Is the Mahanadi Water going to sea not used/unutilized/waste?

Is the Mahanadi Water going to sea not used/unutilized/waste?


Over last two days (Aug 5th and 6th), two Senior Ministers of the State have made two different yet significant remarks (see news link below) about water allocation from the Mahanadi- but both have made the same argument that water which goes to sea in the Mahanadi is not used/utilized or has no users. It is a dangerous thinking, almost toeing the line of Engineering (an economic) paradigm of river management which believes that water going (or draining!) to sea is a waste and therefore there should be as many storages and diversions as possible and that such waters stored/channelized should be put to economic uses.

However, it is now a fact that such paradigm has lead to disastrous consequences leading to close river basins (viz. Krishna), more floods, depletion of mangroves, stopping of formation of delta, ingression of salinity, dwindling aquatic biodiversity, losing of fishermen’s livelihoods, destruction of river-bank livelihoods including agriculture apart from negative implications on culture. It is quite surprising that, while dams are being decommissioned, environmental flows (not in the line, dominant thinking in India i.e. allowing about 15% of to flow in the river as environmental flow and abstracting others for economic use) and living (and undammed) rivers are becoming symbols of future river management elsewhere in the World, our decision makers are tirelessly defending the failed paradigms.

A river lives when it flows. It has to flow to remain live. By flowing a river
o flushes its channels (doesn’t allow sedimentation and rising of river beds),
o recharge sub-surface water (there is a saying that below every river, another sub-surface river runs),
o supports aquatic fauna including fisheries and livelihoods around them
o support riparian habitats through river-bank livelihoods
o creates delta/flood plains (through overflowing and spreading silt)

People living in Mahanadi delta don’t require to be told about its dwindling flows, increased sedimentation of the river bed, increasing flood damages, increasing threats of saline ingression and change in tidal patterns, reduction of aquatic biodiversity and fish catches so on and so forth. In stead of substantiating allocation to industry by making such statements about how much water is draining unused to sea, what is required is instituting scientific investigations into these changes, which unless taken up now, can lead us to points of no return, the way our industrial development ambitions are expanding.

There is also another statistical dimension to these figures quoted by our Ministers, which requires closer scrutiny. While Industries minister says 67% of Mahanadi water (Is it total Mahanadi water?) flowing to sea unused, Agriculture Minister says 66% of Water from Jobra (others going to Taldanda and Machhgaon) canal flows to the sea. These two statements are not same, as one tells about whole Mahanadi without reference to any points and another point to allocations at Jobra. Civil society must also know the sources of these data and methodology followed to triangulate the figures.

There are many figures floating around concerning water allocation to industries. While they could be true as per the agreements signed with WRD, exact amount taken is often difficult to know with allegations about higher withdrawal. This is due to the fact that most of the industries are drawing water from reservoir or barrage directly in contrast to agriculture which is provided through canals (canal allocation can be easily verified from daily flow in cusec/cumec from canal head). Therefore it is very important to have regulatory mechanism in place to monitor extraction by industry or simply putting a ban on their extraction from reservoir/barrage and asking them to take through other sources. After all, no major reservoir and barrage was ever constructed out of public money with an objective to allocating water to profit-making private concerns.

In the allocation debate, often a critical issue like ‘pollution’ of rivers by industry get lost. It must be kept in mind, Industry not only take good water in bulk from best sources, but also put its worst water back into our lifelines. We must not forget that the first ever ‘environmental movement’ in Orissa was fought around this very issue way back in 1950s by l ate Sradhakar Supker, who had filed a petition before court to save river IB and Mahanadi from pollution caused by Orient Paper Mill of Brajaraj Nagar, even before Hirakud Dam was built.

Civil society must rise to engage itself more closely, critically and also strategically in this whole debate about water allocations and use – be it prioritization through policy, execution through agreements or monitoring and regulation.

News Links

Orissa defends water supplies to industries
Says 67 percent of Mahanadi water flows into the sea as there is no user
PTI | Bhubaneswar | August 05 2010
http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/orissa-defends-water-supplies-industries

Agriculture Minister bats for industries

Express News Service
First Published : 04 Aug 2010 05:14:47 AM IST
Last Updated : 04 Aug 2010 12:12:44 PM IST
http://expressbuzz.com/states/orissa/agriculture-minister-bats-for-industries/195367.html