With several long rivers drying up, India is facing a water crisis like never before. One of the major rivers of the Bundelkhand region—the Ken River that flows over a stretch of over 450 km across two states—has almost dried up. In the summer months, towns in central India depend on the Ken for their water needs. This year those needs haven’t been met. As of June, some towns, like Banda in Uttar Pradesh, have no water at all.
Disturbingly, this seems to be a global phenomenon. The first-ever assessment of the world’s longest free-flowing rivers conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has yielded alarming results. Published in May 2019, the study, which focussed on the location and extent of these rivers, revealed that only 37% of the planet’s 246 long free-flowing rivers remain.
According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), three major river basins in India, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery, have been severely distressed at the end of June this year. The 10-year storage trend suggests Cauvery should be at 22% water capacity, but it is only at 12.5%. Water storage in the Godavari and Krishna river basins are at 8.7% and 5.7%, nearly half the average for this time of the year.
Indian rivers are being threatened by multiple factors like climate crises, indiscriminate construction of dams, and the increasing shift towards hydropower, as well as local factors like sand mining. The loss of river connectivity because of dams and development projects has resulted in most of our longest rivers drying up drastically. Today, as high as 96% of our rivers are in the 10 km to 100 km range. (Long rivers are in the 500-1000 km range.) We need long, free-flowing rivers because they act as natural barriers to environmental degradation and natural calamities like droughts and floods. A dam in the wrong place can play havoc with the region’s water security as well as biodiversity.
The Composite Water Management Index Report, released by the NITI Aayog in June 2018, highlighted that 600 million people in India are facing high to extreme water stress. “India’s per capita water availability plummeted from 1,820 cubic meters in 2001 to 1,545 in 2011. This is predicted to keep declining each year (1,340 in 2025; 1,140 in 2030), and nearing 1,000 cubic meters, considered as water scarcity conditions,” says Suresh Babu S V, Director-Rivers, Wetlands & Water Policy, WWF-India.
“And we haven’t yet added the water quality dimension,” he adds.
On top of the existing scarcity, we have witnessed a slow start to the monsoon with hardly any rain so far. With fears of a deficit monsoon this year, things are looking grim for the country. In such a scenario, the river story is a very crucial issue of national interest that calls for urgent action.
So what can authorities do to save our last free-flowing long rivers?
As a first step, we need to map free-flowing rivers in our country. Second, we need to move towards ensuring water in our rivers: right quantity, right quality at the right time. Offsetting the loss of river water will require a reconsideration of the current water allocating policies, and better management of water footprint across sectors – domestic, urban, agriculture, industrial and energy. Incentivising good practices such as reuse and recycling water, and dis-incentivising bad ones such as pollution could make a difference.
“We will need financial institutions, investors, to have decision-making frameworks based on water risks and adoption of better water management practices,” says Babu. “For rivers to be healthy, we need freshwater flows, healthy catchments and tributaries.”
There are some things individuals can do as well. “The power of individual action should not be underestimated,” says Babu. “Just by doing the basic things, we can make up to a 20% reduction in water waste.” The good work can begin at our homes. Like the carbon footprint, we need to start measuring our water footprint and keep that in check.
From simply talking about it with friends and family to demanding products with low water footprint to actually coming forward to map and monitor the local water resources, there are a number of ways in which the individual can contribute, all of which are urgent and important. Last year, in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 20,000 women came together to work for four years to build 3,500 recharge wells and several boulder checks (using pebbles to slow down rainwater flow) to get the dried-up Naganadhi river to flow again.
As Babu puts it quite simply: “Be a friend to your wetlands and rivers.” Adopt a river today.
