Oral Presentation : September 8, 2009 : 16:50 – 17:00 hrs.

1. Oral Presentation : September 8, 2009 : 16:50 – 17:00 hrs. Joint International Convention of8th IAHS Scientific Assembly & 37th IAH Congress6th to 12th September, 2009, Hyderabad, India • Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India • By : • Prakash Gupte, Senior Hydrogeologist (Sc-C) • Central Ground Water Board, • West Central Region, Ahmedabad

2. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India • Major Issues : • Finite Resources – Increasing Demand – Allocation Priority –Conflicts • Natural Constraints - Variable Availability in Space & Time • Sustainable Development – Environment Degradation • Management Option - Governance & Policy Instruments Background Information Area – Hydrogeology – Resources- Development Status Groundwater Governance Status - Recent Issues - Basic Concept - Policy Instruments - Related Matter Analysis - Discussion & Conclusion

3. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Area : 196,024 Sq.km Population 50,671,017 (Urban Population : 37.4 %) PD : 258 per sqkm Urban 400 to > 2773 per sq.km. Rural - 142 per sq.km Total District – 26 : Taluka - 225 Villages – 18,539 Total Census Towns - 242 16 Town Population > 1 lakh Physiography : Long Coastline & Unique Wasteland (Rann) - Extensive Plain & Rocky Table Land - Moderate Relief Hills Climate : Humid - South Gujarat ; Semi Humid – Central Part of Gujarat ; Semi Arid to Arid – North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kachchh Rainfall :Southwest Monsoon - > 2000 mm in South Gujarat to 400 mm in NE – Kachchh ; Erratic rain in North Gujarat & Kachchh ; Mild to severe drought recorded in past

4. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Birds Eye View of Gujarat

5. 25 Banaskantha 24 Patan Mahesana Sabarkantha Kachchh Gandhinagar Ahmadabad 23 Panchmahals Kheda Surendranagar Dohad Anand Jamnagar Rajkot Vadodara 22 Narmada Bhavnagar Bharuch Porbandar Amreli Junagadh Surat 21 Navsari The Dangs Valsad 20 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Drainage & Topography • River basins have clear manifestation of topographic features • Some rivers are tectonically controlled • radial pattern in Saurashtra • Most of the rivers are seasonal and dry up during summer • Perennial major rivers in the eastern Gujarat only

6. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Iso Con Map IsoChlor Map

7. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India

8. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India GRE - 2004 Replenishable GW Resources – 15810 MCM/yr Net Utlisable GW Resource - 15020 MCM/yr Draft (Drinking & Indus.) - 994 MCM/yr Total GW Draft – 11485 MCM/yr Level of G W Development - 76 % Over Exploited - 31 (LGWD >100%) Critical (Dark) - 12 (LGWD 90 to 100 ) Semi-Critical (Grey) - 69(70 to 90 %) Safe - 97( < 70 %) Saline - 14(TDS > 2500 mg / l)

9. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Status of Groundwater Governance • Year 1967 – Safe Distance Criteria as per State Government Ordinance – To Control Development Through Tube Wells – N Gujarat • Year 1976 – Bombay Irrigation Act, 1879 amendment – made provision to restrict construction of deep TW in alluvium area- Directive could not be enacted. • Year 1989 – Earlier act modified as ‘Gujarat Irrigation Act’ - Directive could not be enacted. • Year 1992 – MoWR, GOI- Circulated Model Bill draft for enactment by concerned State Government- Revised draft (Year- 2005)under consideration by Gujarat State Government. • Year 2000 – CGWA notified, then Gandhinagar District area, - Aquifer below 200 m depth declared as “protected aquifers” exclusively for drinking and domestic water use. • Year 2001- Gujarat Ground Water Authority (GGWA) constituted • Year 2002- CGWA directed concerned state PCB to make GW Use permission mandatory for (new / renewed) industries from CGWA / SGWA in OE blocks / talukas. • Year 2002 – State Government issued notification for making Rainwater Harvesting mandatory in new buildings in Metropolitan Area – (Urban Authority & Municipal Areas) • Year 2003 – GGWA notified 57 (OE, Critical & Saline) talukas for further additional development through construction of new irrigation well after 1.1.2004.

10. Policy Objective Legislation Permits / License / Authorizations Review and feedback Compliance Control Compliance promotion Enforcement action Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Formulation of Governance Policy • Basic procedure of regulatory cycle to frame, review and amendment • Clear Objective in context of prevailing management issues and environment • Viability – institutional as well as financial ; Cultural environ and Social acceptance. • Impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of water allocation as well as on the distribution costs and benefits • Compliance and enforcement arrangement • Provision for review , feedback and change in legislation Basic guideline by P.Chave et.al 2006

11. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Policy Instruments for GW Governance • Policy Instruments – (Management Tools) • Economic Instrument : Tax, Tradable right, Subsidy etc. • Regulatory Instruments : Legal instrument - Directive OR Act • Suasive Instrument : Voluntary Agreement - Local bodies – Most Effective and Popular – Socially Acceptable - Developed by NGO / VO • Review of Policy Instruments in terms of • Environmental effectiveness • Economic efficiency • Technical efficiency • Administrative efficiency • Socio-economic point – (acceptance & equity)

12. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Other Issues Affecting GW Governance • Groundwater Market and Subsidy Distribution • 94 % of net irrigated area have source as Groundwater • 52 % abstraction structures in form of Electric Pump (EP) • 63 % EP owned by marginal & small farmers • Agriculture connection gets subsidized power - Benefits directly to the distributor • No mechanism for incentive to optimize groundwater use • Increasing Groundwater market in agriculture & industrial Sector – Require review of subsidy issue • Equity Distribution and Poverty Alleviation • Poverty reduction in rural depends upon how efficiently irrigation sector is managed and how effectively irrigation facilities made available to masses • Surface Water Irrigation generate substantial wealth compared to groundwater based irrigation while SW contribute far less irrigation compared to GW Irrigation. • Reflects uneven distribution of equity and poor strategy for poverty alleviation aspects • Need to have integrated water management policy involving both surface as well as groundwater resources

13. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Other Issues Affecting GW Governance • Change in Institutional Environment • In Water Resources Development Sector –Change from unidirectional demand oriented aspect to multidirectional approach for overall sustainable development is ESSENTIAL • Decision making process should concern for ambient environ with respect to groundwater management • Validated Model in Gujarat State • Water and Sewerage Management Organization (WASMO) • Drinking water conservation and resources augmentation & other socio- economic activities - • Gujarat Green Revolution Company (GGRE) • Development of Micro Irrigation System

14. Responses Drivers Pressure Impact State Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Analysis of Policy Directive Concept of DPSIR Framework Integrated approach to enable feedback to policy makers in resources management and assessing water issues – (widely adopted by EEA). • A chain of casual links • ‘Driving force’ is a need ( human activities) • ‘Pressure’ is use (exploitation) of resources • ‘State’ is ambient regime affected by pressure • ‘Impact’ is change in term of economic or environment measures • ‘Response’ by society or policy makers • Useful in describing the relationships between the origins and consequences of environmental issues • Links between DPSIR element help to understand their dynamics • Relation between D and P is a function of the efficiency ; Improving efficiency may result less P with D • Similarly, I on eco system and S , change in ambient regime depends intrinsic threshold of the system • Further, R depends on how Impacts are perceived and evaluated • Ultimately, the results of R on the D, depends on the effectiveness of the Responses

15. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Analysis of Policy Directive Policy Directive : Power connection to newly constructed irrigation well after 1.1.2004 is denied without permission of GGWA in total 57 administrative unit, taluka (block) area having ground water development beyond 90 % and inherent inferior quality (TDS > 2500 mg/l) groundwater.

16. Issues of Groundwater Governance and Policy Instruments in the Gujarat State, India Analysis of Policy Directive • Banning groundwater development : • The Driving force and the Pressure identified in consequence of over development due to agriculture draft only while other similar deleterious factors affecting ambient ground water regime are ignored. • The adverse State of environment and Impact due to declining ground water level and resultant exorbitant cost of ground water withdrawal are considered while development issues of limited fresh water resource aquifers underlain by inherent inferior quality ground water with consequential salinity up conning and ingress in fresh water zones are ignored. • The Responses are both positive and negative. Existing users have no restriction. No new development in agriculture sector but development by other sectors is unabated. No apparent incentive for adopting MAR & micro irrigation practices. • No perceptible improvement in ground water regime is expected. • All these indicate that there is wide scope to improve governance strategy with appropriate amendment in policy directives.

17. Thanks