Haryana and Punjab sit on a powder keg with rapid shrinkage of underground water resources

Tribune News Service

Ravi S Singh

New Delhi, November 4

Haryana and Punjab sit on a powder keg with rapid shrinkage of underground water resources in their regions. 

The situation calls for all hands on deck to stop further slide as it is in a way linked to the narrative of water security, sustainable development, climate change and environment pollution.

An international organisation, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), with its headquarters in Colombo, has stepped in with its expertise to mitigate the challenge.

"The underground water situation in Haryana and Punjab is not good,'' IWMI's India Representative Alok Sikka said.

He said that without immediate and bold action, water security is set to worsen which directly impacts food and livelihood security.

He, however, added that the governments in both states are implementing schemes to conserve water.

His suggestions include practice of modernised irrigation schemes, and crop diversification-adaptation to crops that consume less water.

IWMI is studying the impact of the schemes implemented in these two northern states and is working with governments of the two states.

IWMI is an international, research-for-development organisation that works with governments, civil society and private sector to solve water problems in developing countries and scale up solutions.

To strengthen the response to the world’s most pressing challenges, IWMI is promoting a year-long ‘Transformative Futures for Water Security’ (TFWS) initiative. A South Asian Drought Monitoring System (SADMS) model has been devised by it.

The system has been developed in close partnership with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

IWMI Director General Mark Smith said the system is a satellite-based online resource that provides farmers, extension workers and agriculture workers and water resources authorities with the requisite information needed to forecast, monitoring tools to indicate when drought is present, and the timely interventions needed. He is in India to attend the ongoing ‘India Water Week, 2022’, organised by the Union Jal Shakti Ministry. 

Extreme weather events have shown a sharp rise in Asia, with recent extreme flood events across Bangladesh, parts of India, and Pakistan.

Climate security is also deeply intertwined with water security. 

Water runs through some of the biggest challenges facing the world such as floods, drought, hunger, health and pollution.

"Without immediate and bold action, water security is set to worsen which directly impacts food and livelihood security," Smith said.

He said the TFWS initiative would build partnerships and coalitions among the policy, business, development, practitioner, and science communities, working together with youth, balancing voices from the Global South and Global North in order to focus and strengthen the science base for action on water security.

“The reports we see in the media over the last two years in terms of floods and droughts and extreme water events across the world are alarming. The initiative is based on six high ambition missions for science-based action on water security built upon through a series of regional multi-stakeholder dialogues that culminate in the ‘Transformative Futures for Water Security’ conference in March 2023”, which will be held under the aegis of UNO.

IWMI has been closely working with ICAR - Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) on SADMS since 2016-17, particularly with a focus on validating the outputs which are emanating out of this SADMS, and how they can be best used in drought contingency planning to mitigate production risks.

SADMS covers Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, incorporating national- to regional-level data sets drawn from multiple satellites, observed data and other sources to aid farmers and communities for proactive drought early action strategies.

The system can be used to monitor weather forecast across South Asia and near real-time drought indicators to identify areas for drought preparedness measures.

“There was previously no integrated end-to-end drought monitoring and management system available for South Asia,” explains Giriraj Amarnath, who leads the SADMS programme and is Research Group Leader for Water Risk to Development and Resilience at IWMI.

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