Tag: rainwater harvesting

India’s man-made water crisis threatens more cities

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Photo Courtesy : Ador T. Bustamante/Gulf News

Chennai water crisis isn’t an isolated case. 21 cities are expected to run out of water

  • 200,000 Indians die every year because they don’t have a safe water supply.
  • In theory, India receives enough rain every year to meet the needs of over a billion people.
  • A rapidly urbanizing and developing India needs to drought-proof its cities and rationalize its farming.

One of India’s largest cities, Chennai, is dealing with a crippling crisis: It has run out of water. In the middle of a particularly hot summer, the four lakes that supply the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu have dried up; together they contain just 1 per cent of the volume they did last year. Residents don’t have enough water to drink, bathe or wash clothes. People are working from home; malls have closed their bathrooms; and restaurants have shut their doors.

The natural instinct is to blame the situation on climate change and, indeed, the last monsoon’s rains were especially weak. While that’s certainly played a role, however, Chennai’s is largely a man-made disaster — one that more Indian metropolises are soon to suffer no matter the weather.

According to a study by the federal government think tank Niti Aayog, 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater by next year, including the capital New Delhi and the information technology hub of Bengaluru. Two hundred thousand Indians already die every year because they don’t have a safe water supply, the report said. A shocking 600 million people face “high to extreme” water stress.

As the world warms, the rains on which India depends have become erratic: They frequently fail to arrive on time, and they fall in a more disparate and unpredictable pattern.

– Mihir Sharma

That Chennai should have run dry first is instructive. Less than four years ago, the now drought-ridden city was inundated by devastating floods. Though located on a flood plain, the city had paved over the lakes and wetlands that might have helped the process of recharging the water table. As a result, heavy rains couldn’t percolate into aquifers under the city. Water pooled and surged aboveground. That reduced the resources available to deal with a crisis like this year’s.

Photo Courtesy  : istock

Elsewhere, demand is the issue. In theory, India receives enough rain every year to meet the needs of over a billion people. According to the country’s Central Water Commission, it requires at most 3,000 billion cubic metres of water annually and receives 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain.

Inefficiency and misuse

But too much water is wasted thanks to inefficiency and misuse. The situation is particularly dire in India’s northwest, irrigated by the great rivers that rise in the Himalayas. Indians are taught to revere the “green revolution” of the 1970s, when the northwest became India’s granary thanks to canals and tube wells that pumped out groundwater. That revolution, however, has turned out to be unsustainable. In 2011, 245 billion cubic metres of water was withdrawn for irrigation — a quarter of the total groundwater depletion globally that year.

Northwestern states should be growing less water-intensive crops; areas in the east of the country that receive much more plentiful rainfall should take their place as the bread baskets of India. But shifting cultivation patterns around is politically problematic. Farmers in the northwest don’t just expect to continue to grow water-intensive crops, they also want free or subsidised power with which to run the tube wells that pump out their rapidly depleting groundwater.

limate change activists have long argued that water will be the political flashpoint of the 21st century. Water-stressed India will likely be one of the first places to test that theory. The state of Tamil Nadu complains that it doesn’t receive its fair share of the waters of the Cauvery River; recently, the authority that nominally manages the river accused the government of neighbouring Karnataka of holding onto water that it should have allowed to flow down to the Cauvery delta.

Things might get even testier up north, where more than a billion people depend upon rivers that rise in the Himalayas. Bangladesh and Pakistan feel that India is being stingy with river water. Indian strategists constantly worry that China will divert water from the Himalayan rivers that rise in Tibet to feed the thirst cities in its own north.

The floods in Chennai are a warning. As the world warms, the rains on which India depends have become erratic: They frequently fail to arrive on time, and they fall in a more disparate and unpredictable pattern. The country can no longer afford to waste its dwindling resources.

A rapidly urbanising and developing India needs to drought-proof its cities and rationalise its farming. Water-harvesting must be a priority, alongside mechanisms for groundwater replenishment. As it is, every summer is hotter and less bearable. If Indians run short of water as well, one of the world’s most populous nations could well become unlivable.

NeeRain is proud to republish this blog to spread awareness about the situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This blog is published by:

Bloomberg

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Author : Mihir Sharma

Published On : 19 June, 2019

 

A world without water: Scary future lies ahead

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We are living in water-stressed times; there are water-haves and a rising tide of water have-nots.

Photo Courtesy : Deccan Chronicle

In his 2015 sci-fi thriller, The Water Knife, set in Phoenix, Arizona, sometimein the near, dystopian future, novelist Paolo aacigalupi talks about placesthat are catastrophically water-starved, where suburbs have morphed intoghost towns and where people are fleeing drought. A riveting character in the book called Angel is a “water knife”, tasked to infiltrate and sabotage the water supplies of competing states.

I read excerpts of the book. It is racy, graphic, and terrifying, and not in the realm of the implausible anymore. We are living in water-stressed times; there are water-haves and a rising tide of water have-nots. A friend who lives in Gurgaon recently tweeted that in upscale condominiums in his city, there is free, unmetered, unlimited water for residents and one can actually leave a tap running and go off for a week with no charge and minimal consequences.

Meanwhile, the residents of Chennai, India’s sixth largest city, are livingthrough horrific times, though it rained a little earlier this week. Chennai has basically almost run out of water. The city is almost entirely dependent on the northeast monsoon, which starts in October. Last year, it received very little rainfall. Even thousands of kilometers away from Chennai, it is hard to insulate oneself against its troubles. All the four reservoirs that supply Chennai its water are running dry this summer because of scant rainfall in 2018.

Chennai’s water crisis is front-page news; friends’ Facebook posts describe in grim detail what is it is like to go without enough water day after day. There are images and video clips of long queues of people around water tankers in searing heat; there have been reports of scuffles over water. Many of Chennai’s hotels are rationing water for guests, and some private companies have reportedly asked their staff to work from home.

This week, the state government has announced that a train will bring water to Chennai from Jolarpettai in Vellore district, more than 200 km, away at a huge cost. The Opposition DMK leadership is against the idea. In short, more troubles lie ahead.

Chennai makes the headlines because it is a metropolitan city. But it is by no means the only place suffering acute water stress. Nearly half the country is grappling with drought-like conditions, and this has been particularly bad this year in western and southern India because of the below-average rainfall.

The question that interests me most about Chennai is how did it get to this sorry state? Tamil Nadu was perhaps the first state in India to make rainwater harvesting (RWH) mandatory for all buildings in 2003. Chennai has more than eight lakh RWH structures. So why are so many people in that city facing such an acute water shortage?

There hangs a tale which explains just about every mess that you see in nurban India. A building with a rainwater harvesting system on paper does not mean it actually works. A bit like the existence of a toilet does not mean it is used.

It will not work if it is not maintained properly. Friends in Chennai tell me there is huge apathy among a lot of people towards maintaining these structures. The water crisis had never been this acute. Many of the rainwater harvesting structures in Chennai are also inefficient.

If Chennai and so many other cities are facing a water crisis today, one bigreason is that neither policymakers nor many people living in these places truly realise the horrors of running out of water. If it starts raining anytime soon, people will forget their recent sufferings. That’s why the inefficiencies in the water sector remain, and rainwater storage and reuse and treatment of greywater are not given the importance that they deserve.

Here is one scandalous statistic about water losses. Lack of proper maintenance of infrastructure causes losses of almost 40 per cent of piped water in urban India.

Photo Courtesy : Quizlet

Chennai is currently in the news, but the big picture regarding water in India is grim. The Niti Aayog, the government’s think tank, acknowledges that nearly 600 million people in the country face high-to extreme water stress. There is a deepening national groundwater crisis, with 54 per cent of wells declining in level due to unsustainable withdrawals for irrigation.

The Narendra Modi government’s new Jal Shakti (water) ministry has announced a grand plan to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2024. But the key question remains — what will happen if there is no water to give?

What will it take to realise that time is running out and we have to also wake up to simple ideas about conserving water. India captures only eight per cent of its annual rainfall. This is among the lowest in the world. Our ancestors used to capture far more. But those traditional methods have been neglected to the point where most are in ruins. We also don’t use our wastewater well.

There is much talk about security. It is time to realise that water is a security issue. Millions of Indians are not water-secure. Fights are breaking out over water. In Madhya Pradesh, the state government has reportedly asked the police in all its 52 districts to guard water sources. An existential threat hovers over many prosperous pockets of India. A drought is a huge part of the problem. The situation is getting steadily worse with unregulated extraction of groundwater, which is depleting underground aquifers. Take Bengaluru. Whoever has money drills a borewell to tap groundwater in the newer suburban areas where tech companies are clustered in the city.

A few years ago, I remember meeting a young hip technocrat who told me that “l fear the day when I will have soap all over my face and there is not a drop of water coming out of the tap”.

But I also saw a fascinating initiative called the Participatory Aquifer Mapping Project, which sought to involve Bengaluru’s residents in sharing information about borewells in their communities so that the city’s policymakers could learn what was happening underground and begin to craft a suitable response.

Today, in this country, demand for water vastly outstrips supply; the situation can deteriorate sharply unless we realise that this is an emergency and we must treat water as a precious resource and everyone must work towards conserving it.

The future could well resemble dystopian fiction.

NeeRain is proud to republish this blog to spread awareness about the situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This blog is published by:

Deccan Chronicle

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Author : Patralekha Chatterjee

Published On: 28, June, 2019

Recharge Before Groundwater Depletes

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Photo Courtesy : The Interview World

NeeRain, an innovation-oriented startup, tackles the groundwater crisis through the use of local, decentralized rooftop rainwater filters. These filters empower individuals to lead water-secure lives. Furthermore, the startup holds patents for a range of rooftop rainwater filters that are both easy to use and cost-effective. Their goal is to harvest rooftop rainwater in every habitat.

Through extensive research, NeeRain’s team has achieved a technological breakthrough in rooftop rainwater filters. This advancement is bringing joy to millions of people worldwide by providing a sustainable solution to water scarcity.

As a young startup, NeeRain focuses on the cause of rooftop rainwater harvesting. They believe that the populace receives rooftop rainwater freely. However, much of it goes to waste. On this concept, NeeRain offers patented technologies to capture every drop of rainwater, allowing it in daily activities or diverting to recharge groundwater sources.

In an exclusive interaction with The Interview World, Naishal Shah, Co-founder and CEO of NeeRain Pvt. Ltd., emphasizes the startup’s mission to combat groundwater depletion. The company aims to achieve this by offering an affordable system to capture and redirect rainwater to aquifers. Here are key excerpts from his insightful interaction.

Q: What features does your rainwater harvesting system incorporate, and how does it contribute to the overall groundwater sustainability?

A: Rainwater is freely available during monsoon. However, the water we receive goes down to drains. Here, we provide a technology that enables people efficiently filter the rainwater and direct it towards the borewell or tank, eventually recharging groundwater. Our advanced technology employs a two-stage water filtration system. Once filtered, all the water can either enter the borewell or the tank. Remarkably, a 1000-square-foot roof can yield approximately 50,000 to 60,000 litres of water in just one rainy season in places like Delhi and Ahmedabad.

If we shift our focus to regions like Kerala or Mumbai, a 1000-square-foot roof has the potential to provide an impressive 2-3 lakh litres of water in a single rainy season. Currently, a significant portion of this water is either wasted, blocked, or eventually drains into rivers and seas. By implementing a simple filtration process, we can redirect this water directly into the borewell and tank, storing valuable rainwater. Furthermore, channeling rainwater through the borewell contributes to an increase in groundwater levels.

The water filtered through our system is exceptionally clean, and its introduction into the groundwater does not lead to deterioration. Notably, rainwater captured directly does not exhibit hardness or Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Considering the alarming rise in groundwater depletion, directing rainwater to the groundwater directly presents a practical solution to elevate groundwater levels and address this urgent concern.

Q: What is the cost estimate for implementing a rainwater harvesting unit suitable for a 1000 sq. feet rooftop area?

A: The cost for our rainwater harvesting unit is Rs. 2950. One can complete any additional small and heavy plumbing work within a budget of Rs. 10,000. Our system boasts a lifespan of 10 years, and the maintenance is hassle-free with a simple filter removal and washing process, eliminating any recurring costs. You can easily manage this routine maintenance by hiring your local plumber, as no special technical skills are necessary for setting up our rainwater harvesting unit.

Having filed for a patent in 2018, we successfully obtained approval in 2020. To date, we have already installed over 10,000 units, actively promoting the importance of rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. We remain committed to spreading this message, encouraging more people to take an interest in sustainable water management. Remarkably, we have received zero complaints about the performance of our products.

Q: Can you provide supporting data or evidence to substantiate the claim that 30 crore liters of water have been saved over the course of the last 2 years?

A: Certainly, all the data is at our disposal, categorized by states and cities based on the deployment of rainwater harvesting units. For instance, in Delhi alone, where we’ve implemented these units, capturing 500 mm of rainfall during a season can result in saving a substantial 50,000 litres of water. We’ve meticulously collected data from households in Delhi, supporting our assertion with accurate figures.

As a result, the harvested rainwater ensures that clean water percolates into the ground, safeguarding water quality and preventing contamination in the process. This approach aligns with our commitment to sustainable water management.

Q: What underlying technology powers your system?

A: Our system operates based on gravity, eliminating the need for electric power or any additional mechanical devices. The system incorporates two-stage filters: a 400-micron net for the initial stage and a 200-micron net for the second stage. In the first stage, larger particulates are filtered, followed by the filtration of smaller particulates in the second stage. This sequential process ensures that the water entering the ground is thoroughly purified. As a result, your water resource remains untainted, and rainwater is effectively conserved.

Photo Courtesy : The Interview World

Neerain is proud to republish this blog for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stake holders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This blog is published by:

The Interview World

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Publish On: 23, January, 2024

Ahmedabad man’s rainwater harvesting startup helps save 125 billion litres of water; clocks Rs 2 crore annual revenues

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Plastic engineer Amit Doshi’s startup NeeRain offers an easy-to-install rainwater harvesting device that recharges borewells, improving the quantity and quality of groundwater. Currently sold in seven countries, it is helping mitigate India’s water crisis

When Amit Doshi was in class four, he and his brother would accompany their mother to carry buckets of water. They would queue up to fill water from a tap near their house in Kalol, a semi-urban area about 35km from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The year was 1986, and the borewells in Kalol had dried up following a dramatic decline in the groundwater table. The municipality supplied water every three days.

“My mom carried the larger bucket, while my brother and I dragged the smaller ones. We kept the water for domestic use in a large drum. For us, it was a ritual we continued for almost a decade before relocating to Ahmedabad,” recollects Amit.

Amit, now 46, grew up seeing his family battling for water on a daily basis. The primary concern of his parents was to ensure that their 200-litre drum had adequate water for the family’s needs.

Also Read: Kalpana Ramesh: The architect leading restoration of Telangana’s historic stepwells

“My mother never complained about the strain on her body. She boiled the water before use because it was fluoridated. We weren’t the only ones in Kalol to experience this. About 70 percent of the population suffered the same fate. Water shortage affects about 80 percent of the population in India,” says Amit, who completed his Diploma in Plastic Engineering from the Government Polytechnic in Ahmedabad. He started working for Sintex Industries Limited in 1997 and left in 2014 to start his business.

Growing up with water scarcity instilled in Amit a sense of purpose – to save every drop of water and ensure there is less struggle to access water. One way to do it was through rainwater harvesting by collecting and storing rainwater that runs off from rooftops, roads, grounds, etc.

This water can be stored or recharged into the ground to improve water availability through wells and borewells.

NeeRain devices collect rainwater from rooftops and it is used to recharge borewells.

Photo Courtesy: NeerRain

Developing NeeRain

According to the Central Water Commission, India receives 4,000 billion cubic metres of rain annually, but only 8 percent is harvested. The figure is among the lowest in the world.

Rainwater harvesting can provide up to 70 percent of the water needs for a household. Amit decided to create a simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-use rainwater harvesting product that could empower families who spent hours collecting water for their daily needs.

After a year of research and development, he designed an instrument to help people collect rainwater, which could be used to recharge borewells or stored, and named it NeeRain Rainwater Filter.

This small filter unit with dimensions of 1x1x1.5 feet uses an engineering material called ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), and it was patented in 2018.

Also Read: How Nahargarh’s 300-year-old water harvesting system beat the desert’s water blues

On receiving the necessary approvals, NeeRain Private Ltd began manufacturing the filters in collaboration with the MSME (Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) Tool Room. While the initial investment was Rs25 lakh, Amit received Rs10.81 lakh as a grant as his product empowers people to access and save water and helps the environment.

NeeRain can also be used to collect rainwater in drums or other storage structures.

Photo Courtesy: NeeRain

It was introduced in June 2020 and costs Rs 2950. While re-drilling a dry borewell can cost around Rs 3 lakh, recharging the groundwater through rainwater harvesting using NeeRain is a much more cost-effective and long-term solution.

With 300mm of rainfall, a house in Mumbai with a 1500 square foot roof can conserve 4 lakh litres of water annually. With 150mm of rain, a house in a similar area in Kolkata can save around 2.5 to 3 lakh litres of water.

So far, NeeRain has been installed in 250 cities across India. It is exported to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique and Guatemala. There is a rising demand from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

How NeeRain works

A non-electric device with an ABS filter, NeeRain, can last up to 25 years. While rainwater is pure, it gets mixed with other impurities, called TDS (Total Dissolved Solid), once it falls on the roof or any other surface. To remove these impurities, the rainwater is passed through the pipe which filters out even hair-like thick garbage using a double-layer HDP (high-density polyethylene) cloth.

Also Read: Bengaluru engineer revives 11 dead lakes, targets to rejuvenate 45 water bodies by 2025

The CV (check valve) material filters out particles down to 400 microns while HDP filters are effective down to 200 microns. The borewell or tank then receives the crystal-clear water and gets recharged, making it easier to extract water.

The filter is immune from corrosion and pollution since it is made of nylon-based material. Rainwater collection does not require electricity because the filter operates on the principle of gravity.

The transparent lead makes it easier to see the live harvesting and allows for cleaning if any impurities are found. As the rainwater seeps into the ground, the water table rises, the pH level of the water improves and the borewell is recharged to provide water for longer durations.

A non-electric device with an ABS filter, NeeRain, can last up to 25 years.

Photo Courtesy: NeeRain

The installation of NeeRain does not require any extra space or civil modification. The filter can be mounted on the outer wall of a house that has a roof of 1100 to 1300 square feet. Neerain allows vertical fixing and integration of rainwater pipe and it takes around two hours to complete the installation.

Seven countries save water with NeeRain

Around 5,125 NeeRain units have been successfully installed since its commercial launch in 2020.

“Using NeerRain, over 125 billion litres of rainwater has been saved till June 2023 in seven countries spread over three continents,” says Amit, who believes that rainwater harvesting is the only solution to avoid water scarcity.

To promote rainwater harvesting rapidly, Amit is planning to increase the reach of his product by increasing NeeRain’s dealer strength and spreading it to 700 locations around the country. With this, he expects the company’s annual revenue to grow from Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore in the next three years.

Also Read: The class 10 dropout from Rajasthan who won the Padma Shri for his Chauka system of water harvesting

“Over the next few years, I hope to reach lakhs of households to conserve billions of gallons of rainwater. Since rainwater harvesting technology is now easily accessible and convenient, we can address the issue of the global water shortage,” says Amit.

Reckless extraction of groundwater combined with climate change has adversely impacted water resources. Around 20 percent of the borewells in India encounter water shortages due to groundwater depletion annually.

Around 55 million new homes are constructed every year and a borewell is drilled before the construction begins. India has more than 33 million or 3.3 crore borewells and yet, new ones are dug every year.

NeeRain devices installed at a commercial establishment.

Photo Courtesy: NeeRain

A June 2018 report by NITI Aayog says that India is undergoing the worst water crisis in its history and nearly 600 million people are facing high to extreme water stress. It is not surprising, given that the country is not able to harvest its rainfall.

If India can harvest even half of its annual rainfall using mechanisms like NeeRain, many of its water-related problems will be resolved. “We must avoid wasting rainwater. Our country will be water-positive only if every family, organisation, and industry sends its rainwater to the borewell,” says Amit.

Also Read: Daughter, water & trees: How this mantra made Piplantri a model village of India

Excessive groundwater use has resulted in its depletion across India but the problem is more acute in Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. “People are aware of the 4000-year-old rainwater gathering techniques through scriptures, monuments and step-wells, etc. but still choose not to use it,” he says.

Apart from quantity, even the quality of water in India is deteriorating rapidly. In many regions of Eastern India, the groundwater level has decreased to the extent that water is now contaminated with arsenic. Groundwater in various parts of Maharashtra contains uranium while high fluoride levels are reported in water from parts of Gujarat.

Borewells in Ahmedabad are presently, on average, 600 feet deep. Ten years ago, the city used to get its water from 150-foot-deep borewells. It is 1200 feet deep in Bengaluru and 1900 feet deep in Chennai.

“People will start receiving crude oil in the next decade if depletion of groundwater continues at the current rate,” he says.

(Partho Burman is a Kolkata-based award-winning journalist. He writes inspiring human interest and motivational stories.)

Also Read: How 1,000 women around Sambhar Salt Lake are conserving water & practising organic farming

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This article is published by: –

https://30stades.com/enterprise/amit-doshi-neerain-ahmedabad-rainwater-harvesting-startup-saves-125-billion-litres-water-earns-rs-2-crore-revenues-1518709

Author:  Prof. Partho Burman

Publish On: 11thOct 2023

 

 

 

 

India’s water crisis: The clock is ticking

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We need to promote a decentralised approach, with a key focus on water conservation, source sustainability, storage and reuse wherever possibles

Photo courtesy: Getty Images

India is facing one of its major and most serious water crisis.

After two consecutive years of weak monsoons, 330 million people — a quarter of the country’s population — are affected by a severe drought. With nearly 50 per cent of India grappling with drought-like conditions, the situation has been particularly grim this year in western and southern states that received below average rainfall.

According to the Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) report released by the Niti Aayog in 2018, 21 major cities (Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and others) are racing to reach zero groundwater levels by 2020, affecting access for 100 million people.

However, 12 per cent of India’s population is already living the ‘Day Zero’ scenario, thanks to excessive groundwater pumping, an inefficient and wasteful water management system and years of deficient rains. The CWMI report also states that by 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual six per cent loss in the country’s GDP.

The Union government recently formed a new Jal Shakti (water) ministry, which aims at tackling water issues with a holistic and integrated perspective on the subject. The ministry has announced an ambitious plan to provide piped water connections to every household in India by 2024.

Photo courtesy:  Pinterest

The ministry has set a tough target at a time when hundreds of millions don’t have access to clean water. Aiming at laying huge pipeline networks for water supply means that yet again, we are giving more preference to infrastructure. Also, the moot questions are: what will happen if there is no water to supply? What will happen to all the wastewater that gets generated?

This indicates that there is a clear disconnect between water, society and economy. Currently, we are interested in laying large networks, constructing huge storage dams, fetching water from 150 kilometres and above, which involves a huge carbon footprint.

We are valuing land more than water, neglecting our local water bodies, which have either gone dry or encroached. Also, in many Indian cities, water is not properly distributed. Some areas of mega cities like Delhi and Mumbai are privileged to get more that than the standard municipal water norm of 150 litres per capita per day (lpcd) while other areas get 40-50 lpcd.

Aggravating the problem is that the water being supplied currently is of drinking water standards.

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that an individual requires around 25 litres of water daily for meeting his/her basic hygiene and food needs. The rest is used for non-potable purposes like mopping and cleaning. This indicates that for most of the non-potable uses, a quality lower than drinking water is required. Thus, for economic efficiency and environmental sustainability, water must be treated and supplied according to usage.

To top this, are issues of leakage losses, water pricing and metering of water. Lack of proper maintenance of existing infrastructure causes further losses of almost 40 per cent of piped water in urban areas.

The road ahead

Looking at the current situation, there is a need for a paradigm shift. We urgently require a transition from this ‘supply-and-supply-more water’ provision to measures which lead towards improving water use efficiency, reducing leakages, recharging/restoring local waterbodies as well as applying for higher tariffs and ownership by various stakeholders.

A recovery-based closed loop system is the need of the hour.

It is time to go back and start using our traditional practice of rainwater harvesting — catching water where it falls. Presently, India captures only eight per cent of its annual rainfall, among the lowest in the world.

Another aspect is the treatment and reuse of wastewater. About 80 per cent of the water that reaches households, leaves as waste and pollutes our waterbodies and environment. There is a huge potential in reusing and recycling this treated wastewater at least for non-potable purposes, which is cost effective.

All this leads to the fact that we need to promote a decentralised approach, with a key focus on water conservation, source sustainability, storage and reuse wherever possible.

It is important to understand that managing the water situation is not the job of only engineers but all stakeholders including hydrogeologists, economists, planners and most importantly, communities themselves.

Emphasis on behavioural change is not getting enough attention because it is nuanced and complex. But locals/citizens/ communities have a huge part to play. By keeping in check our own usage and actions, we can contribute.

As for our decision-makers, they need to re-think: Are we being sold dreams or realities?

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This article is published by: –
 https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/india-s-water-crisis-the-clock-is-ticking-65217

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Author:  Mahreen Matto

Publish On:  Friday 21 June 2019

Catch the rain, fix water crisis: How Odisha leads by example

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Photo courtesy:  Down to earth

Odisha has deveoped 12,000 rainwater harvesting structures to facilitate water conservation and ground water recharge in 2,035 wards

Water is a source of life for all of us and helps our natural environment thrive. In this era of climate change, the unavailability of water is going to hit the developing world the most. Maintaining a balance between natural and human-made components is the only way to survive.

Odisha has been going through water scarcity, drought, floods, groundwater depletion and much more. In Odisha, the groundwater extraction has increased to 42 per cent, from 30 per cent in four years — between 2013 and 2017.

There is a massive increase in annual groundwater extraction. But there is a reduction in annual groundwater recharge and a considerable depletion in the annual extractable groundwater resources.

According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Odisha’s groundwater volume was assessed at 16.69 billion cubic metres in 2009. This has dropped to 15.57 billion cubic metres in 2017, leading to a loss of 1.12 billion cubic metres (6.71 per cent) of groundwater.

The CGWB has clearly indicated that the groundwater of 24 out of 30 districts in Odisha is depleting. The groundwater aquifers in many regions of Odisha have already gone dry.

In 2019, out of 30 districts in Odisha, 29 had received deficient rainfall, while only Koraput district recorded one per cent surplus precipitation. In nine districts, rain deficit has been measured to be over 40 per cent.

Balasore was the worst-hit, with 54 per cent deficit rainfall. As many as 26 districts had a deficit above 19 per cent. This situation is worsening.

Some 1,093 million litres of drinking water are supplied to urban areas in the state against the daily demand of 1,088 million litres. This is leading to immense pressure on the state’s water resources.

The groundwater level in the greater Bhubaneswar area (Bhubaneswar city and outskirts / peripheries) has shrunk by about 10 metres and more since 2006 and water consumption has doubled in the last 10 years. This has been due to large-scale extraction of groundwater to cater to the daily demand of Bhubaneswar.

The development blueprint for the state is heavily dependent on groundwater both for water supply to its citizens and irrigation to the drought-prone areas of the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) region.

Rainwater harvesting

Photo courtesy: Anand Rko

To combat these issues, the state of Odisha with the Centre for Science and Environment as its knowledge partner, has successfully implemented an intensive campaign of rainwater harvesting.

It has come up with 12,000 Rainwater Harvesting Structures (RWHS) to facilitate water conservation and groundwater recharge in 2,035 wards of 114 urban local bodies. All this has happened in less than three months ie before the onset of the southwest monsoon.

Rainwater harvesting is collecting the run-off from a structure or other impervious surfaces, in order to store it for later use. This process is used to conserve rainwater that runs off from rooftops, parks, roads and open grounds by collecting, storing, conveying and purifying it.

The state had selected sites to have RWHS to address the statewide campaign Catch the Rain: Where it Falls and When it Falls. This has been completed under the Mukhyamantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan (MUKTA), an urban wage employment scheme for migrant workers.

Odisha’s annual rainfall varies from 1,200-1,800 millimetres but its spatial distribution is uneven and erratic. Eighty per cent of this rainfall occurs from June to September.

The state receives 76 per cent of rainfall between mid-June and mid-September and receives the remaining 24 per cent throughout the year. It has been estimated that out of 230.76 billion cubic metres of rainfall in a year, 80 per cent flows to the sea as surface runoff as adequate storage has not been developed.

During the monsoon, there are very wet days and also long dry spells. In some years, both floods and droughts occur. Not just that, the sub-surface storages are getting emptied, leading to thinner flows in rivers and streams, causing further capacity decrease in groundwater recharge.

Considering the uneven rainfall pattern, the only way to use the surplus rains received is by storing it. So, the state government has come up with such an initiative to build the RWHS in the 114 urban local bodies to minimise the surface runoff and maximise ground water recharge.

The state government wanted to develop a mechanism that would be cost-effective, need simple technology to operate and would require least maintenance.

Fortunately, the experts were successful in their approach. The RWHS type is Pit and Burrow, which costs Rs 35,000 per unit, involves no complex technologies and requires less maintenance. Also, it can be completed in a period of just 7-10 days.

The Government of Odisha aims to conserve both the rooftop runoff of government and private-aided institutions and storm water runoff from parks, playgrounds, open space, vacant lands and roads.

The spacing and number of recharge pits will be based on the porosity and permeability of the soil below 1.8 metres, annual average rainfall, intensity and duration of rainfall in that particular region.

For average conditions, one recharge pit of 1.2 metres diameter and 1.8 metres depth, with a leading channel of 15 metres is adequate for 250 square metres of catchment area.

The recharge mechanism is also simple. Partial recharge of rainwater from the catchment happens through the loading channel. Surplus rainwater received from the loading channel and storm water from the area surrounding the pit is recharged through filled media.

The sand layer acts as conventional surface water filter media. To support it, broken granite chips are provided underneath the sand layer. The sand layer filters out and retains the suspended solids, thereby providing a base for the grey / black blanket formed over the sand due to filtering of clay, silt and colloidal particles.

The filter media in the leading channel and recharge pits act like porous membranes that allow the partially filtered rainwater to reach the soil media interface.

The underneath soil layer acts as natural filter which facilitates micro filtration of rainwater before it reaches the groundwater table. Over a period, the top layer turns grey or black which reduces the recharge efficiency.

So, the top layered sand can be replaced periodically with new sand layers. The removed layer is rich in organic nutrient which can be utilised for filling the plantation sites in the park and open space area.

The Government of Odisha recommended mandatory construction of 5 RWHS per ward in a notified area council (NAC), 10 RWHS per ward in a municipality and 20 RWHS per ward in a municipal corporation of the 114 urban local bodies.

Daspalla, one of the NACs in Odisha, has completed 80 RWHS with 138 pits in 16 wards of the urban local body. According to Sasmita Pradhan, programme coordinator of MUKTA in Daspalla, 40 self-help groups (Mission Shakti Groups) and 2,898 people have been employed for this initiative as one pit requires three people to build.

To strengthen the transparency and accountability, Odisha’s housing and urban development department has made it mandatory for the sites to be geo-tagged and directed the district collectors to monitor the progress accordingly.

Rainwater harvesting is a go to solution for the emerging water crisis. Like Odisha, it is high time for us to take necessary steps to recharge the groundwater thereby enabling the planet to provide maximum resources for our coming generations.

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

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Catch the rain, fix water crisis: How Odisha leads by example (downtoearth.org.in)

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Author:  –  Dimple Behal, Rajib Lochan Ram

Publish On:  Friday 20 August 2021

 

 

Roofs, rain and life: How to incentivize and implement rainwater harvesting

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Photo courtesy:  Muench/Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) Secretariat

Co-author: Carmen Anthonj , Assistant Professor GeoHealth, Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente

While rainwater harvesting can result in numerous benefits for consumers and the water sector overall (read our previous blog here), it’s not always clear how to effectively promote and increase the prevalence of this practice.

RWH systems can be built relatively easily with local skills and resources, using simple and easy-to-maintain technologies that are inexpensive once installed. RWH systems can be modular in nature by allowing expansion, reconfiguration or relocation, and can easily be retrofitted to an existing structure or built during new construction.  However, despite the many benefits, households often find it difficult to implement rainwater harvesting.  The initial installation cost of RWH systems on residential housing is relatively high and a common barrier to adoptioni. Moreover, while there are legal, social and environmental barriers as well, recent experiences have documented means of overcoming those barriers and reinforcing water management practicesii.

There are many ways to encourage rainwater harvesting and improve its implementation, within which governments can play a strong role. The use of government subsidies as incentives can encourage the installation of RWH systems and increase the number of users, particularly among poorer households. The regulatory frameworks are essential for the effective design of these incentives, like in Brazil. In Germany, the promotion (by grants and subsidies) of RWH at the local government level resulted in equipping almost one third of new buildings built with rainwater collection systems. The Government of Indiaiii, for example, provides financial assistance for the installation of RWH systems. The Surat Municipal Corporation has made RWH mandatory for new buildings with a plot size of >4,000 m² and provides up to a 50% (up to Rs. 2,000) subsidy to citizens to encourage rainwater recharging. In Gwalior and Jabalpur, a 6% rebate in property tax in the year of completion of RWH construction is provided to the building owner as an incentive (CSE, 2019).

Promoting rainwater use through housing regulations that stipulate that all newly built buildings and structures must include rainwater roof catchments is common in Taiwan, Texas and Brazil. Although laws and other governmental policies are the key driver for the implementation of RWH, overall, robust policies to systematically promote the installation of RHW are often lacking or scattered. In Brazil for example, RWH is barely covered in legislation at the federal level, but more common at the local level. In absence of a national policy regulating RWH, some state laws and mainly municipal regulations have taken the task of covering this legislative gap, as local authorities may be more aware of specific problems for the region and thus implement specific legislation for the municipality. Large numbers of different laws and regulations at different scales complicate the process of implementation. Besides, the scattered legislation does not cover all aspects of RWH: the main goal of regulations is usually encouraging the installation of RWH systems, but incentives for the implementation are rare, and no legislation exists that addresses treatment to improve the quality of rainwater (da Costa Pacheco et al., 2017). Besides, coordination between state and non-state stakeholders in RWH, and residents lacking awareness or knowledge of policies, are common challenges (Bui Thi Thuy et al., 2019; Matto & Jainer, 2019).

A Prospective Vision for RWH 

Photo courtesy:Akruti Enviro Solutions Pvt.Ltd.

The strategic management of rainwater can reduce disaster risk for communities faced with water scarcity, droughts or flood risks. Access to clean water is essential during the pandemic for handwashing, hygiene and preventing the spread of COVID-19. The scalability of RWH must ensure that water is provided and available when needed free of contamination, and as a resilience option in remote rural areas that are hit hard by climate change and rainfall variability. All the efforts to bring these solutions to increase water availability must carefully consider cost-effectiveness and co-benefits for small-scale irrigation and other productive uses of water. Integrated research that involves geospatial analysis and remote sensing can provide the evidence to demonstrate a stronger case to expand RWH globally, and improve their operational, financial and environmental sustainability.

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

This article is published by: –

https://blogs.worldbank.org/water/roofs-rain-and-life-how-incentivize-and-implement-rainwater-harvesting

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Author:  CHRISTIAN BORJA-VEGA

Publish On: NOVEMBER 12, 2020

India is staring at water poverty

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Climate-change induced deficient rainfall, poor storage of rainwater and water-intensive agriculture are responsible

Photo courtesy: Dhakatimes

According to data released by the India Meteorological Department, the South-West monsoon during June- August 2023 has been below normal in 42 per cent of the districts (see Table). In August, rainfall in the country was 32 per cent below normal and in the southern States it was 62 per cent. In the last 122 years — that is, since 1901 — India received the lowest rainfall in August this year. With only about a month left for the end of the South-West monsoon, the reduced rainfall will not only affect agriculture severely but it could also lead to massive water shortages in different regions of the country. What should be done to prevent water shortage?

Although India has the largest water resources (irrigated area) in the world, water demand has been increasing rapidly due to rapid changes in agriculture and industrial activities in recent times. The net amount of water that can be used in our country in a year is estimated at 1,121 billion cubic meters (bcm). However, the data published by the Ministry of Water Resources shows that the total water demand will be 1,093 bcm in 2025 and 1,447 bcm in 2050. This means that there will be a major water shortage in India within 10 years.

However, this does not mean that there is no water shortage at present. As per the Falkenmark Water Index (which is mostly used for measuring water scarcity throughout the world), wherever the amount of water available per capita is below 1,700 cubic meters in a year, there is water scarcity. Going by this index, almost 76 per cent of people are already living with water scarcity in India.

In Tamil Nadu, which is one of the water-scarce States in terms of per capita availability, water demand was more than its supply even before 1990-91. For example, the total water requirement of Tamil Nadu was 31,458 million cubic meters (mcm) in 2004, but the supply was only 28,643 mcm. This means that Tamil Nadu has been experiencing water shortage for the last 30 years.

Deficit monsoon rainfall alone cannot be the cause of water scarcity. Various estimates show that after 1990-91, the water demand has been continuously increasing due to increased economic activities including the intensification of agriculture. However, no major plans have been made to develop new water sources and strengthen the storage capacity of existing water sources to match the ever-increasing demand for water.

Rivers, small water bodies (tanks and others) and domestic wells met the daily water requirements for many years. Due to poor maintenance of tanks and other small water bodies, water could not be stored adequately even in years of good rainfall. Data show that drought has occurred in India several times due to deficit rainfall. But recently, due to climate changes, rainy days are shrinking.

 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned in its reports that the climate is changing rapidly which will result in reduced rainfall, both in number of days and quantum. Rainfall deficiency can lead to water scarcity, which will severely affect people’s lives, livestock, wildlife and others. Water scarcity can cause major environmental and economic problems. In the report, ‘Climate Change, Water and Economy’, the World Bank (2016) underlines that countries with water shortages may face a major setback in economic growth by 2050.

Photo courtesy: The Caravan

The remedies

Central Water Commission data show that the water storage level of 150 major reservoirs as of August 31 was 23 per cent less than last year’s storage level of 146.828 bcm. El Nino, which occurs due to global warming and often changes the rainfall pattern, is becoming the new normal in recent years. There is, therefore, the need to make tough decisions to avoid water scarcity. Everyone forgets the pain caused by water scarcity once the rainy season starts. This kind of mindset needs to change first.

As the total quantum of rainfall and the number of rainy days are shrinking due to climate change, more serious efforts should be made to store rainwater wherever possible. States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana cannot solve the water scarcity problem without rejuvenating tanks, as all these States have a large number of tanks. The Minor Irrigation Census shows that there are a total of 6.42 lakh tanks, lakes and ponds in India.

However, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources has stated in its 16th report on ‘Repair, Renovation and Restoration of Water Bodies’ that most of the small water bodies are encroached upon by government and private bodies. The First Census of Water Bodies published by the Ministry of Water Resources in 2023 has found that 38,486 water bodies have been encroached upon in India. Tough measures are needed to remove the encroachments.

About 85 per cent of the utilisable water is currently used by the agricultural sector. This can be reduced by changing the cropping pattern. Appropriate minimum support policies need to be introduced to reduce the area under water-intensive crops such as paddy, sugarcane and banana. As per the MS Swaminathan committee report on ‘More Crop and Income Per Drop of Water’ (2006), drip and sprinkler irrigation can save around 50 per cent of water in crop cultivation and increase the yield of crops by 40-60 per cent. A total of about 70 million hectares are identified as potential areas for such micro-irrigation method. While making efforts to increase the area under micro-irrigation, farmers should be advised to use such water-saving methods for cultivating water-intensive crops in areas of severe water scarcity.

Water is no longer a public good; it is increasingly becoming an expensive commodity. With the changing pattern of rainfall, severe water shortages are likely to occur frequently in the future. A severe water shortage in 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa, forced the authorities there to ration the supply of water (25 litre/person/day), causing much hardship to the public. This may happen in India, too. Therefore, water should be stored wherever possible during the deficit rainfall period to prevent water poverty in the future.

Neerain is proud to republish this blog for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stake holders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

 

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https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/india-is-staring-at-water-poverty/article67282233.ece

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Author: Narayanamoorthy

Publish On: 07 , September , 2023

 

 

 

 

India’s water crisis: The seen and unseen

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As many as 256 of 700 districts reported critical or over-exploited groundwater levels as of 2017.

Photo courtesy:  RCH/Fotolia

Fetching water in India has been perceived as a woman’s job for centuries, especially in rural areas. As groundwater resources come under increasing pressure due to over-reliance and unsustainable consumption, wells, ponds and tanks dry up. This has escalated the water crisis and placed an even greater burden on accessing water on women.

Several girls are denied education purely because they are entrusted with it.

India constitutes 16 per cent of the world’s population, but the country has only four per cent of the world’s freshwater resources. With the changing weather patterns and recurring droughts, India is water-stressed.

As many as 256 of 700 districts have reported ‘critical’ or ‘over-exploited’ groundwater levels, according to the latest data from the Central Ground Water Board (2017). This means that fetching water in these districts has become harder as the water table has fallen.

A rural woman in Rajasthan walks over 2.5 kilometres to reach a water source, according to a report by the National Commission for Women. This is probably an underestimation, but the bottom line is that our women and girls spend a significant proportion of their time fetching water.

India has been consistently working towards improving access to water. The Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) guidelines released in 2019 provide provision of tap water connections to households, which holds promise for the women in the country.

If implemented to the last mile, women and girls will not have to go through the arduous job of fetching water. JJM stresses the need to involve women in leading the scheme’s activities, especially at the village level.

Photo courtesy: Pragati Staff

Women are required to constitute 50 per cent of the village water and sanitation committees in villages. The ‘Swajal’ programme under JJM comprises a women’s development initiative, designed to upskill them, improve their income-earning capabilities, and connect them to the market with help from support organisations.

However, habitations with less than 25 per cent of its population with access to safe drinking water were granted lower priority in coverage. This indicates that water-stressed regions continue to suffer, and so do women and girls.

Though water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) policies are gender-sensitive in their design and planning, they fail to measure the gendered impact of the policy. Most evidence available is anecdotal, and there is no quantitative data or monitoring to substantiate how the policy stands to bridge the gender gap.

Policies must employ gender analysis tools to develop a framework for such measurement and integrate it with the management information system or mobile apps to track progress on gendered outcomes. To create an ecosystem for gender transformation, it is crucial for WASH policies to go beyond gender sensitivity and address gender inequality.

Even with all of the challenges, several communities are currently implementing more equitable and inclusive community-led total sanitation (CLTS) and WASH programmes through the Gram Panchayat Water Sanitation Committees, designed to provide adequate, accessible and sustainable solutions for those in need.

Involving women in designing, planning and implementing WASH programmes will socially include them and ensure gender equality, which will help them in decision-making: To deal with school dropouts, and improve literacy and health outcomes.

Our world is packed with knowledge, innovation and capacity, and our journey to achieve goal six of the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals could just become easier if we remain engaged, influential, and productive to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.

Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/water/india-s-water-crisis-the-seen-and-unseen-76049–

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Author:  Mahesh Nathan

Publish On: Friday 19 March 2021

Water crisis in India: Threats and Opportunities for India Inc

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India faces daunting water security challenges. The demands of a rapidly industrializing economy and urbanizing society come at a time when the potential for augmenting supply is limited and water issues have increasingly come to the fore. While India hosts approximately 17 percent of the world’s population, it holds only about four percent of its required annual water resources.

Photo courtesy: Adobe stock

India faces daunting water security challenges. The demands of a rapidly industrializing economy and urbanizing society come at a time when the potential for augmenting supply is limited and water issues have increasingly come to the fore. While India hosts approximately 17 percent of the world’s population, it holds only about four percent of its required annual water resources.

In India, more than 600 million people are facing an acute water shortage. About three-quarter households do not have a drinking water facility. Currently, India ranks 120th among 122 countries in the water quality index. By 2030, India’s water demand is expected to be double to that of supply that implies not only water scarcity for numerous people but also a loss of around 6 percent to GDP. This underscores the need for strategic interventions to promote water use efficiency, both at the micro and macro level.

India Inc is an important stakeholder in India’s sustainability story. It also accounts for substantial water use. Various sectors of the industry are competing to use limited water resources that put pressure on the available supply of water and groundwater resources. The UN’s World Water Assessment Program warns of the stark implications, such as lack of freshwater resources on economic prosperity and security.

WATER TREATMENT/OPPORTUNITIES AND REUSE

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

India Inc has taken cognizance of the magnitude of the water crisis and the role they can play to mitigate it. The corporate should see it as the shared responsibility of companies across sectors to join hands with communities and governments to work on programs for water conservation, recharge and wastewater treatment. On the lines of minimizing the carbon footprint, corporate should also incorporate water management not only as its CSR goals but as a component of its business goals and sustainability plan.

Experts should converge and deliberate on establishing a sustainable water management strategy that will serve as the guideline for the entire industry. They should focus on optimization of water usage for industrial purposes, omitting outdated processes and technology and adoption of suitable recycling practices.

Water forms an intrinsic component of manufacturing cycles of the industry. Corporate has to be mindful of achieving sustainable water consumption while ensuring profitability and fulfilling their business goals.

The role of technology and research and development in encouraging the best water conservation techniques cannot be underestimated. New-age technologies such as smart irrigation systems with ICT and remote sensing are potent tools to encourage water conservation. The onus should be on corporate to foster innovation come up with out of the box solutions as they possess the necessary resources and expertise.

The corporate can also play an instrumental role in devising mass awareness campaigns and information dissemination educating farmers and common populace on the need to use water judiciously.

Equally important is the role of information sharing and collaboration among companies that will encourage the mapping of goals against achieved targets and improvise water management practices. Sharing of technological innovations offer a useful path to greater, mutually beneficial cooperation.

The comprehensive assessment of water requirement and usage by the corporate is essential to facilitate informed policy-making by the government and plugging the loopholes in the policy framework on water.

India Inc must gear to adopt water management on a priority that would enable the entire country to benefit from it through genuine and open collaboration.

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https://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/Water-crisis-in-India-Threats-and-Opportunities-for-India-Inc/10-06-2020-285981/

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Author: Dr. Puneet Gupta

Publish On: June, 2020