For those vultures drifting over the horizon of Gujarat, Punjab might not be far from sight. Even if Mother Nature remains benevolent, it won’t be long before water famine strikes the region as, paradoxically, water is being blatantly plundered and abused in this "Land of five rivers",
says Peeyush Agnihotri

IF the past four months are any indication, 2000 AD and water bear an uncanny relationship. During the first quarter, it was Deepa Mehta’s theatrical endeavour by this name that rocked the nation and now it is the lack of it in the western tracts of India which is riveting the media and national attention.

There is more trouble in store. There are reports that according to preliminary finding the Meteorological Department, Pune, has forecast a shortfall in rainfall this year. That would mean that after a gap of 13 years, the whole country might experience a bad monsoon. Pakistan, which shares its border with Punjab, is also reeling under drought.

For those vultures drifting over the horizon of Gujarat, Punjab might not be far from sight. Even if Mother Nature remains benevolent, it won’t be long before water famine strikes the region as, paradoxically, water is being blatantly plundered and abused in this "Land of five rivers."

Reckless installation of tubewells by the private and government agencies, incentive to farmers in the form of free power, discharge of effluents by industrial houses, faulty cropping pattern, lack of will to harness rainwater and above all, empty government coffers — each factor is working towards hammering in the ground-water table.

Already, the Punjab Government has spent more than Rs 10 crore to set up 1,600 deep tubewells. In addition there are, a large number of shallow tubewells installed by private agencies.

While on the one hand there is a problem of depleting water table in the areas with potable water, on the other hand there is a rise in the water table in waterlogged areas. Water is brackish and unfit for human consumption at that place.

Consequently, water has been over-exploited in 73 of the 138 blocks in the state and 11 others are in the critical dark zone stage. A high fluoride content has been observed in the samples collected from the Jalandhar and Amritsar areas and waterlogging is a perpetual problem in Ferozepore and Bathinda districts. More than 6,50,000 hectares of good agricultural land has been affected by salinity and alkalinity. Are these portents of a famine in the near future?

Sadly yes! The writing on the wall is ominous. If corrective measures are not taken up imperatively, the granary of the nation might be standing on a crop of carcass.

Though the state has an agro-based economy, it houses quite a few industrial establishments as well. These industrial units discharge pollutants into the groundwater and in the rivers. This can result in eutrophication of water bodies due to inorganic nitrates and phosphates. "Water samples collected from some sites in Ludhiana had chromium and cyanide contents at 12.9 and 2 mg per litre, respectively, while the permissible limit should not exceed .05 mg/litre. This is shocking," says Ajit Singh Saini, a chemical analyst.

The water table in Punjab is falling by 0.20 m per year. Most of the 35 blocks of the white zone category, that is areas where the percentage of groundwater development is less than 65, fall in the south western part of Punjab — an area where water cannot be tapped even otherwise, because of its brackish nature.

The situation in Haryana is no better. Of the 108 blocks in the state, the water table declined in 48 and the water level declined by a whopping 17 metres in the Nangal Chaudhry block. As per a study conducted by the groundwater cell of the Department of Agriculture, Haryana, the water level declined in the Gurgaon, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Mahendergarh and Rewari districts largely due to the rampant installation of tubewells.

In the 300-km-long and about 30-km-wide Kandi area, which more or less marks the boundary of the Shivalik range, the water level fluctuation is immense. The water table went down by more than 7 metres in Balachaur, Nawanshahr district, between 1995 and 1996. The recharge is merely 20 to 50 per cent of extraction in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts, which means that even the rainwater is not able to compensate the extraction.

Some drastic corrective measures need to be taken up. The percentage of area irrigated by tubewells increased to about 60 per cent in 1998 from 23 per cent in 1958. "Free power is affecting the groundwater table in Punjab. Since farmers do not have to pay, pumps keep running idle, thereby wasting water. Canal irrigation should supplement tubewell irrigation wherever possible," says Gopal Kishan, a professor in geography.

Nearly 75 per cent of the cultivated land in Punjab is under water-intensive cropping pattern of wheat and rice. Farmers need to be told about the effects of over withdrawal of water. "Early transplantation of paddy should be discouraged and peasants should be educated about the benefits of other cropping patterns. Rooftop water harvesting should be encouraged. Himachal Pradesh has already made it mandatory in Hamirpur, where roof-tops have to have a gradient so that rainwater can be harnessed," says S.P. Mittal, a principal scientist in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

The Union Minister for Urban Development, Jagmohan recently indicated in New Delhi that rooftop-water harvesting would be incorporated in building by-laws, while the Human Settlement Technology for the conservation of rainwater has been finalised by the Indian Institute of Technology. However, some of the technocrats are apprehensive about the results of rooftop water harvesting.

However, the farmers are unwilling to shift to other cropping patterns. "Even if we shift to non-foodgrain crops, which require less water, like sunflower, there is no proper procurement infrastructure laid down by the government," says Bhupinder Singh, a farmer from Akalgarh, in Ludhiana district. Experts agree: "The government should leave a few things for private investors. Let them create an infrastructure for non-foodgrain crops," they say.

In the Kandi area, more than 40 per cent of the rainwater is lost as surface run-off. There are more than 21 choes in Hoshiarpur, four in Ropar and one in Gurdaspur district. Discharge in these is the heaviest during the rainy season and the least in June. The Chak Saddu choe, for example, discharges 0.25 cusecs of water in June, a dry month. The flow of water increases to 2.50 cusecs in December.

"This can be harnessed," says Ramji Lal, Chief Conservator of Soils, Punjab. "The water that goes waste during the monsoon should be trapped to augment groundwater reservoir by artificial recharge. We are trying to start such a venture at Parol village near Chandigarh with the help of the Central Ground Water Board," he adds.

The Department of Soil Conservation, Punjab, had already implemented such a scheme in Makkowal village, Bunga block, Hoshiarpur district. The water flowing in the choe has been tapped, which collects in a tank through underground pipes by gravitational flow from where it is taken to fields by pipes. (See box). Elated by its success, the department executed such projects at other places as well, which provide irrigation to 9,500 acres of the undulating area.

Assurances, plans and schemes aside, will there be or won’t there be a water famine? The question still looms large in the minds of researchers and technocrats of Punjab. "Oh bauji, asi kya lena! (Sir, how are we bothered)," is how Karnail Singh, a farmer from Halwara village, in Ludhiana district, reacts when asked about his awareness of the dipping water-table. For him, his "micro-society" is the world. Let hydrogeologists brood over his problem. Or else, God forbid, if in near future, food and relief material-laden relief trucks head for Punjab, everyone, including Karnail Singh, would have to run after those.

MAKKOWAL SHOWS THE WAY

THOUGH the overall depleting water table situation in Punjab is alarming, yet a silent revolution has been ushered in in some villages, thanks largely to the sincere endeavour by government agencies. The intermittent unseasonal rain notwithstanding, while the whole of Punjab is fighting a quasi-water famine-like situation, these villages are literally reaping benefits.

A case to the point is Makkowal village, in Bunga block, 30 km from Hoshiarpur. Before 1984, there was just one well, 100 metres deep, which used to cater to some of the requirements of the villagers. Fetching water was a full-time chore and "water fights" were frequent.

Then a dam was built in 1985 by the Soil and Water Conservation and Waste Land Development Department, Punjab. The water flowing in a perennial choe, near the village, was tapped and taken through the underground pipeline system by gravitational flow and collected in a tank from where it was taken to the fields through a network of conveyance system. "Earlier, there used to be scarcity of drinking water and the area was susceptible to crop failures also. Today, water is in abundance here," says Ramji Lal, Chief Conservator of Soils, Punjab.

The dam was so successful that the government replicated it at 30 more places, at a cost of Rs 6 crore, thereby irrigating 6,000 acres. Such dams came to be known as "Makkowal-type" dams.

Another type of dam can be seen at Relmajra village, in Nawanshahr district. Rainwater has been harnessed here to meet the villagers’ needs. Built in 1991 by the Central Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute, Chandigarh, this dam changed the lifestyle of the villagers. "The pre-project scenario was that out of 32 hectares, only 3 hectares was being cultivated as rainfed with very low yields. Today 21 hectares of the area is under cultivation and that too without disturbing the water table," say researchers associated with the project.