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Journal
WATER SECURITY by
Pramod Kale
ABSTRACT
Every living being requires water to sustain life. There is plenty
of water available on the Earth. In India we get a large amount of
water annually from the monsoon rains. It is not available equally
or equitably. The unequal distribution of the water in terms of
location, terrain and time requires us to take definitive actions to
ensure secure access to water. A large number of people are aware of
the importance of safety and security of our water sources and yet
ignore the issues involved. This could be due to apathy or due to
their inability to tackle large problems.
We talk about all security measures or concerns as if there is only
external threat. We do not consider security in all of its aspects.
While we discuss the various aspects of Physical Security, Economic
Security, Food Security, Health Security or Energy Security, we do
not consider the Security of Water Resources or Access to Water with
the same seriousness or importance.
We need to consider the security of our coastal waters and the
Exclusive Economic Exploitation zones far more seriously. Now that
the possibility of expanding this zone is becoming real, we need to
seriously consider the implications of that in terms of expanded
role of our Navy, our Coast Guard and the defensive measures needed.
We need extensive educational efforts to make a large number of
people aware of the security issues concerning Water. In this regard
the educational and research institutions can play a major role.
In the last decade or so, our country has received normal rainfall.
There is economic, political, social and industrial stability. Peace
prevails on our borders and the people are looking for continued
progress on all the fronts. Foreign exchange reserves have risen,
the stock market is booming, the gold prices are going up, the
software exports are growing and the elections are round the corner.
When such atmosphere surrounds us people tend to ignore the safety
and security issues. For a very long time we have concentrated on
physical security of our country and have not given enough attention
to the security issues concerning our most important and vital
resource – WATER. The issues of physical security, economic
security, food security, energy security, health security have
received due attention but the issues concerning the WATER Security
have been neglected or have been relegated to the status of
non-issues.
We take it for granted that our annual rainfall of about 80
centimeters will provide the necessary water for our country. The
monsoon in the last twelve years or so has been just about normal
and this has resulted in our people becoming complacent about the
measures to be taken to take care of drought or scarcity of water.
Every year, without fail, by mid September the discussions or
speculations about the necessity of cloud seeding in certain areas
start. Then there is a mad rush for hiring the aircraft from some
country. By the time the aircraft arrives we cannot find the proper
rain bearing clouds and the results remain inconclusive. The
aircraft is hired by one state and borrowed by neighboring state.
This results in acrimonious debates leaving both states unhappy. By
this time in some place or other the drought relief works start. If
we seriously believe that the cloud seeding is effective, then it is
high time that we should invest in the necessary aircraft, radars
and the infrastructure for such sustained efforts.
We need to understand how we are using our water resources and take
steps to ensure that coming generations also will be able have the
same or perhaps better access to water for meeting their day-to-day
needs. We need to learn to share this valuable natural resource. The
science and technologies required for harvesting rainwater,
desalination of water, recycling and conservation of water are well
known. Determined actions for widespread applications of the same
are lacking. People are generally aware of the steps necessary but
they lack initiative. Almost everybody looks at the complex
situation and leaves it for the governments or non-government
organizations to act upon.
This is how the land and our water resources look like. This is a
mosaic of images taken by our remote sensing satellite.
Ground Water
We have plenty of ground water available. This ground water is being
pumped out at an alarming rate. We are not utilizing the ground
water as a supplementary source of water. In certain areas this is
the only source of water that is being tapped for all purposes such
as human consumption, animal consumption, agriculture or industry.
In such cases we are not utilizing the source but exploiting the
source. We are depleting the water source at such a rate that the
natural recharge does not take place. In very large areas the grass
and shrubs have been totally removed. When it rains the water starts
flowing on the surface at higher speeds on such surfaces. The water
runoff is so fast that the time spent by the surface water is not
sufficient for water to percolate down. In certain coastal areas we
are depleting the ground water very close to the coast resulting in
seawater ingress in the ground water wells.
Certain industries have not only polluted our rivers and streams but
are now polluting the groundwater also. A very vile practice adopted
by certain industries has been brought to the notice of the people.
These industries are forcibly pumping sewage and industrial /
chemical waste in tube wells. In the plain areas around Delhi, most
tube wells, where hand pumps are used, are only about 25 to 35
meters in depth. Water that they pump out most of the time is highly
polluted. This is the water that the people drink without filtering,
treating or boiling. This poses a very serious health hazard.
A large number of tube wells are being indiscriminately dug very
close to each other. Such indiscriminate establishment of tube wells
results in a competition of each owner trying to reach a greater
depth, using higher power pumps or using larger diameter pipes. The
useful life or the yield of water of most tube wells has drastically
come down due to lowering of the water table or excessive drawing of
water in a large number of wells very close to each other.
The civic authorities in the urban or semi urban areas or the state
governments appear to be totally ill equipped to deal with the
security of the access to the groundwater.
COASTAL WATERS
Most people consider our coastal waters as simple fishing grounds or
shipping lanes. The fact that these are part of Economic
Exploitation Zone and need to be zealously safeguarded is ignored
most of the time. Even a cursory glance at a map of our country can
reveal that the task of safeguarding our coastal waters is a very
difficult task.
Most of the municipal administrations of our metropolitan cities in
the coastal regions consider the coastal waters as dumping area for
the sewage and liquid waste. They have totally polluted our coastal
waters rendering them unsafe for fishing or swimming. Most of the
time the high tides return all the waste and make the beaches
hazardous.
Security of our beaches is almost nonexistent. The terrorists and
smugglers have amply demonstrated this time and again. They had
local help is quite obvious. No navy or the coast guard can
safeguard the entire coastline. What we need is proper charting,
mapping and surveillance for detection of intruders. We need
effective, efficient and widespread wireless communication systems.
Along the coastline we have very vital national installations such
as Oil and Natural Gas exploration, Oil and Natural Gas pipelines
with their terminals, Oil refineries, Power Generation Stations,
Very large and busy Ports, Ship building industry and major
industries. While specific measures are being taken for the physical
security of these, the measures to safeguard our fishing industry,
disaster management and mitigation are lacking.
POSSIBILITIES
FOR FUTURE
Development of
Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands
Development of small and large ports
Development of trade with South Asia, Mid east countries
Development of free trade zones and free ports
Containerized exports
Food product exports
Oil and Gas exploration
Mineral extraction, Coral extraction
Eco tourism, Tourism
Fishing, Trawling, Aquaculture
Shipbuilding, Ship-breaking
Coastal forests, Land reclamation
INFRASTRUCTURE BUILD
UP AND DEVELOPMENT
Enhanced rail
traffic
Marine traffic
Air traffic
Environmental protection, Environmental pollution control
Telecommunications
Electricity generation
Healthcare facilities
Human habitats, Urban development
Educational facilities
Water supply, Waste disposal
Coastal roads
Refurbishing of the Buckingham canal
Development of locks in the river deltas
SECURITY ISSUES
International Law
Marine law
Intellectual property rights
Insurance, Banking
Defense
Coast guard
Safety, Search and Rescue
Navigation
Smuggling, Customs
Drug trafficking, Law and order
Piracy
Terrorism
SURFACE WATERS
India is not a
country of natural lakes. We have some but most of them are dieing.
The water hysinth growth is choking most of the lakes. In the
historic periods we had depended on the simple ponds in almost every
village. These ponds are not existing anymore and water is required
to be supplied by tankers. In the last fifty years we have
constructed a very large number of dams that has resulted in the
creation of a large number of manmade reservoirs.
These reservoirs provide water for human consumption, animal
consumption, irrigation, power generation and industry in general.
The security and safety of most of these dams close to urban
settlements is the responsibility of local civic or municipal
administrations. These administrations are totally ill equipped to
handle these tasks. They get these dams declared as “Prohibited
Place” (based on a law passed in nineteenth century) and expect
people follow their orders. Most of the municipal corporations even
do not have adequate human resource or transport facilities to keep
a watch on the periphery of the water. They cannot exercise their
authority to stop people from entering in the water for swimming,
washing the animals or fishing. The event or occurrence of the water
getting contaminated due to the activities of the people is now
getting to be such that it is now a phenomena that happens every
weekend or on every a holiday.
If a person is seen dumping certain things in a reservoir in a short
time rumors start circulating about poisoning of the waters. There
is no scientific calculation regarding the concentration that would
be required. More than the chemical poisoning the bio terrorism
poses a very large threat. Most of the water supply systems in our
large hotels, large housing colonies are guarded very poorly.
Monitoring of the quality is done as a formality. |
