Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra along with India Climate Collaborative, WOTR Center for Resilience Studies (W-CReS) and Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR) have jointly released a detailed report on ways to secure water using natural ecosystem management to solve Maharashtra’s water crisis .
The report titled, ‘Securing water in the face of climate change through natural ecosystem management’ highlights the urgency of a collaborative and integrated approach to water management to combat desertification and improve drought resilience. The report, developed through a collaborative multi-stakeholder workshop held in March, also aligns with this year’s World Environment Day theme, ‘Land restoration, desertification and drought resilience,’ which emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between land and water resources.
“As the first rains arrive in many parts of India, this report is a timely call to action,” said Marcella D’Souza, director of W-CReS. “Without effective water management, we cannot fight desertification or build resilience to drought,” added D’Souza.
Water is central to India’s economic growth; However, poor management of water resources is affecting the country’s water security. This problem is exacerbated by climate change, due to increased heat stress, erratic rainfall, and changes in the water supply of glacial rivers.
The report highlights three critical water systems – river systems, smaller working units within larger river basins; rainfed/groundwater systems, areas with a lot of rainfed agriculture, coupled with seasonal irrigation from wells and wells and command/canal irrigation systems that bring water from dams for irrigation.
Shashi Shekhar, former Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said, “Maharashtra has 4,000 dams that have dried up rivers. Trillions of liters of water are stored in reservoirs but how much reaches farmers?”
Water scarcity is experienced as crop failure, increased hardship for women, water conflicts, rising costs and dependence on tankers, urban water crises, and negative impacts on wildlife. Several factors have contributed to increasing water scarcity, such as ecosystem disruption, intensive extraction practices, and the proliferation of thirsty cash crops. “The water flowing from the origin in the hills has decreased due to deforestation; wells next to the road down the streams and rivulets extract groundwater that further shortens the flow period. This reduces the availability of water in percolation tanks and dams that feed the canal irrigation system, and when combined with leakages, other wells, and flood irrigation along the path of the canal, it causes a lack for the last farmer. An exponential number of borewells have arrived in the rain catchment plains of the Deccan trap, depleting sub-surface aquifers and basal flows. Further, the trend of drilling borewells beyond the permitted depth may exploit deep aquifers,” Mr. Shekhar added.
Abhijit Ghorpade, Director, State Climate Action Cell, Government of Maharashtra said, “The large number of borewells being drilled has created a disaster in the hard rock geography.” Dr. Vijay Pakhmode, Commissioner (in-charge), Groundwater Survey and Development Agency and Project Director, Atal Jal, Government of Maharashtra, said, “Groundwater status in 80 talukas ranges from semi-critical to exploited due to groundwater extraction. ” Coupled with these highly extractive practices is insufficient focus on water harvesting, which exacerbates future shortages.
Recommendation
To overcome all challenges, a healthy natural ecosystem is the first step to ensure long-term access to water, which supports the well-being of human society. Benefit sharing, local governance, and sustainable income for the people are central to sustaining water interventions in the long term. In addition, it builds resilience to climate risks. This led to the choice of an ecosystem-based adaptation approach (EbA), which can address all priorities if implemented effectively. EbA’s focus is ecosystem restoration and enhancement of ecosystem services to protect society from the negative impacts of climate change.
Anoop Kumar, Additional Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra said, “We need to move towards more resilient and water efficient farming practices.”
Dr Sanjay Belsare, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Government of Maharashtra, said, “Collaboration between stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector, NGOs, and academic institutions, is essential to address water challenges holistically.”
