Context - 2019 Mihir Shah-led Committee, constituted to draft the National Water Policy, submitted their report almost four years ago but still no actions have been taken.
What are the present issues in water governance in India?
- Fragmented institutional network: multiple institutions like CWC, CGWB, state level agencies etc lead to poor coordination.
- Over reliance on structuralist interventions: like creation of dams, canals, reservoirs and barrages to manage water supply largely ignored social, environmental, and ecological impacts.
- Inefficient irrigation practices and excessive groundwater extraction.
- Inter-state water disputes, such as the Cauvery and Yamuna water-sharing conflicts
- Lack of decentralized approach in water management.
- Water is viewed as a free commodity and no monetary value is attached with it
- Ineffective implementation of laws related to waste water discharge.
What were the key recommendations of Mihir Shah committee?
- Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): It proposed a systems approach to water, focusing on managing water resources sustainably within river basins and aquifers.
- Creation of a National Water Commission (NWC) to replace the existing Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to combining both surface and groundwater management and focus on water governance.
- Decentralized water management: empowering local communities and stakeholders to take part in decision-making.
- Water demand management: a shift from supply-side interventions (like dam construction) to demand-side management like water-saving techniques in agriculture, industrial, and domestic sectors.
- Data and Technology: data collection, monitoring, related to water resources using modern technologies like remote sensing, GIS, and hydrological modelling and to create National Water Informatics Centre.
What future steps can be taken in this regard?
National water policy 2020 is the latest document which gives us a way ahead
- Water should be understood as a dynamic component integral to the eco-hydrological cycle, rather than as a stock of resources to be exploited.
- Valuation of ecosystem services linked to water flow regimes must be done
- The river basin should be construed as the fundamental unit of governance.
- Water efficiency must be focussed by shifting towards adopting water-saving methods.
- A comprehensive assessment of water development projects is necessary, considering the integrity of the hydrological cycle.
- Droughts and floods are not extreme events, but integral components of the global eco-hydrological cycle.
- Gender considerations are critical, as emphasised in the Dublin Statement, which recognises that “women play a central role in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water”.