Anand - Gujarat, India.
Despite optimism over India's economic growth researchers from the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program warn that the mismanagement of vital natural resources such as groundwater - could seriously hinder the countries' pace of development. Over the next two decades approximately 25% of India's grain harvest could be under threat due to the over-exploitation of groundwater supplies. Groundwater currently irrigates a total area of well over 35 million hectares, sustaining 60% of the countries' irrigated land.
Over extraction of groundwater and declining water tables are also causing alarming levels of fluoride to build up in water sources, posing a serious health threat to vulnerable populations. Research shows that while more affluent farmers have increased their wealth by drawing down groundwater tables, the health costs from rising levels of fluorosis have been disproportionately borne by the rural poor. 6600 predominantly tribal people from 20 villages in Southern Rajasthan villages were surveyed and it was found that 20% of men and 30% of women in the 30-46 year age group suffered from skeletal fluorosis of varying severity. These findings will be discussed along with more than 50 new pieces of research on key water management issues in India at the 3rd Annual IWMI-Tata Partners' Workshop being held from the 17th to 19th February in Anand, Gujurat.
According to Professor Tushaar Shah, groundwater expert and principal researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), "Fluoride in groundwater is a public health time bomb. Unchecked water extractions mean that poor people in rural areas of western India are having to pay up to Rs. 5.00 per day for drinking water if they want to stay healthy".
Shah leads a coalition of researchers and development specialists working to find solutions to India's water problems under the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/iwmi-tata . Supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the Program brings together more than 150 social scientists, hydrologists and agricultural researchers along with the NGO community from different parts of India to discuss and recommend practical solutions for improving the way water is managed.
Researchers and policy makers attending the Anand workshop will also assess the implications of run away urbanization and how the dynamic of town-hinterland water transactions are intensifying in most Indian states. In a study six cities - Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur and Nagpur - researchers found that the Tanker water economy of these six cities amounts to around Rs 200 crore per year. Transmission and distribution losses in the municipal water supply systems in the six cities is 30% of net water supply, and only 51% of the economic water demand of these cities is met by the municipal systems. The researchers concluded that reducing such losses to the achievable level of 15% in the six cities would release enough water to meet the entire demand of Indore and Jaipur cities. The study also revealed that the rich pay more per m3 for their domestic water requirements compared to poor people; yet the poor pay twice as much as the well-off do in bribes and lost time in procuring their water requirements. The six cities in the study support a wastewater irrigation economy of approximately Rs 400 crore/year; nearly 54000 ha of peri-urban farm land growing food crops is irrigated by waste water.
Another topic under discussion at the workshop will be the Sardar Sarovar Project. With Narmada waters now reaching Saurashtra and Kutch, a new monitoring system that will report on the progress being made on this project, will be inaugurated at the IWMI-Tata workshop.
Patrick Fuller
Senior Communications Advisor
Water / Food / Environment Programs
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
PO Box 2075
Colombo, Sri Lanka
For further information contact Tushaar Shah or Patrick Fuller:
iwmi-tata@cgiar.org
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/
Despite optimism over India's economic growth researchers from the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program warn that the mismanagement of vital natural resources such as groundwater - could seriously hinder the countries' pace of development. Over the next two decades approximately 25% of India's grain harvest could be under threat due to the over-exploitation of groundwater supplies. Groundwater currently irrigates a total area of well over 35 million hectares, sustaining 60% of the countries' irrigated land.
Over extraction of groundwater and declining water tables are also causing alarming levels of fluoride to build up in water sources, posing a serious health threat to vulnerable populations. Research shows that while more affluent farmers have increased their wealth by drawing down groundwater tables, the health costs from rising levels of fluorosis have been disproportionately borne by the rural poor. 6600 predominantly tribal people from 20 villages in Southern Rajasthan villages were surveyed and it was found that 20% of men and 30% of women in the 30-46 year age group suffered from skeletal fluorosis of varying severity. These findings will be discussed along with more than 50 new pieces of research on key water management issues in India at the 3rd Annual IWMI-Tata Partners' Workshop being held from the 17th to 19th February in Anand, Gujurat.
According to Professor Tushaar Shah, groundwater expert and principal researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), "Fluoride in groundwater is a public health time bomb. Unchecked water extractions mean that poor people in rural areas of western India are having to pay up to Rs. 5.00 per day for drinking water if they want to stay healthy".
Shah leads a coalition of researchers and development specialists working to find solutions to India's water problems under the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program: http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/iwmi-tata . Supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the Program brings together more than 150 social scientists, hydrologists and agricultural researchers along with the NGO community from different parts of India to discuss and recommend practical solutions for improving the way water is managed.
Researchers and policy makers attending the Anand workshop will also assess the implications of run away urbanization and how the dynamic of town-hinterland water transactions are intensifying in most Indian states. In a study six cities - Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur and Nagpur - researchers found that the Tanker water economy of these six cities amounts to around Rs 200 crore per year. Transmission and distribution losses in the municipal water supply systems in the six cities is 30% of net water supply, and only 51% of the economic water demand of these cities is met by the municipal systems. The researchers concluded that reducing such losses to the achievable level of 15% in the six cities would release enough water to meet the entire demand of Indore and Jaipur cities. The study also revealed that the rich pay more per m3 for their domestic water requirements compared to poor people; yet the poor pay twice as much as the well-off do in bribes and lost time in procuring their water requirements. The six cities in the study support a wastewater irrigation economy of approximately Rs 400 crore/year; nearly 54000 ha of peri-urban farm land growing food crops is irrigated by waste water.
Another topic under discussion at the workshop will be the Sardar Sarovar Project. With Narmada waters now reaching Saurashtra and Kutch, a new monitoring system that will report on the progress being made on this project, will be inaugurated at the IWMI-Tata workshop.
Patrick Fuller
Senior Communications Advisor
Water / Food / Environment Programs
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
PO Box 2075
Colombo, Sri Lanka
For further information contact Tushaar Shah or Patrick Fuller:
iwmi-tata@cgiar.org
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/