paddy farmers.

Agriculture department officials said paddy sowing has not crossed even 50 per cent of the target though the season would end on August 15. Confirming the worst fears, a farmer A Subbaiah of Varni mandal told TOI that the ryots were scared to cultivate paddy due to shortage of water.

"Only some farmers who have sufficient water in their borewells are opting for paddy," Subbaiah said. He further said a majority of the ryots were shifting towards irrigated dry (ID) crops like maize, jowar, soyabean and pulses.

While almost all projects in Telangana region received copious inflows following incessant rains, the water level in the district irrigation projects has hit dead storage level. "Except Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP), no other project has received water inflows," an irrigation official said.

Sources said paddy was sown only in 45,512 hectares as against 94,267 hectares of normal command area for the kharif season. Maize crop has almost reached the target with a sown area of 48,436 ha as against the target of 54,086 ha. Other crops like green gram (20,597 ha), black gram (16,149 ha), red gram (7,471 ha), soyabean (66,676 ha), cotton (17,746 ha) and turmeric (13,149 ha) have all crossed the targeted normal area cultivation.

Joint director, agriculture, Gulam Mohammed Samdani told TOI that farmers were using borewell water to cultivate paddy in the district. "Only a few farmers who were not interested in shifting their crop pattern had gone in for paddy," he said.

A ryot S Venkateshwar Rao of Renjal mandal said he used to cultivate paddy in the entire stretch of 10 acres when water from Nizamsagar project was available. "But now, I cannot cultivate paddy because of construction of Singur project in the upper reaches of Nizamsagar project," he bemoaned.

In view of taking Manjeera water to Hyderabad for drinking purposes, Singur balancing reservoir was built in Medak district. "Since the reservoir came into being, inflows into Nizamsagar have dwindled. The farmers are hit badly because of this," an irrigation expert said.

Water level in the Nizamasagar project is almost at dead storage. While it has 17.8 tmc storage capacity, only 760.74 mcft (not even 1 tmc) water is available. While 15.907 tmc of water is available in Singur as against its storage capacity of 30 tmc, all other small and medium projects like Pocharam, Koulasnala, Ramadugu, Singeetham and Kalyani are down in the dumps with the water level hitting rock-bottom.

Source: TOI 10 Aug 2010

General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right

UN news centre 28 July 2010 – Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

The 192-member Assembly also called on United Nations Member States and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.

The Assembly resolution received 122 votes in favour and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting.

The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.

Today’s resolution also welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s request that Catarina de Albuquerque, the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, report annually to the General Assembly as well.

Ms. de Albuquerque’s report will focus on the principal challenges to achieving the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, as well as on progress towards the relevant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs, a series of targets for reducing social and economic ills, all by 2015, includes the goals of halving the proportion of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and halving the number who do not have basic sanitation.

In a related development, Ms. de Albuquerque issued a statement today after wrapping up a nine-day official visit to Japan in which she praised the country for its nearly universal access to water and sanitation and for its use of innovative technologies to promote hygiene and treat wastewater.

But the Independent Expert said she was shocked that some members of the Utoro community near Kyoto, where Koreans have been living for several generations, still do not have access to water from the public network.

“People are also not connected to the sewage network, despite the fact that the surrounding area is largely covered by sewage service,” she said. “When floods occur, as happened one year ago, the lack of sewage and proper evacuation of grey water result in contamination of the environment, including with human faeces, posing serious health concerns.

“I am also worried that water and sanitation are extremely expensive for some people living in Utoro, who reportedly do not have a right to receive a pension.”