शनिवार, 8 मार्च 2008

River-linking pacts to end water woes

The governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat are poised to sign three new agreements to link their rivers in an attempt to harvest surplus water for irrigation and drinking purposes, and address shortages in some of the states. It could be a long-term solution to Mumbai's water woes.

The so-called river-linking schemes are part of an ambitious national river-linking project (RLP) being overseen by the Union ministry of water resources. However, experts said the decision to sign agreements such as these reflects a change in the focus of RLP, from linking geographically distant rivers to more realistic projects.

RLP was conceived by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2003 and envisaged connecting 30 rivers across India - 14 rivers in north India and 16 in peninsular India. The government believed that this would help irrigate 37 million hectares of land, generate 34,000 million kilowatts of electricity, control floods, and prevent drought.
Since then, experts have said it is not feasible to link divergent river systems. And states have bickered on the contours of the project.
All of which makes the three agreements that will be signed significant. The first of these could be signed between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and will link the rivers Parbati and Kalisindh to Chambal.

"The two states have reached a consensus on linking the rivers and the boundary issues involved," and will soon sign an agreement, said a water resources ministry official, who did not wish to be identified. According to officials at the National Water Development Agency (NWDA), an autonomous society under the government that carries out surveys and makes plans regarding water bodies and irrigation, the project will divert surplus water of two rivers, Parbati and Kalisindh, to two dams across the Chambal river, the Gandhisagar (in Madhya Pradesh) and Rana Pratap Sagar (in Rajasthan).

"The water from these two rivers will irrigate areas around the link canals and at the Kota barrage in Rajasthan. The water saved in the Chambal, by using the water from these rivers will be used in the drought-prone areas of the upper Chambal," said an NWDA official who did not wish to be identified.

According to the feasibility report discussed by the two state governments, the length of the link to Rana Pratap Sagar dam will be 243 km. Similarly, Gujarat and Maharashtra are also on the verge of concluding their discussions on two river-linking projects.

Yamuna banks: A goldmine of water

AT THE heart of the protest against development projects on the Yamuna riverbed lies well-calculated science and concern for water security. In a study on water recharge potential of the Yamuna banks, protestors have found that the floodplains are a "goldmine of water" for Delhi.
In the estimate, it has been found that by concretising the riverbed with various development projects, Delhi loses the chance to save Rs 10,000 crore every year. These estimates were worked but by physicist Prof Vikram Soni of National Physical Laboratory, who said that underneath the floodplains lie Delhi's greatest water asset.
"According to the Master Plan, the riverbed area in Delhi is 97 sq km. The whole of it is course-grain sand up to a depth of 40 metres.

This feature is the key to the riverbed's water recharge capability," he said. This entire area can retain a whopping 2 billion cubic meter of water and the quality of the sand allows almost half of the retained water to be taken out for non-invasive use (not for drinking).
"That means every year Delhi can obtain around 1 billion cubic meter of water from the underground aquifers of the floodplains," he said. Now, if Delhi has to buy that amount of water, as per market value of water, it would cost Rs 10,000 crore.
And the cost of water will only escalate over time. In another study by Delhi University in year 2000, prepared on behalf of World Bank, the economic value of the floodplains from Wazirabad to Okhla for various purposes have been put to a very conservative Rs 711.

9 crore. The valuation of the river corridor was done on the basis of values derived from the hydrological functions of the river by recharging ground water, cost benefits of nutrient retention, fisheries, agriculture, melon farming that the river supports, its recreational value, etc.
"The point is that the river is priceless. So with concretisation the city loses an unmatched asset," Soni said.

Now, another tunnel road

AFTER BURNING its hands with the proposal for a tunnel road to link East and West Delhi, which invited flak from environmentalists as well as heritage conservationists in the Capital, the Delhi government is now working on yet another tunnel road project. To provide "hassle-free movement" to motorists on Marginal Bund Road (Pushta Road) in East Delhi, the PWD has proposed to construct a tunnel road, which will originate from Gandhi Nagar and will go up to Shastri Nagar.
The first project, which proposed to connect Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with the Commonweath Games village, was dropped last year when the Archaeological Survey of India withdrew its conditional permission on the direction of Union Culture Minister Ambika Soni. It threatened to damage the city's sensitive heritage zone between Purana Qila and Humayun's Tomb.

The new project, however, has nothing to do with the Commonwealth Games. The 1.
3-kilometre long tunnel would start from a small temple near India's largest wholesale garments market in Gandhi Nagar. It would first go under the rotary that leads to the old Yamuna Bridge and would also clear G.T. Road that leads to Kashmere Gate Inter-State Bus Terminus before merging with MB Road once again at Shastri Park.

The six-lane tunnel, said Public Works Department (PWD) officials, would provide much-needed relief to straight moving traffic, which often gets stuck in long snarls. "While slow moving traffic like hand-carts, cycle rickshaws and cargo three-wheelers will move on the surface road, the fast moving traffic will take the tunnel for a signal free and smooth ride," a senior PWD official said.

According to senior PWD officials, the proposal has already been cleared by Delhi government's sub-committee and need to be approved by the Delhi Development Authority's technical committee and Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) before a detailed project report is prepared and tenders are called. The engineers associated with the project, however, said the proposal has not been pursued on a priority.

The project, officials said, is a part to make MB Road from Akshardham flyover to Sabhapur Border in North East Delhi signal free. While the other road projects on this stretch including underpass at ITO Chungi and grade separators at Shastri Nagar and Raja Ram Kohli Marg intersections, have a deadline to meet, the PWD has not given any timeframe to this tunnel project.

"Though the project has been handed over to the PWD's commonwealth zone, it is not in the list which requires completion before the Commonwealth Games 2010. That is the reason why the progress on this proposal has been a little slow," said an engineer associated with the project.


HINDUSTAN TIMES

'Delhi to blame for Yamuna pollution'

DELHI IS not only polluting the Yamuna but also illegally taking water from it. This is the missive of Uttar Pradesh government to the Central Water Commission (CWC) on measures being taken by the state government to make Yamuna pollution-free.

Principal Secretary, Irrigation, Manjit Singh, in a letter to the CWC chairman, said a large quantity of sewage was being released into Yamuna from drains located between Wazirabad and Okhala barrage in Delhi. In its order passed on February 18, the Supreme Court had directed the state governments of UP, Haryana, Delhi and Uttarakhand to take measures to make Yamuna pollution free.

Later a meeting of the officers of all the states was held under the chairmanship of CWC chairman at New Delhi. All the states were directed to implement the apex court directives and to expedite work.

An irrigation department officer said, "As per the inter-state agreement signed by all the four states in 1994, the states had to ensure that 829-cusec fresh water flowed in Yamuna between Tajewala (Haryana) and Delhi. But during inspection it was found that merely 160-cusec fresh water was available in the river.

All the states were directed to ensure availability of fresh water in the river as per the agreement", he said. Singh said since sewage was released into Yamuna by Delhi, only polluted water was left in Okhala barrage.

"Though, Delhi Jal Board says it is a return flow of Yamuna, in reality it is mere effluent and sewage," he said. "The UP government draws water from Yamuna to release it into Agra canal.

This water was being used for domestic as well as agriculture use in both Agra and Mathura towns. The polluted water was having an adverse effect on the health of the people as well as crop production," he added.

"Though the court had directed the Delhi government to establish a tertiary treatment plant using natural technologies for recycling sewage water into a water source fit for domestic use, the Delhi Jal Board has put the proposal of tertiary treatment on the backburner," an officer said.

गुरुवार, 6 मार्च 2008

Mumbai, Delhi among world's dirtiest cities

Mumbai and Delhi are among the 25 dirtiest cities in the world while the four Indian metros and Bangalore are among the 20 densest cities, according to the Forbes magazine.

The US business magazine also lists Sukinda in Orissa and Vapi in Gujarat among the 10 most polluted places globally.

While listing Mumbai as the seventh dirtiest, the magazine also cites a recent private sector proposal, Vision Mumbai, which seeks $1 billion government aid for infrastructure, pollution control and economic growth strategy.

Delhi at No.24 fares little better but gets drubbing for the pollution in Yamuna river, which is devoid of marine life and where "garbage and sewage flow freely, creating a rich environment for the growth of water-borne diseases contributing to extremely high rates of infant morbidity."

In neighbouring Bangladesh, Dhaka, with lead-poisoned air and water pollution from pesticide use, gets the dubious distinction of being the second dirtiest city in the world.

The top slot as the dirtiest city in the world is taken by Baku in Azerbaijan, suffering life-threatening levels of air pollution emitted from oil drilling.

The list, now on the magazine's website, is based on Mercer Human Resource Consulting's ranking of over 200 cities worldwide on levels of air pollution, waste management, water potability, hospital services, medical supplies and the presence of infectious diseases. New York was used as the norm.

In an earlier Forbes list of the 20 densest urban areas in the world, Mumbai and Kolkata occupied the top two slots, packing in over 23,000 people per square kilometre.

India and China combine to claim nine of the 20 slots, according to 2007 statistics from citymayors.com.

Chennai is at No.8, Delhi at No.13 and Bangalore at No.19 in the list of densely populated cities. Karachi in Pakistan is at No.3.

Living in a dense place affects quality of living, unless you have loads of money and the place is gentrified like Tokyo and New York, the magazine commented. Dense is, however, a relative term. "A Mumbai native visiting New York is bound to feel like a New Yorker vacationing on a Wyoming dude ranch," it added.

In Forbes' list of 10 most polluted places on earth, two Indian towns figure. In Sukinda, Orissa, large swathes of the area's surface water and drinking water contain very high covalent chromium levels, potentially affecting 2.6 million people, the magazine said.

Sukinda is home to almost all of the country's chromite ore deposits and one of the largest opencast chromite ore mines in the world.

In Vapi, the pollutants are chemicals and heavy metals from industrial estates, potentially affecting over 70,000 people. Mercury in the groundwater here is reported to be 96 times higher than the World health Organisation (WHO) standards.

Local produce can contain up to 60 times more heavy metals, such as copper, chromium, cadmium and zinc than non-contaminated produce in control groups, Forbes reported.

China and Russia contributed another two cities each to the 10 most polluted places list, prepared by the non-profit Blacksmith Institute.

"In some towns, life expectancy approaches medieval rates, and birth defects are the norm, not the exception," according to the institute. "In others, children's asthma rates are measured above 90 percent and mental retardation is endemic."

Forbes added: "Fast-track economic growth and years of unregulated mining and chemical production have laid waste to the homes of millions."

HINDUSTAN TIMES

मंगलवार, 4 मार्च 2008

On the hidden cost of “free” water


David Foster is passionate about piped water supply to everyone including the poor and sent us this blog post:

What is this picture hiding ?


According to David Foster, it is the cost of ‘free’ water

What I’m attempting to convey metaphorically through these images is the cost of ‘free’ water supplied by tankers or a public standpost. The time taken by the women (and its almost always women or young girls) to reach the source, wait for the water, and go back home could be used more productively if the households had water connections. Although policy makers recognize the “opportunity cost” when their own time is wasted, we often forget that the poor experience “opportunity costs” as well. We can try to estimate the value of that lost time by thinking of other household chores, handicraft making and educational opportunities that are forever lost because of the time demands for carrying water.

Although water supply in virtually all Indian cities is heavily subsidized, very few BPL (Below Poverty Line) families have household connections. While upper income families benefit from those subsidies, the BPL families are often forced to buy water from private vendors or carry water from public stand posts, water tankers, or public fountains and wells. Unfortunately, even where this water is provided free of charge, we often underestimate the true cost incurred by the poor in obtaining it.

Spend a few minutes with the interactive sheet provided below and see what you think is the real cost of that “Free” water provided to the poor. Not only will this exercise help us to better understand those costs, but it will also help to emphasize that any planning for the poor must always be done with the poor. Once planners and citizens better understand the real size of these costs, they will also understand why household connections are usually a much better (and cheaper) way to provide water than “free” public stand posts.

New drinking water and irrigation projects

The central government has declared 14 water resources projects as National Projects subject to working out the mode of financing in consultation with the ministry of finance and Planning Commission.
Accordingly, 90 per cent cost of the irrigation and drinking water component of these projects will be provided as central grant after the techno-economic appraisal of the detailed project report and the Planning Commission has received investment clearance.
This was stated by minister of state for water resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav in Parliament today.

The irrigation benefits from these projects are estimated to be about 21 lakh ha apart from additional indirect irrigation benefits and availability of drinking water. The details of the 14 National Projects are given below.

NATIONAL PROJECTS
S.No. Name of the Project State
1 Teesta Barrage West Bengal
2 Shahpur Kandi Punjab
3 Bursar Jammu & Kashmir
4 2nd Ravi Vyas Link Punjab
5 Ujh multipurpose project Jammu & Kashmir
6 Gyspa project Himachal Pradesh
7 Lakhvar Vyasi Uttranchal
8 Kishau Himachal Pradesh /Uttranchal
9 Renuka Himachal Pradesh
10 Noa-Dehang Dam Project Arunanchal Pradesh
11 Kulsi Dam Project Assam
12 Upper Siang Arunanchal Pradesh
13 Gosikhurd Maharashtra
14 Ken Betwa Madhya Pradesh


Foreign aided water projects

The minister also said no project for building sea walls along the coastline was presently under implementation with assistance from external funding agencies. However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide technical assistance to Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra in preparing technically, economically, environmentally and socially viable investment proposal to address coastal erosion problems and introduce procedures for sustainable coastal protection and shoreline management under the sustainable coastal protection and management project.
The minister, however, said that a number of water resources projects are currently under implementation with assistance from external funding agencies. These projects include:

S No Funding Agency Name of Projects State
1 World Bank Karnataka community based tank management project Karnataka
2 World Bank Madhya Pradesh water sector restructuring project Madhya Pradesh
3 World Bank Rajasthan water sector restructuring project Rajasthan
4 World Bank UP water sector restructuring project Uttar Pradesh
5 World Bank Maharashtra water sector improvement project Maharashtra
6 World Bank Hydrology Project-II Multi-State
7 World Bank Tamil Nadu irrigated agriculture modernisation and water bodies restoration and management projects Tamil Nadu
8 World Bank Andhra Pradesh community based tank management project Andhra Pradesh
9 World Bank Karnataka community based tank management project Karnataka
10 Asian Development Bank Chhattisgarh irrigation development sector project Chhattisgarh
11 JBIC Japan Modernization of Kurnool-Cuddapah Canal Andhra Pradesh
12 JBIC Japan Rengali irrigation project Orissa
13 JBIC Japan Rajasthan minor irrigation improvement project Rajasthan
14 JBIC Japan Andhra Pradesh irrigation livelihood improvement project Andhra Pradesh
15 Germany Minor Irrigation Project Maharashtra