CHENNAI: At the historic Mahabalipuram a few days ago, an All India Secretaries’ Conference on Water Vision@2047-Way Ahead was organised by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti. The event was attended by Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and senior bureaucrats from 30-odd states.
The main topic of discussion during the two-day conference was the most ambitious and controversial river-interlinking projects, which were originally conceived and conceptualised in the 1980s but never saw the light of the day.
However, now, there is a renewed push to realise these mega projects. The conclave in Mahabalipuram was part of the Centre’s consensus-building exercise among the states.
The Centre and some ‘beneficiary’ lower riparian states argue that India has a rapidly growing problem of water stress and there is a need to use most of the runoff to meet its urban and agricultural needs. As a solution, the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) identified 30 link projects under two components — Himalayan and Peninsular —with a proposed budget of $168 billion.
The proposal involves a network of canals with an approximate length of 15,000 km and 3,000 reservoirs with a capacity to transfer 174 billion cubic metres of water each year from surplus to deficit basins to cater to the water demand of the growing population besides generating 34 million kilowatts of hydropower along with benefits like flood control and drought mitigation.
However, scientists, researchers and environmentalists point out that these projects are nothing but meddling with nature. They warn that changing the course of natural flow of rivers would lead to several cascading adverse effects.
Can impact Indian monsoon
A new research study titled “River interlinking alters land-atmosphere feedback and changes the Indian summer monsoon” published a few months ago in Nature Communications, is drawing a lot of eyeballs as it claims that massive river interlinking projects, which are proposed to offset increasing droughts and floods in India, can alter the Indian summer monsoon.
The study says these projects, which involve water transfer from surplus to deficit river basins through reservoirs and canals, were being conceived without an in-depth understanding of the hydro-meteorological consequences.
It claims increased irrigation from the transferred water reduces mean rainfall in September by up to 12% in already water-stressed regions of India. “We observe more drying in La Niña years compared to El Niño years. Reduced September precipitation can dry rivers post-monsoon, augmenting water stress across the country and rendering interlinking dysfunctional. Our findings highlight the need for model-guided impact assessment studies of large-scale hydrological projects across the globe,” it said.
The study was co-authored by reputed scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and University in Hyderabad.
The study looked at land and atmospheric variables such as soil moisture, heat, humidity, precipitation and wind speed, among others, to project what changes might occur if river interlinking is undertaken. The main assumption of the study is that all the proposed projects have been executed, which as on date looks unlikely since only the Ken-Betwa link project has reached its implementation stage so far.
The study found that while rainfall remains largely unaffected in the months of June, July and August, there is a statistically significant decline in September across several rain-fed regions.
The highest median reductions in rainfall in September were found to be in Odisha (12%), Andhra Pradesh (10%), Rajasthan and Gujarat (9%). Parts of central India in the core monsoon zone also show a decline in rainfall of 8%, along with declines in the western Himalayan foothills in Uttarakhand and east-central India (6.4%).
Likewise, some regions are expected to see a rise in rainfall in September, such as in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh (12%), as well as some parts of Maharashtra and Telangana (10%).
The study says adjacent river basins do not exist in isolation, and moving water from one to another may have additional impact due to atmospheric water. The results were built on the fact that towards the end of the Indian summer monsoon, when the soil is saturated and evapotranspiration (the supply of moisture from the land to the atmosphere) is fairly high, recycled precipitation contributes to about 25% of monsoon rainfall. If water from one basin were to be used to irrigate another basin, the combination of increased evapotranspiration and wind could reduce the late monsoonal rain by 12% in some arid regions of the country, and increase rainfall up to 10% in other parts.
In his response to the study, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat brushed it aside, calling its findings “hypothetical” and “institutional view”. “The interlinking of rivers is nothing new. Across the globe, several such projects were implemented and in India, there are intrastate links executed and working successfully,” he told this newspaper during the water conclave.
Debashree Mukherjee, secretary at the Department of Water Resources, also told this newspaper that before taking up any river interlinking project, a fool-proof environment impact assessment is done, which factors in all the aspects.
Current status
Minister Shekhawat said out of 30 projects, detailed project reports (DPRs) have been prepared for 15 of them. Besides, pre-feasibility studies are already over for all others and shared with the stakeholder states. “Water is a state subject and consensus among states is key to implement these projects. We are working towards it.”
As on date, there are five priority link projects (Ken-Betwa link project; Godavari-Cauvery link project; modified Parbati- Kalisindh-Chambal (PKC) Link Canal Project with Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP); Mahanadi-Godavari; and Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga link project, which have made some progress.
Only the Ken-Betwa link has reached the implementation stage as tripartite agreement among state governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh has been signed, according to which in a normal year, MP shall utilise 83 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) and UP shall use 60 TMC annually from the Ken system. Subsequent to signing of the agreement, the Centre approved the implementation of the project at an estimated cost of Rs 44,605 crore. In October last year, the Union environment ministry issued forest clearance for the project.
Sriram Vedire, chairman of the Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers (TF-ILR), told this newspaper that the agreement signing for the Godavari-Cauvery link, in which Tamil Nadu is a beneficiary state is also due anytime as consensus has almost been reached. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has thrown his weight behind the project. The Godavari-Cauvery link will bring water to drier districts like Kallakurichi and Tiruvannamalai. Chennai’s drinking water needs are also likely to be augmented.
Figure it out
1,400 cubic metres
Per capita availability of water at present in India amid global warming, population growth, pollution and change in land use
1,200 cubic metres
Is the projected per capita availability of water in the country by 2050. A large portion of the country is already classified as water stressed, as per the Central Water Commission