UPSC EDITORIAL ANALYSIS : Preparing India for water stress, climate resilience
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: The Hindu
• Prelims: Current events of national and international importance(Ground water, world Bank, UN Water Conference, SDG-6, WASH, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, etc
• Mains GS Paper II & III: Geographical features and their locations- change in critical geographical features etc
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
• India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts a hotter summer and longer heat waves from April to June.
INSIGHTS ON THE ISSUE
Context
Groundwater;
• Groundwater is the water present below the earth’s surface and is a vast resource of water.
• Almost 22 percent of water is below the surface land in the form of groundwater.
• World Bank report: India is the largest groundwater user.
Importance of Groundwater:
• Groundwater is the backbone of India’s agriculture and drinking water security in rural and urban areas
• It meets nearly 80% of the country’s drinking water and two-thirds of its irrigation needs.
• Groundwater is pivotal to India’s water security.
Water crisis:
• It may be physical or economic
• Factors for water crisis: Rapid urbanization industrialisation unsustainable agricultural practices climate change erratic rainfall patterns water overuse inefficient water management pollution inadequate infrastructure lack of ‘belongingness’ among stakeholders runoff due to high rain along with soil erosion and sedimentation.
• Rapid urbanization
• industrialisation
• unsustainable agricultural practices
• climate change
• erratic rainfall patterns
• water overuse
• inefficient water management
• inadequate infrastructure
• lack of ‘belongingness’ among stakeholders
• runoff due to high rain along with soil erosion and sedimentation.
• Water scarcity: It leads to the poor functioning of ecosystems, threatens food and water security, and, ultimately, affects peace.
• According to the World Resources Institute: 17 countries face ‘extremely high’ levels of water stress which is threatening to result in conflict, unrest and peace among people.
Background:
• India houses 18% of the world’s population on 4% of the earth’s surface area and has just 4% of global freshwater resources.
• Nearly half its rivers are polluted, and 150 of its primary reservoirs are currently at just 38% of their total live storage capacity.
• India is the largest user of groundwater in the world. Three-quarters of India’s districts are hotspots for extreme climate events.
• Three-quarters of India’s districts are hotspots for extreme climate events.
Relation between Water and Economy:
• Water connects hydrological, food, and energy systems, impacting millions of people.
• Precipitation is the primary source of soil moisture and water stored in vegetation (green water) and the water available in rivers and aquifers (blue water).
• Both blue and green water impact the food we grow — irrigating crops, influencing harvests, and being critical to the economy. This sector employs the most and is increasingly climate vulnerable.
• This sector employs the most and is increasingly climate vulnerable.
• The India Employment Report 2024: It shows that agriculture still employs around 45% of the population and absorbs most of the country’s labor force.
• Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) study: It showed that monsoon rainfall is changing patterns in India with 55% of ‘tehsils’ or sub-districts seeing a significant increase of more than 10% in southwest monsoon rainfall in the last decade(compared to the previous three). The increased rainfall is frequently coming from short-duration, heavy rain, affecting crop sowing, irrigation and harvesting. Making the agricultural sector more resilient to climatic and water stresses matters for jobs, growth and sustainability.
• with 55% of ‘tehsils’ or sub-districts seeing a significant increase of more than 10% in southwest monsoon rainfall in the last decade(compared to the previous three).
• The increased rainfall is frequently coming from short-duration, heavy rain, affecting crop sowing, irrigation and harvesting.
• Making the agricultural sector more resilient to climatic and water stresses matters for jobs, growth and sustainability.
• Water is a key component of the world’s clean energy transition.
• Green hydrogen is an important pillar for decarbonising industry and long-distance transport sectors It is produced using water and electricity sourced from renewables.
• It is produced using water and electricity sourced from renewables.
• Pumped storage hydropower which acts as a natural battery and is essential to balance the power grid load. It is an important component of a clean but reliable power system.
• It is an important component of a clean but reliable power system.
Climate crisis and its impact on hydrometeorological disasters:
• According to the UN World Water Development Report 2020: Almost 75% of natural disasters in the last two decades were related to water.
• According to CEEW analysis(between 1970 and 2019): the number of flood associated events (such as landslides, thunderstorms and cloud bursts) increased by up to 20 times in India.
• Freshwater, one of the nine planetary boundaries, has been transgressed (2023 study).
#### The ingredients of water security
#### ● Attaining water security will need a mix of the right policies, judicious use of water, including reuse of urban wastewater, and finance for adapting to a changing world.
#### ● Effective water governance needs policies that recognise its interactions with food and energy systems.
#### ○ CEEW and International Water Management Institute (IWMI) analysis shows that although India has adopted several policies
#### ■ most do not recognise this nexus while planning or at the implementation stage.
#### ■ Scaling up of green hydrogen is desirable, the link with water availability is not always considered.
#### ● The impact of scaling up solar irrigation pumps on groundwater levels must be analyzed to deploy the technology where there is an optimal mix of solar resource and higher groundwater levels.
#### ● Policies should incorporate the food-land-water nexus through localized evidence and community engagement.
#### ● India needs to focus on the judicious use of blue and green water through water accounting and efficient reuse.
#### ● The National Water Mission targets increasing water use efficiency by 20% by 2025.
#### ● The Atal Mission on Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 calls for reducing non-revenue water, which is lost before it reaches the end user, to less than 20% in urban local bodies.
#### ○ These are not backed by any baseline set using water accounting principles that will help quantify the “20 percent” change in freshwater use.
#### ○ In the absence of water use data(for the reference year): It is difficult to quantify the potential water saving in one sector, such as agriculture, that can then be diverted to other sectors
#### ■ such as industries or domestic purposes, which will drive India’s water demand.
#### ● Water accounting is essential for promoting water use efficiency and creating incentives for investments in treated wastewater reuse.
Legally binding instruments on regulation of trans-boundary river water courses:
• UN Water Convention 1997
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Water Convention 1992
Way Forward
• We must move from panic reactions when disaster strikes (like the water crisis in Bengaluru), to understand and respond to the chronic nature of risks we face.
• Climate action cannot be left to a few sectors or businesses. Nor can environmental sustainability be reduced to sapling plantation drives over a few days.
• Nor can environmental sustainability be reduced to sapling plantation drives over a few days.
• Leverage financial tools to raise money for climate adaptation in the water sector. India’s climate action has been largely focused on mitigation in the industrial, energy, and transport sectors.
• India’s climate action has been largely focused on mitigation in the industrial, energy, and transport sectors.
• More funding is needed for adaptation-specific interventions such as: strengthening wastewater management providing incentives to promote climate-resilient agricultural practices (micro irrigation and crop diversification) scaling up desalination plants as an alternative water source for thermal plants and green hydrogen production.
• strengthening wastewater management
• providing incentives to promote climate-resilient agricultural practices (micro irrigation and crop diversification)
• scaling up desalination plants as an alternative water source for thermal plants and green hydrogen production.
• Market innovations such as India’s Green Credit Programme have the potential to partially bridge the adaptation funding gap by encouraging Investment in wastewater treatment desalination plants agricultural extension services.
• Investment in wastewater treatment
• desalination plants
• agricultural extension services.
• Considering the investments in India under Corporate Social Responsibility (between 2014-15 and 2020-21), there is a potential to leverage about ₹12,000 crore worth of investments every year.
• Pursuing more coherence in water, energy and climate policies, creating data-driven baselines to increase water savings, and enabling new financial instruments and markets for adaptation investments. A water-secure economy is the first step towards a climate-resilient one.
• A water-secure economy is the first step towards a climate-resilient one.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India? (UPSC 2019) (200 WORDS, 10 MARKS)
Editorial Analysis – 22 Apr 2024