Study Material

We are what we think
All that we are arises with
our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make
the world
Gautam Buddha
(quoted in the
Dhammapada)
We can't solve problems
by using the same kind of
thinking we used when we
created them
Albert Einstein
Sustainability Issues in
Water
Neeraj Doshi
Research Advocacy and Innovation in Water ( RAIN Water)
Korean Demilitarized Zone
 The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a strip of land
running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a
buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ
is a de-facto border barrier, which runs along the 38th
parallel north.
 It is 250 kilometers (160 miles) long, approximately
4 km (2.5 mi) wide and, despite its name, is the most
heavily militarized border in the world.
DMZ Ecology
 This natural isolation along the 155 miles (249 km) length of the DMZ has
created an involuntary park which is now recognized as one of the most wellpreserved areas of temperate habitat in the world.
 The endangered Amur Leopard that may have found unlikely protection within
the Korean DMZ.
 Several endangered animal and plant species now exist among the heavily
fortified fences, landmines and listening posts. These include the extremely
rare red-crowned crane (a staple of Asian art), and the white-naped crane as
well as, potentially, the extremely rare Korean tiger, Amur leopard and Asiatic
black bear. Ecologists have identified some 2,900 plant species, 70 types of
mammals and 320 kinds of birds within the narrow buffer zone.
 The DMZ owes its varied biodiversity to its geography, which crosses
mountains, prairies, swamps, lakes and tidal marshes. BUT ABOVE ALL TO
INADVERTANT CREATION OF A NO MAN’S LAND
Water
Rain / Snow
Rivers ponds, lakes, well – CLEAN WATER
colonization
Industrial revolution
Energy /power
Cities
Modern education
homogenization
Modern plumbing – CLEAN WATER
Dams / artificial Storage
River, ponds, lakes, wells – sewage repository
Energy / power
water from aquifers below – CLEAN WATER
River, ponds, lakes, wells – sewage repository
Modern plumbing – commode
Health problems – fluoride, arsenic, calcium, radio active materials
UV / RO – CLEAN WATER
RO is dead water (add salts to make it closer to rain water ( the Golden Standard)
Water recycling to reclaim water – aim 100% efficiency
Piping to get water from faraway places – CLEAN WATER
River, ponds, lakes, wells – Sewage repository
Status of Water In
Rajasthan
Some Facts
 The status of water in the State is most critical.
 Out of the total 142 desert blocks in the country, 85 blocks are in the State of
Rajasthan.
 Out of 249 blocks in the state, only 30 blocks are in safe category.
 According to NASA image, almost 90% of our underground water is
gone
 Underground water is poisonous. It has very high fluoride content.
 Average annual rainfall of the State is 531mm.
 The State had over 3000 manmade lakes and ponds which are now either
dried or turned in to sewage and effluents dump. The dependency on
underground water is above 90%!!
 The per capita annual water availability in the State is about 780 cubic meter
(Cum) against minimum requirement of 1000 Cum. It is feared that the
availability would fall below 450 cum by the year 2050.
 As per the international accepted norms, availability of water below 500
cum is considered as absolute water scarcity
Facts Contd..
 Chambal is the only perennial river in the state.
 At present there are 104 major and medium irrigation projects and
4786 minor irrigation projects in the State and the irrigation potential
created has increased to 28.12 lac ha.
State Water Resource Vision 2045
 To achieve the objective of sustainable development of water
resources and optimum utilisation of this scarce and precious natural
resources our vision for the year 2045 regarding water sector is :
 Make Rajasthan the foremost in management of water resources.
 Harness all the (16.05 BCM) economically utilisable surface water
through improved planning, design and construction.
 Full utilisation of created irrigation potential and maximum crop
production per unit of water.
Facts Contd..
 At the turn of the century Rajasthan had over 3000 lakes
and ponds ( and thousands of stepwells and Wells) which
were the main source of water
 Power availability lead to underground water exploitation
and energy intense dam and canal building. ( there are 227
dams in the state of Rajasthan)
 This has sounded the death knell for all most all the lakes
and ponds. They have either turned into cesspools or dried
and used for settlements.
 And still, cities remain thirsty!! ( Jaipur, Delhi for example!)
Urban / Domestic
Copyright www.Dailymail.co.uk
Industry
Agriculture
Bajra Facts
 Dry land crop farming – Millet
 Highly nutritious: contains more twice amount of calcium than rice. Finger
millet contains 40 times more calcium than rice
 In terms of protein, fibre, iron and other minerals, millets are way ahead of
cereals like rice and wheat.
 One ton of wheat require 1000 ton of water to grow !
 One ton of rice require 2000 tones of water to grow !
 Bajra takes less than 500 tonnes per ton and it can withstand sever drought
conditions, sand salinity.
 One litre of CocaCola requires 4 litres of water
 No need to pop calcium pills!
Bajra Facts
 India is the largest producer of bajra. The fifth most
important cereal crop bajra is consumed largely by the poor
segment of the society
 In Punjab and Haryana, its is also used as poultry feed.
 It is primarily consumed in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan,
Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. It is widely distributed in arid
zone and semi-arid tropics.
 Rajasthan Government in its advance estimate has
estimated the area of bajra at 39.55 lakh hectare and
production at 38.39 lakh tones in 2012-13
Some thoughts
Technology
Tech Contd…
 Government of Rajasthan has allocated almost 550
Crore to bring Chambal River Water to six northern
districts including Alwar, Dhaulpur, Bhilwara Bharatpur,
Jaipur, Ajmer.
Colonial System
 In 1863, British took over water systems through PWD
(Public Works Department). This calamitous event
uprooted a thriving water culture to put in its place an
extractive system turning water into a commodity for
state and private benefit, which continues even till
today.
Homogenization
Only Wheat and Rice
for country which has
tremendous diversity,
has 25 agro climatic
zones
Key Takeaways
 Context, Context Context…..
 Context influences all your development – Industrial,
Agricultural and Urban.
The Ultimate Whammy??
Ideas for Auditors???
neerajdoshi@gmail.com
+91 99103 50600
www.linkedin.com/neerajdoshi
Water Sustainability –
Chambal River in
Rajasthan
Neeraj Doshi
What come to mind when hear the
word “Chambal” ??
Him…..
……or her?
…..and sometimes this too..
Meet Chambal
Chambal River – Some Facts
 The Charmanyavati, describes the Mahabharata,
originated from a mountain of dripping leather (charma)
after King Rantideva sacrificed thousands of cows.
 Chambal rises from Vindhya mountains in Mhow near
Indore. It traverses 965 Kilometers in MP, Rajasthan
and UP before finally meeting Yamuna near Etawah,
UP.
 Total drainage catchment of the Chambal basin
expands143,219 km2. Its tributaries include The
tributaries of the Chambal include Shipra, Kalisindh,
Banas, Parbati Mej, Parwati.
Chambal, Some Facts
Contd….
 Both due to the ancient curse since Mahabharata and later due to the
infestation of Dacoits, Chambal is probably the only relatively
unpolluted river in the country – what was a Bane turned out to be a
Boon!!.
 It hosts the largest gharial population of the world and high density of
the Gangetic dolphin per river km.
 In addition, the major fauna of the River includes the mugger
crocodile, smooth coated otter, seven species of freshwater turtles,
and 78 species of wetland birds. The major terrestrial fauna of the
adjacent areas are Indian wolf, golden jackal, caracal, jungle cat,
desert cat, ratel, small Indian civet and neelgai.

650 Km stretch of the river is declared as National Chambal
Sanctuary
Chambal in Rajasthan

Only Perennial River of Rajasthan

Flows exclusively in Rajasthan for 225 Km and then for 217 km b/w Rajasthan and MP
border before entering UP.

Chambal and its tributaries drain almost 31,460 km2 in Rajasthan ( 77,293 Sq km
including Banas)

Total Mean Annual Surface Water Potential 8059 Mm3/year (Utilized 2775 Mm3/year)

Total Groundwater Annual Recharge 2635 Mm3 (Utilized 963 Mm3/year)

Water Transfers from Chambal Basin
- To Banas Basin 634 Mm3
- To Gambhir Basin 214 Mm3
- To Parbati Basin 50 Mm3
Chambal in Rajasthan: Water
Development Projects

Existing Surface Water Projects: There are 7 Major (Gandhi Sagar, Rana Pratap Sagar, Jawahar
Sagar, Kota Barrage, Parwati Pick-up Weir, Harish Chander Sagar and Gudha Dam), 12 Medium and
134 Minor irrigation projects in Chambal River Basin

Kota Barrage is a diversion dam to supply irrigation water to MP though canals.

Ongoing Surface Water Projects: 52 irrigation projects, including 7 Medium projects with a total live
storage capacity of 271 Mm3, are under construction in Chambal River Basin. An additional area of
502 kha will be irrigated on completion of these projects, expected between 1997 and 2015.

Proposed Surface Water Projects: 376 irrigation projects, including 10 Major (Manohar Thana,
Parwan Dhanwas, Kalisindh, Gugar Lift, Soni, Dholpur Lift, Indira Lift, Pipalda Lift and Chambal Lift),
with a total live storage capacity of 1743 Mm3, have been proposed in Chambal Basin. An additional
area of 630 kha will be irrigated on completion of these projects.

Drinking Water: 9 Major cities and districts receive water from Chambal to meet their annual
demand. Kota, Bundi, Baran, Alwar, Dholpur, Bharatpur, Bhilwara.

A 340 Km pipeline is proposed to bring Chambal water to Bisalpur which feed Jaipur and Ajmer (Ajmer
City, Nasirabad and Beawar)
Sustainability Issues
 Over Exploitation - storage, extraction and diversion of water, sand
mining, fishing and riparian cultivation
 After Kota Barrage, chambal turns into a trickle which continues till
pali where parbati joins it. At the confluence, Parbati is 3.7 mtr
deep while chambal is only 0.6 mtr deep. The situation doesn’t
change till it meet yamuna.
 The dams and irrigation canals were planned to utilise surplus
monsoon water. But, over time the needs have expanded and so
these projects refuse to release any water in the river channel
during the summer months.
 It means ‘zero’ flow for chambal in summer months and
irreversible damage to its health.
 Water Flow - River water flow receded to as low as 16.38 cubic
Sustainability Issues
 Ecology – Threat to Indian Gharial and Gangetic Dolphin
due to low water flow (The minimum flow and depth required
for gharials is 151 m3/sec and 5 m while Gangetic dolphins,
India’s national aquatic animal, need at least 266.42 m3/sec
flow and 7 m deep waters
 River Pollution – Industrial and Municipal discharge from
Industrial town of Kota alone – 26000 cusec / day ( 740,000
liters per sec)
 Interstate conflicts: MP is developing major projects on its
part of Chambal near Mohapura and Sajapur.
Almost dead!!
What is what??
Key Questions
 Water is a key element for survival – domestic, Agricultural and
Industrial. Chambal being the only perennial river, what should be
the sustainability policy of a dry state?
 Artificial water availability for shorter duration trigger permanent
settlements. human time scale v/s geological?
 Over dependency on single source rather than holistic approach.
What is the impact on local water sources?
 What is the impact on local capability?
 Impact on governance structures?
 Water migration: If water from kota is brought to Jaipur where will
people will kota go to?
…..Again
neerajdoshi@gmail.com
+91 99103 50600
www.linkedin.com/neerajdoshi