Policies and People | Water is key to climate action. Prioritise it

The report said that terrestrial water storage, which includes surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture, groundwater, snow, ice, and water stored in the vegetation, river and lake water, was below normal (and in some areas, much below normal) in the west coast of the United States, Patagonia, North Africa and Madagascar, Central and West Asia, the central part of South America, Pakistan and northern India.

Despite the dire situation, the report said, there is an inefficient understanding of the changes in the distribution, quantity, and quality of freshwater resources.

Currently, 3.6 billion people face inadequate access to water at least a month per year and this is expected to increase to more than five billion by 2050. Between 2001 and 2018, UN-Water reported that 74% of all-natural disasters were water-related.

For India, the news is grim: According to the report, the volume of water available in the Ganga and the groundwater in the river basin has seen a significant fall between 2002 and 2021.

Climate crisis, water, and COP27

The climate crisis and water are inextricably linked.

In terms of the hydrological cycle, the climate crisis can affect the amounts of soil infiltration, deeper percolation, and groundwater recharge. Also, rising temperature increases evaporative demand over land, which limits the amount of water to replenish groundwater.

And, the mismanagement of this crucial resource leads to water scarcity, pollution, health crisis and loss of livelihood.

Unfortunately, discussions on managing the key resource have often been muted at mega-climate events.

At COP27, there were some discussions on water, even though the meeting failed to take the bold steps required to redress the situation.

A joint statement from an eminent panel of water and climate leaders urged heads of State and governments to “get serious about water as an imperative for climate action”. The statement added that improved water resource management would have multiple benefits, including reducing water-related disasters, strengthening climate adaptation and resilience, and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“There were still a few encouraging signs [at COP27]. One example is how water was more visible than ever throughout the meeting and for the first time made it into the final declaration of a climate COP. Hopefully, we are starting to see a real breakthrough for water in climate action, which is indispensable to tackle global warming,” says an assessment report of Stockholm International Water Institute, an independent, not-for-profit foundation, which seeks to strengthen the governance of fresh water globally, regionally, nationally, and locally.

India and water

A large number of Indians face high to extreme water stress, according to the NITI Aayog. India’s dependence on an increasingly erratic monsoon for its water requirements increases this challenge. The climate crisis is exacerbating this pressure on water resources, even as the frequency and intensity of floods and droughts in the country increase.

The country has 18% of the world’s population, but only 4% of its water resources, making it among the most water-stressed in the world.

For example, groundwater. India is the largest user of groundwater (accounting for 1/4th of total withdrawal), and 87% of GW is used for irrigation.

According to the Union ministry of Jal Shakti’s Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment Report for 2022 (released in November), the total annual extractable GW resources have also increased by 0.56 bcm, and the extraction is very high in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan (the region marked by the WMO report also.)

While no specific reasons have been given in the report for a sharp decline in groundwater extraction for irrigation, domestic and industrial uses during 2022, the report says, “These variations are attributed mainly to refinement of parameters, refinement in well census data and changing groundwater regime.”

Catch water where it falls

India must be overly cautious about the water challenge and protect this precious resource.

“This changing “nature” of rain requires us to change the way we do water management. We have to plan deliberately to hold water when and where it falls; plan for excess and scarcity,” says Sunita Narain, director-general, Centre for Science and Environment.

This can be done through rainwater harvesting, planning deliberately to capture rain from rooftops; to lakes and ponds.

Convergence is also needed with MGNREGA. In addition, there is a need to map village water assets, ponds, tanks, watersheds in the water plan of the village, and this must be done by involving the communities.

MARVI project

The good news is that there has been some positive movement on the community management of groundwater.

On November 23, Western Sydney University, with the ministry and the Australian Water Partnership, launched an app for farmers and ordinary citizens, “My Well”.

It is a citizen science tool for participatory monitoring and visualisation of groundwater, surface water, rainfall, and water quality, checking dam water levels and other parameters.

This app will be used by villagers trained to manage their groundwater resources. These citizen scientists (Bhujal Janakaar) — “BJs’’ — are part of the Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention (MARVI) project.

The app will help BJs and ordinary citizens understand what is happening to water availability in their villages.

The future of water security in India is in the hands of the communities. Educate them and ensure their largescale participation. Otherwise, managing precious resources in a climate crisis-hit world will the extremely difficult.

The views expressed are personal