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Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 2002 4859 Drinking Water Crisis in Kutch A Natural Phenomenon? This paper discusses how a natural water scarcity in the Kutch region of Gujarat has been converted into a severe water crisis due to the approach of the post-independence water resource development and utilisation. It also brings out the impact of three decades of relentless extraction of groundwater resources and its almost irreversible effect on the land and water resources of Kutch I see a truck coming, carrying the dead bodies of cows I see another one going, carrying green grass for the cattle camps. Suddenly I see, a protruding leg of a dead cow scratching against the grass, splashing down few blades of grass, My heart bleeds…. how much the poor life would have starved? If her lifeless leg is longing so much to touch the grass. – Kavi Tej (original Kutchi lines by well known Kutchi Poet on 1987 drought) T hese lines truly describe the sever- ity of the 1987 drought in Kutch. The poet shared them with us during our first meeting. After reciting this moving Kutchi poem, he told us, “Other years are not too different anymore.” An avid birdwatcher and nature lover, he also told us how the number and diversity of mi- gratory birds have reduced in past few years because of the unprecedented scar- city of water and vegetation. Besides giv- ing an idea of the current situation in Kutch, this conversation also gave us an impression of its past. Probably earlier it was not so bad, we thought. This north-western region of Gujarat is nationally known as water scarce and drought prone. Owing to its semi-arid character, scarcity of water is not a recent phenomenon in Kutch. What is recent is the problem of drinking water despite having one of the largest piped water supply networks in Gujarat, covering 92 per cent villages of Kutch. More than 20 per cent villages, however, remain under tanker water supply. The annual expenditure on tanker water supply exceeds Rs 20 million besides large capital and operational ex- penses of the public water supply schemes. The urban water supply situation is no better. As potable water is becoming scarce, the private water market is growing in every small and big town of Kutch. Despite huge investments in piped water supply, this region of Gujarat reels under a severe drinking water crisis throughout the year. Modern and traditional technologies are failing, wells and bores are drying up rapidly, even tubewells are fast turning saline and drinking water quality is dete- riorating. This is happening not in one village or in a taluka, but all over Kutch. Ironically, This is the region that has witnessed the rise of one of the oldest civilisation, the Indus Valley. The problem of drinking water is often blamed on the natural water scarcity in the region and low rainfall. Often a solution is seen in getting water from outside. In this paper, we discuss how natural water scarcity has been converted into a severe water crisis due to the post-independence water resource development and utilisation approach. The paper also brings out the impact of three decades of unprecedented extraction of groundwater resources and its almost irreversible long-term impact on the land and water resources of Kutch. I Regional Characteristics and Pre-Independence Context Kutch is the largest district of Gujarat, embracing more than 45,000 sq km, oc- cupying 23 per cent of the total area of the state. In Sanskrit, Kutch means area sur- rounded by water, a name derived from ‘kachhua’, or tortoise. Interestingly both in plan and 3-D Kutch looks like a tortoise in the water. The vast expanse of this geo- logically rich and complex region com- prises several distinct sub-regions named after their special ecological and social characteristics. Though officially not recog- nised any more, these names still remain in average Kutchi consciousness and popular language, like ‘kanthi’ for coastal region, and ‘makpat’ for misty lands of north- west. The land of Kutch offers a large variety of landscapes from east to west and north to south – a rich composition of drylands and green fields, black hills and the unending Arabian sea, white salt lands called Rann and beautiful grasslands. The social mainstream has evolved due to the confluence of a large number of ethnic and religious communities that came from Sindh, Marwar, Baluchistan, Saurashtra and other regions. The dynamics of acculturation processes, conversions, reconversions and migrations back and forth have given rise to the complex ethnic assemblage. In 1818, Dalpatram Khakkhar, an educationist of Kutch, described more than 110 caste- community groupings [Gala 1989]. Rainfall in Kutch is rather erratic and low averaging 350 mm in a year, with wide variations from year to year. Rainfall is highly localised, and comes in heavy spates. Such sudden spates and their high veloci- ties cause heavy soil erosion and reduce the natural groundwater recharge. Gene- rally, in every 10 years, three years are near dry, three have low rains, three are normal years and there is one year of above- average rains. Complete failure of rains once in three years is part of the cultural knowledge for Kutchis. It is commonly believed that the present water crisis is due to decliming rainfall but an analysis of the past 110 years’ (1878-1988) rainfall data shows that the rainfall pattern has remained largely unchanged. Failure of rain is an old phenomenon in Kutch. The topography is diverse in different parts ranging from high hills and plains CHARUL BHARWADA, VINAY MAHAJAN

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Page 1: Drinking Water Crisis in Kutch

Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 2002 4859

Drinking Water Crisis in KutchA Natural Phenomenon?

This paper discusses how a natural water scarcity in the Kutch region of Gujarat has beenconverted into a severe water crisis due to the approach of the post-independence waterresource development and utilisation. It also brings out the impact of three decades of

relentless extraction of groundwater resources and its almost irreversible effect on the landand water resources of Kutch

I see a truck coming,carrying the dead bodies of cowsI see another one going,carrying green grass for the cattle camps.Suddenly I see, a protruding leg of a deadcowscratching against the grass,splashing down few blades of grass,My heart bleeds….how much the poor life would have starved?If her lifeless leg is longing so much totouch the grass.

– Kavi Tej (original Kutchi lines bywell known Kutchi Poet on 1987

drought)

These lines truly describe the sever-ity of the 1987 drought in Kutch.The poet shared them with us during

our first meeting. After reciting this movingKutchi poem, he told us, “Other years arenot too different anymore.” An avidbirdwatcher and nature lover, he also toldus how the number and diversity of mi-gratory birds have reduced in past fewyears because of the unprecedented scar-city of water and vegetation. Besides giv-ing an idea of the current situation inKutch, this conversation also gave us animpression of its past. Probably earlier itwas not so bad, we thought.

This north-western region of Gujarat isnationally known as water scarce anddrought prone. Owing to its semi-aridcharacter, scarcity of water is not a recentphenomenon in Kutch. What is recent isthe problem of drinking water despitehaving one of the largest piped water supplynetworks in Gujarat, covering 92 per centvillages of Kutch. More than 20 per centvillages, however, remain under tankerwater supply. The annual expenditure ontanker water supply exceeds Rs 20 millionbesides large capital and operational ex-penses of the public water supply schemes.

The urban water supply situation is nobetter. As potable water is becoming scarce,the private water market is growing inevery small and big town of Kutch. Despitehuge investments in piped water supply,this region of Gujarat reels under a severedrinking water crisis throughout the year.Modern and traditional technologies arefailing, wells and bores are drying uprapidly, even tubewells are fast turningsaline and drinking water quality is dete-riorating. This is happening not in onevillage or in a taluka, but all over Kutch.Ironically, This is the region that haswitnessed the rise of one of the oldestcivilisation, the Indus Valley.

The problem of drinking water is oftenblamed on the natural water scarcity in theregion and low rainfall. Often a solutionis seen in getting water from outside. Inthis paper, we discuss how natural waterscarcity has been converted into a severewater crisis due to the post-independencewater resource development and utilisationapproach. The paper also brings out theimpact of three decades of unprecedentedextraction of groundwater resources andits almost irreversible long-term impact onthe land and water resources of Kutch.

IRegional Characteristics andPre-Independence Context

Kutch is the largest district of Gujarat,embracing more than 45,000 sq km, oc-cupying 23 per cent of the total area of thestate. In Sanskrit, Kutch means area sur-rounded by water, a name derived from‘kachhua’, or tortoise. Interestingly bothin plan and 3-D Kutch looks like a tortoise inthe water. The vast expanse of this geo-logically rich and complex region com-prises several distinct sub-regions named

after their special ecological and socialcharacteristics. Though officially not recog-nised any more, these names still remain inaverage Kutchi consciousness and popularlanguage, like ‘kanthi’ for coastal region,and ‘makpat’ for misty lands of north-west. The land of Kutch offers a largevariety of landscapes from east to west andnorth to south – a rich composition ofdrylands and green fields, black hills andthe unending Arabian sea, white salt landscalled Rann and beautiful grasslands. Thesocial mainstream has evolved due to theconfluence of a large number of ethnic andreligious communities that came from Sindh,Marwar, Baluchistan, Saurashtra and otherregions. The dynamics of acculturationprocesses, conversions, reconversions andmigrations back and forth have given riseto the complex ethnic assemblage. In 1818,Dalpatram Khakkhar, an educationist ofKutch, described more than 110 caste-community groupings [Gala 1989].

Rainfall in Kutch is rather erratic andlow averaging 350 mm in a year, with widevariations from year to year. Rainfall ishighly localised, and comes in heavy spates.Such sudden spates and their high veloci-ties cause heavy soil erosion and reducethe natural groundwater recharge. Gene-rally, in every 10 years, three years are neardry, three have low rains, three are normalyears and there is one year of above-average rains. Complete failure of rainsonce in three years is part of the culturalknowledge for Kutchis. It is commonlybelieved that the present water crisis is dueto decliming rainfall but an analysis of thepast 110 years’ (1878-1988) rainfall datashows that the rainfall pattern has remainedlargely unchanged. Failure of rain is an oldphenomenon in Kutch.

The topography is diverse in differentparts ranging from high hills and plains

CHARUL BHARWADA, VINAY MAHAJAN

Page 2: Drinking Water Crisis in Kutch

Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 20024860

to grasslands and the Rann. More than 50per cent of the total area is Rann. Thereare no perennial rivers. Seasonal riversoriginate from the central uplands and floweither towards the Greater Rann, LittleRann or the sea. There are about 97 riversand rivulets. The temperature varies from amaximum of 45º C during summer to a mini-mum of 2º C in winter. High temperaturesand dry weather cause high evaporationfrom surface waters, up to 8 feet per annum.

Large parts of the Kutch land mass wereformed in a marine environment, which isthe main reason for the inherently salinegroundwater. Usable groundwater is foundonly in the central region and a small partof the coastal belt covering an area of2,700 sq km, less than 15 per cent of themainland Kutch known as the ‘tubewellzone’ as shown in Figure 1. But at thedeeper levels this zone also has inherentsalinity of marine formations. In all otherplaces groundwater is available in shallowunconfined conditions. The natural char-acteristics of the water resources in Kutchcan be summed up as follows:(1) No perennial rivers, low rains, and highevaporation rate together contribute to poorsurface water resources;(2) Large parts of Kutch formed under thesea limiting the availability of potablegroundwater.(3) Kutch being a self-contained geo-hydrological unit, no potential of rechargefrom neighbouring areas is possible;(4) In vast lands where the topography isfavourable for recharge, the inherent sa-linity of the land renders it unsuitable forstoring sweet water.

Thus the only renewable natural sourceof water is the annual rainfall it receives.Given the geographical proximity, thewaters of the river Sindhu appear to be anobvious alternative but that too is notfeasible. The Indus water treaty signed byIndia and Pakistan in 1962 gave away therights of the western rivers like Jhelum,Chenab and Sindhu to Pakistan and thoseof Ravi, Beas and Sutlej to India [Thakkarand Thakkar 1988].

Scarcity of water affects every sphere oflife in Kutch. Distinctly different lifestylesand cultural patterns have emerged hing-ing on and around water along with nu-merous practices of water conservationand domestic water use patterns.

Kutch had been an independent stateduring British rule and had a well-deve-loped national and international tradingsystem. When most of the maritime statesjoined or were forced to join the Indian

Customs Union under British rule, Kutchalways struggled to remain independent.1

Due to this, Kutch’s trade suffered heavilyduring the colonial period. Even after 1947,it remained a separate state of India until1956. This independent state became a dis-trict of bilingual Bombay state in 1956 andfinally a district of Guajrat state in 1960.

Owing to large grasslands and a longcoastline, livestock management, a con-tinuation of the Sindh-Marwar pattern andmaritime trade became the backbone ofmainland Kutch’s flourishing economy.Just to illustrate the significance of pas-toralism, despite the severe drought of1987, Kutch has a higher livestock popu-lation (14.2 lakh) compared with the humanpopulation (12.6 lakh).2 While quotingthe travel notes of Captain AlexanderBurnes, who travelled in this region during1824-28, Rushbrook captures aspects ofKutch’s old economy:

The foreign trade by sea continued to beimportant and the restoration of order hadfavoured the growth of a considerable packtraffic from Kutch and particularly fromthe Abdasa, to Marwar and Gujarat. Oneof the striking features of the economy ofthe state at this time was the flourishingcondition of the pastoralists as contrastedwith the cultivators. On the grazing landsto the north of Kutch and on the Rannislands, large herds of cows, buffaloes,camels and flocks of sheep and goats weremaintained…The lot of cultivators was notso good. In bad seasons while villageswould move away to Sind…a great dealof food was imported, particularly coarserice from Sind and dates from Arabia[Rushbrook 1956].

In Kutch’s long history of maritime trade,Mandvi, Mundra, Jakhau, Koteshwar andLakhpat have been famous ancient ports.Except Mandvi and Mundra, others arenow out of use for various reasons. Firstly,large modern vessels could not be an-chored at smaller ports such as Mandvi,Jakhau, and Mundra, etc. Secondly, withthe establishment of a modern port likeKandla, all sea-trade was diverted there.Moreover, siltation, lack of maintenanceand unfavourable policies have furtherreduced the utility of the ports. However,Mandvi has continued its shipbuildingactivities. The excellence of Kutch alsolied in its craftsmanship. Gold work, silverwares, iron and copper work, glazing,polishing, cotton spinning, weaving andembroidery were the hallmark of Kutchihandicrafts.

Agriculture in Kutch had never been awidely practised occupation due to lowproductivity of lands, low rainfall and pooravailability of water. Uncertainties ofrainfed agriculture had always been veryhigh, resulting in great dependence onfoodgrain from outside, particularly Sindh.Frequent failures of rainfall would com-pletely wipe out the crops. The conditionsof the Kutchi farmer had been poor in mostparts. Crop failures were frequent and sowere the famines. Describing the condi-tion of Kutchi farmers, the All KutchTraders’ Association’s president, Dun-garshi Dharmashi Sampat, wrote in 1935:

Kutchi farmer is very poor. He is quiteoppressed under moneylenders’ clutches…Every farmer is debt ridden. His lands aremortgaged to the moneylenders. They work

Figure 1: Usable Groundwater (Tubewell) Zone

TDS in ppmSalinity at all levelsUsable groundwater

Source: Planning Atlas of Gujarat, GoG, 1987.

banni grasslands

10 0 10 20 30 40 KM

NALIYA

BHUJ

RAPAR

LITTLE RANN

G U L F O F K U T C H

A R A B I A NS E A

G R E A T E R R A N N O F K U T C H

PAKISTAN

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Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 2002 4861

very hard but still the debt continues forgenerations. They live on moneylenders’mercy. There is no end to his agony…Kutchifarmers are ruined. It does not rain enoughand the land does not grow enough.

Kutchi merchants travelled far and wideto the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, the ports ofthe west Asia and many parts of Africa.Bullion, dates, grain, timber, rhinoceroshides, spices, elephant tusks, silks anddrugs were brought from Malabar, Mocha,Muscat and Africa and on the return jour-ney merchants carried cotton, cloth, oil,butter and alum of Kutch. For every Kutchiwho habitually lives and works insideKutch, there is another Kutchi who habitu-ally lives and works outside, whether inMumbai, Kolkata, East Africa, Aden, thePersian Gulf, Europe or the US [Rushbrook1958]. Venturing out for business and workto foreign lands is thus a tradition forenterprising Kutchi merchants. At present,as against nearly 12 lakh native Kutchisin Kutch, more than 19 lakh Kutchis liveoutside Kutch, many of them in Mumbai.

Droughts have been very common andhave had a severe impact on agricultureand all other economic activities. Of theearly famines, not much is recorded andknown except the great famine of 1577,but just in the latter half of the 18th centurythere were seven famines followed byseveral scarcity years and a few faminesthroughout the 19th century. Availablerecords from 1631 to 1988 bring out a verygrim picture of the past. In these 357 years,there have been 45 bad years. There were11 famines and several drought and scar-city years. Scarcity, drought and faminesforced people to migrate to neighbouringSindh en masse along with their livestock.

The population was never stable as isevident from the records of out-migration.Recorded figures in the gazetteer showthat in a span of just 13 years, from 1862to 1875, more than 2 lakh people andthousands of livestock had migrated outof Kutch, whereas only 41,000 peoplereturned.3 Earthquakes were another natu-ral calamity frequently faced by Kutchis.In a span of 111 years from 1845 to 194666 slight to moderate earthquakes, fivesevere and two very severe earthquakeshad struck Kutch.4

The low population density was anotherway to survive in resource-scarce naturalconditions. Settlements were small andscattered. This reduced the relative re-source requirements, particularly water, atone location. This is reflected in the presentsettlement pattern. The present population

density on the Kutch mainland is merely56 persons per sq km as against 210 forthe entire state.

IITraditional Drinking Water

Systems and Present Status

Despite such unfavourable natural con-ditions, the history of human habitation inKutch goes back several thousand years.Evidence from pre-historic times found inKutch and surrounding regions shows thata predominantly pastoralist lifestyle ex-isted in these regions around 12,000 yearsago [Vaidya 1995, Goswami 1992]. In thearchaeological excavations at Dholavira,5

a well-developed underground channelnetwork is found, a unique feature of allthe Harappan sites [Vasa 1995].

How did people manage water in therecent past, particularly before indepen-dence, and what is their present status?Most of the late 19th and early 20th century

accounts repeatedly mention that waterfrom the Kutch streams was unfit to drink(for humans) and was too saline even forcattle during the summer. Livestock sur-vived on saline water during summer. Dueto the absence of a perennial river, peoplelearnt to survive by developing variousmethods to harness the scarce rainwater[Campbell 1880]. James MacMurdo wrotein 1818 about the rivers of Kutch:

I do not think that there is any perennialriver in this region…Many of them dry upby the end of monsoon…Of what I haveseen and heard there are two-three bigrivers which meet the sea near Mundra andMandvi and even in April water flows inthem…Good water is found by digging thesand up to 12 to 15 inches in the riverbed.

These shallow pits in the riverbed arecalled ‘virdas’, the simplest and probablythe earliest method to find water. Virdastap the rainwater stored under the surface-level sand by digging in the dry riverbed.Depending upon the local soil conditions,

Table 1: Traditional Sources of Domestic Water in Kutch

Details Virdas Wells Vavs Talavs

Villages having respective traditional sources(out of 100 surveyed villages) 23 72 9 87

Sources surveyed under each category 69 140 9 145Built by – Donors or rulers 0 57 9 76

– Village community 69 53 0 43– Government 0 30 0 26

Built when – In past 15 years - 15 0 23– In past 16 to 45 years - 10 0 13– More than 45 years - 94 9 109

Water availability when surveyed 30 77 2 43Water availability throughout the year duringa normal rain year - 70 5 44

Source: Compiled by the authors based on a survey of 100 villages carried out by them and others inJanuary 1997.

Source: Patel, P P (1995).

Area where water table declined by 10 to 25 mbetween May 1980 and May 1992.40 per cent of mainland is affected by this overdrafting,covering an area of 8,000 sq km.

Figure 2: Decline in Water Table (1980-1992)

LAKHPAT

ABDASA

MANDVI MUNDRA

ANJAR

BANNI

NAKATRANA

BHUJ BHACHAU

RAPAR

LITTLE RANN

KHADEER

G R E A T E R R A N N O F K U T C H

A R A B I A NS E A

10 0 10 20 40 KM

Page 4: Drinking Water Crisis in Kutch

Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 20024862

topography and water needs, people haveevolved different types of virda. In manyvillages virdas are still an important sourceof water. In some villages, people preferthis water to piped water for drinking, asthey find virda water sweeter in taste. Ofthe 100 villages surveyed in 1997, 23 usedvirda water.

Besides virdas, the most commonly usedtraditional sources of water are wells, ‘talav’(reservoirs storing rainwater) and tanks.The earliest evidence of wells in Kutch isfound at Dholavira. Whereas wells andtalavs may be old, big talavs were notwidespread till the 18th century and wellsremained the largest source of water. Largetalavs and tanks are generally found invillages where the erstwhile rulers livedor which were centres of fiefdoms of‘bhayyads’6 like Kothara, Gadhsisa,Gadhwala Wala, Lakhpat, Anjar and Bhuj.As is evident from Table 1, out of 100villages, 87 villages have talavs, many ofthem more than one.

The famous Hamirsar tank in Bhuj is anexample of fine craftsmanship and greatimagination to bring water through akilometre-long channel from the Lakhi hillranges. Seeing the potential of convertinga small pond into a major source of waterfor this newly founded capital of Kutch,it was converted into a tank in 1549. Sincethen successive rulers made their contri-butions to Hamirsar either by extendingthe original structure or by undertakingrepair and maintenance, particularly throughrelief works during scarcity. Hamirsar, withits total capacity of more than 3,000 millionlitres, was the main source of water forBhuj and met its water needs even duringthe most difficult times. It also used torecharge many wells on its periphery. Thismonumental effort of the Maharajas andcommon people who laboured to makeHamirsar today stands neglected.

Wells were made in the talavs for drink-ing water to avoid evaporation losses. Thishas advantages of both systems. Talavwater recharges the water table of the wellsand to that extent evaporation losses arereduced. The wells provide cleaner andmore quantities of water even duringscarcity years. Sometimes, separate butinterconnected talavs were made for drink-ing, washing and general purpose use.

In a few places in Kutch, ‘selar vavs’(stepped wells) were an important tradi-tional source of water. A vav is a deep wellhaving a stepped access from the groundto the well with several landings. Besidesbeing a well, these are also great works

of architecture. Generally built by the royalor influential families, vavs have neverbeen the common people’s source of water.Today, vavs are the most unused andneglected traditional source.

As evident from Table 1, most of thetraditional sources were built beforeIndian rule came into existence and werebuilt either by the rulers, donors or the com-munities. As for maintenance and owner-ship, there were different arrangementsand some of them continue even now.

Simple virdas have no individual owner-ship and can be dug and used by anyone.Pastoralists, traders and travellers usedthem during their journey. Such virdas area primary source of water for the poor andlower caste people in many villages whohave no access to other sources. Virdas ofa more permanent nature are still found inpastoral villages. They are owned andmaintained by the families who constructthem. These are not strictly private butmore of ‘community approved’ ownershipbased on mutual understanding. When onefamily’s virda dries up, they can accessothers’ virdas for their drinking water needs.For livestock, they find other alternativeslike far-off talavs or even resort to migra-tion. Drinking water has been the firstpriority for them and is still met un-conditionally in these villages.

In villages where the social hierarchywas strong, different socio-economic com-munities participated in different ways inthe process of decision-making, imple-menting and maintaining the resources.The decision of making a well or talav was

taken by influential people within thevillage; financial resources came from well-to-do families, temple trusts, donors or thelocal rulers and the labour from the localpoor people. Whereas talavs were gener-ally of village or state ownership, wellsmay have private, community or villageownership. This structure of ownership isevident even today in many villages.

A major opportunity for carrying out andmaintaining water works at the state levelwere the drought relief works, a verycommon phenomenon during famines.People were employed to carry out publicworks during drought, scarcity or famineand were paid in cash or kind. Generallythese works included making or deepeningwells or talavs, making roads or palatialstructures. The earliest recorded mentionof such relief works is in 1813, when reliefwork was offered on Deshalpar lake inBhuj on a daily wage of four-fifths of apound (363.13 gm) of grain. Other men-tions of relief works are in 1825, when alarge number of wells was dug all overKutch, and Hamirsar in Bhuj was deep-ened [Campbell 1880].

Table 2: Changing Cropping Pattern(1958-1992)

Crop Area (in Acres) Change1958 1992-93 (in Per Cent)

Bajri 3,60,000 2,90,000 -20Jowar 1,74,000 3,50,000 + 100Pulses 2,00,000 2,77,500 + 38Cotton 20,000 1,37,500 + 587Groundnut 7,000 2,15,000 + 2970

Source: Figures for 1958 from Rushbrook (1958)and for 1996 from GUIDE (1996).

Figure 3: Deterioration in Quality

Source: Patel, P P (1995).

TDS more than 1,000 mg/lFluoride more than 1.5 mg/lNitrate more than 45 mg/l

Total area having unpotable groundwater is 14,500 sq km,75 per cent of mainland Kutch

G R E A T E R R A N N O F K U T C H

LAKHPAT BANNI

NAKHATRANA

ABDASA

BHUJ

ANJAR

BHACHAU

RAPAR

LITTLE RANN

KHADEERT

G U L F O F K U T C H

MANDVI

MUNDRA

A R A B I A NS E A

10 0 10 30 KM

Page 5: Drinking Water Crisis in Kutch

Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 2002 4863

In 1877, the Tuna-Anjar road was laidand several wells and ponds were dug.Ever since, drought relief works havebecome a regular source of sustenance forthe rural poor population. With muchpoliticisation of the water issue in Kutch,the drought relief works’ budget increasesevery year and though the context haschanged considerably since the early 19thcentury, similar works of road buildingand talav making are carried on, althoughwith much less vision and planning.

The study of various traditional systemssharply brings out the fact that differentsystems existed in different parts of Kutchbased on regions, communities, needs anduse patterns. Though traditional systemsare still in use in many parts of Kutch, thereis a visible decline in their reliability, useand maintenance. Why are traditional systemsnot being used as in the past, despite thecontinuing drinking water problem? Wewill try to explore and explain some ofthese issues in the following sections.

The process of modernisation andcentralisation was carried out with greatzeal by the Indian state. While thecolonialists had shown considerable inter-est in learning from traditional Indianirrigation systems, the builders of modernIndia knew little about them and paid noattention to their development potential.Hence, there were never any policies madeto understand and further improve them– be it education, health, natural resourcemanagement, irrigation or drinking water.Thus there are no policies even to considerthe traditional water systems at least as apotential supplementary source. At themicro level, there are several inter-linkedfactors, which are direct or indirect resultsof the macro process, changing times andpreferences. Manifestations of these fac-tors are often blamed as the causes of theirdecline.

IIIPost-Independence

Development of WaterResources

The intervention of the Indian state inregional development began soon after theindependence. One of the top-most priori-ties of the Indian government was to attain‘food self-sufficiency’, and traditionalmethods of rainfed agriculture were con-sidered inadequate. To meet new require-ments, efforts were mounted on a warfooting to develop surface water potentialby building large dams and groundwater

potential by finding newer technologies toextract water from deeper aquifers. Majorrivers like Khari, Saakra, Nana, Mithi,Bhukhi, Mittiyari, Kanakawati, Suvai, andNagmati were dammed to tap the surfacewater potential for irrigation. As a result,there are 20 medium and 162 minor irri-gation schemes. The actual irrigationpotential of these schemes is about 52,800hectares (ha) but actual potential realisedis less than 15,000 ha, less than 28 per centof the planned potential. Irrigation costfrom surface water sources at the actualirrigation level comes to Rs 18,000 per haagainst its planned cost of Rs 6,000 perhectare [GUIDE 1996].

To prevent large-scale productivity lossesduring calamities, public health becameone of the major concerns of the Indiangovernment as the high mortality andmorbidity rates were having a severenegative impact on the nation’s newlydeveloping economy. It was found thatmost of the widespread diseases were waterborne. Thus, provision of safe drinkingwater was viewed as an urgent require-ment. The rural drinking water supply, forthe first time, was considered thegovernment’s responsibility. For a properassessment of the problem, a countrywidesurvey of all villages was initiated by thecentral government, which was completedin 1964. Based on the survey, it was decidedto provide free water to no-source villages.This marked the beginning of public watersupply in rural areas of India.

With the limited surface water potentialand its poor efficiency in Kutch, ground-

water soon became the main source ofwater for all purposes. Newer technologieswere introduced to tap groundwater. Dieselpumps could draw water much faster thanthe ‘kos’ (traditional water lifting device)and were introduced in 1950. As the watertable went down with time, bores weredrilled in the dried wells and electric motorsreplaced the diesel pumps. Finally, deeptubewells with submersible pumps wereintroduced to tap water from deeper aqui-fers. The journey from kos to tubewell wasvery fast. Groundwater was tapped by allmeans and from wherever possible.

Overdependenceon Groundwater

(1) For Agriculture: The traditional agri-culture was food-crop-oriented since it wasmore for subsistence, but in modern agri-culture, cash crops have increased morerapidly. The area under cotton has increasedby seven-fold and that under groundnut 30times from 1958 to 1993. The comparativeincrease in food crops has been muchlower, and production of bajri, the staplediet of Kutchis, has fallen over time asevident from Table 2.

As groundwater withdrawal becamepossible, well, borewell and tubewell-basedirrigation came into existence. The processof drilling bores and tubewells for agri-culture has never stopped since then.Official numbers of dug wells and dug-cum-borewells increased from 18,000 in1960-61 to more than 32,000 by 1993-94.More importantly, the technology for

Figure 4: Sea Ingression (1985-1995)

Source: GUIDE (1996).

TDS above 4,000 PPM in 1985TDS above 4,000 ppm in 1995

G R E A T E R R A N N O F K U T C H

LAKHPAT

BANNI

NAKHATRANA

ABDASA

BHUJ

MANDVIMUNDRA

ANJAR

BHACHAU

RAPAR

KHADEER

10 0 10 30 KM

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withdrawing water catalysed a much fasterdepletion of groundwater. There are 219government tubewells exclusively for ir-rigation, several private wells andtubewells. The number of electrical mo-tors and engines increased from a mere7,000 to a whopping 24,000 during thesame period [GUIDE 1996]. The actualnumber of bores and electric motors maybe much higher as many of them operateillegally. There is evidence that a largenumber of farmers owning bores sellgroundwater to other farmers, which nevergets accounted for. Since electricity sup-ply is uncertain, water is pumped out andstored in farm ponds, even if it is notrequired for irrigation. This too causeslarge-scale wastage and evaporation losses.

Total irrigated area in Kutch is more thanone lakh ha and 90 per cent of the irrigationis done by groundwater. The availabilityof groundwater for irrigation broughtbenefits to the farmers, especially bigfarmers. Farming in the water-rich zonesgradually became a profitable occupation.Many rich Kutchis staying abroad or inMumbai began investing in agriculturallands. Today many wadis of Vidi-Nagalpar,Bhuj, Nakhtrana and Mandvi are ownedby Kutchis staying outside. Like manyother places, the flood irrigation methodof watering the crops is practised verywastefully in the belief that more watergiven to crops will increase the yield.Wastage assumes serious proportions inKutch because the water retention capacityof soils is low and the crops require irri-gation every 3-7 days unlike in good soilswhere it is done after 15-20 days. Thegroundnut crop, which requires 6-8 irri-gations in other parts of Gujarat, requires18-30 irrigations in Kutch [Raju 1992].Crops requiring intensive irrigation haveincreased over time.(2) Rural and Urban Water Supply: Publicwater supply in rural Kutch is a three-decade-old programmes. In most parts ofKutch, hand pumps and simple wells weretechnically not feasible and thus pipedwater supply was introduced, known asindividual water supply scheme (IWSS) orregional water supply scheme (RWSS).7

Upgrading, improving or maintaining thetraditional systems never was seen as amethod to meet the drinking water require-ments at the village or small-town level.

In Kutch, 787 out of 948 villages are ‘nosource’. Of the total no-source villages,598 are covered under 113 RWSS and 126under IWSS. These schemes are designedto provide 70 litres per capita per day

(LPCD). Initial investment varies fromRs 2.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per village withan average of Rs 5 lakh per village. Totalinvestment on RWSS has been more thanRs 39 crore.8 The main source of waterfor all these schemes is groundwater. The111 RWSS draw water from 88 deeptubewells and 44 wells. The public watersupply network in rural areas is more than4,000 km long, two-and-a-half times thetotal length of the Gujarat coastline, oneof the largest in the country. When pipedwater supply fails, villages are suppliedwater through tankers. More than 60 percent villages under these schemes facesevere irregularities in water supply. Thereasons are many, including inefficientmanagement, far-off sources of water, longnetwork, rapidly declining water levels,and deteriorating quality. Tankers provide14 LPCD, only 20 per cent of the pipedwater supply standard. In the winter of1997, 216 villages were supplied waterthrough tankers. The budget for tankersupply has been growing every year. Pro-vision for the tanker water supply during1996-97 alone was Rs 303 lakh.

The story of urban water supply is alsosimilar. Large water tanks like Hamirsarand Deshalsar of Bhuj, Sidhsar tank ofAnjar, built by the erstwhile rulers, whichcould have served partial requirement ofwater in urban areas, have been rendereduseless. Thus all of the towns now dependupon the same source, groundwater. Evenafter exploiting groundwater to its utmostthe urban areas too face severe waterproblems.

Bhuj municipality has nine tubewells innearby villages, and most parts of Bhuj getwater every alternate day. Mandvi has fourtubewells of which two have become salineso the water of the sweet and salinetubewells is mixed to achieve the lowestpotable quality. Mundra and Rapar alsoface severe water shortage. In 1995, Bhujmunicipality was able to supply only 8.4MLD (million litres per day) against ademand of 12 MLD, Rapar was gettingonly 0.54 MLD against its requirement of1.15 MLD. The only urban centre whosesupply is not much affected is the urban-industrial centre of great national signifi-cance, the Kandla Gandhidham Complex(KGC). Of all the urban centres of Kutch,KGC gets highest priority in having accessto water. Daily water supply to KGC is25.16 MLD and is met by more than 45tubewells spread over six far-off locations.KGC is one of the largest consumers ofdomestic water and takes a large share of

about 35 per cent of total potable ground-water in Kutch. Supply to this complex isonly marginally affected even in the worstdrought years.(3) For Industrial Projects: Industriali-sation has never played a significant rolein Kutch’s economy. In 1994, Kutch had2,764 registered small-scale industrial unitsout of a total of over 1.6 lakh units inGujarat. Unfortunately, most of the existingindustries too depend upon groundwater.

Modern, highly capital-intensive, highlymechanised and highly water-intensiveindustries are planned to cover many partsof Kutch, in the wake of liberalisation, onan unprecedented scale. The proposedprojects include many large cement plants,chemicals, thermal power plants and caus-tic soda plants. The water requirements ofthese projects are extremely high. Thetechnology mission on rural water supplyestimated the industrial water requirementsin Kutch to increase from 6.39 MLD to32 MLD by 2003.9 Most of these projectsare to be commissioned in areas facingsevere water scarcity, like Lakhpat, Abdasaand Bhachau.

IVImpacts of Groundwater

Overextraction

Be it agriculture, urban areas, rural watersupply schemes or industries, all are pri-marily dependent on groundwater in Kutch.The over-extraction of groundwater hasled to a rapid depletion of the water table

Table3: Changing GroundwaterStatus in Kutch

Taluka Groundwater Status1984 1991

Mandvi White DarkNakhtrana White GreyBhuj White WhiteBhachau White OELakhpat White WhiteAnjar White OERapar White GreyMundra White GreyAbdasa White Grey

Notes: These categories are based on thegroundwater withdrawal as per cent ofrecharge.White: Withdrawal less than 65 per cent ofrecharge.Grey: Withdrawal between 65-85 per centper cent of recharge.Dark: Withdrawal between 85-100 per centof recharge.Over-Exploited (OE): Withdrawal morethan recharge.

Source: Central Groundwater Board, Ministry ofWater Resources, 1991.Report of Committee on Estimation ofGroundwater Potential, 1991.

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and sharp deterioration in the quality ofwater across the district. As evident fromTable 3, from 1984 to 1991, seven out ofnine talukas moved to higher and unsus-tainable extraction categories. Two talukas,Anjar and Bhachau, came under the over-exploited category; Mandvi advanced intothe ‘dark’ zone whereas Nakhatrana, Rapar,Mundra and Abdasa came under the greycategory. In reality, the water level statusmay be deteriorating further as due tolacunae in methodology the utilisablegroundwater is generally overstated andthe net draft is understated [Raju 1992].Over-extraction of groundwater has led tomultifarious impacts both on the quantityand quality of groundwater resources atthe regional level.

Quantity-related Impacts

In large parts of Kutch, the water tablehas declined by 30 to 60 feet during theperiod from 1985 to 1995 [GUIDE 1996].A survey of 100 villages during the studyrevealed that the rate of decline is 8-10 feetannually in most places. Farmers nowneeded 30 to 50 hp motors instead of10-15 hp motors a decade ago. Tubewellssupplying water to Bhuj extract water from400 feet below ground level and are nowleft with only 130 feet of usable ground-water, below which is saline water. Low-ering pipes and deepening tubewells havebecome a common phenomenon. Whensimple wells dry up, farmers drill ‘sayada’,a 3-4 inch thick thin horizontal drill at thebottom of the well to tap water from adistance. In many farms, sayadas extendup to 200 feet horizontally, at times evencutting across the fields.

Figure 2 shows the declining water tabledue to over-extraction during 1980 to 1992.As the water table goes down, the volumeof the groundwater declines and the outputdecreases still faster. According to anofficial, Mandvi municipality wells, whichused to give around 2,00,000 litres perhour 15 years ago, now yield only around75,000 litres per hour. Such reductionshave also been observed in many bore ortubewell-based public water supplyschemes in rural areas.

These are not isolated cases. Schemeafter scheme is failing because of thisproblem. There are many proposals withthe GWSSB to deepen and augment thesources of various schemes due to yieldreductions. The problem of reduction inthe yield of a source gradually culminatesin its total failure and abandonment. The

case of Nagalpar village located in a pro-lific water zone illustrates this trend.

Nagalpar, having a population of 5,000,is located 4 km from Anjar. This is a water-rich area and has lush green fields to growvegetables, mangoes, dates, pomegranates,guava and chiku. In 1972, a donor con-tributed money for a drinking water well.The water table was less than 75 feet andan electric motor was installed at the newwell. By 1977, the well went dry. In themeantime, GWSSB drilled a tubewell thereas the village was to be covered under anIWSS. The water level was 125 feet at thetime. Though the depth of the tubewell was350 feet, the pipe was lowered only up to200 feet since everyone was sure that waterin this area could never go below 200 feet.By 1989, the water table went below 200feet and the tubewell stopped yieldingwater. In 1991, a second tubewell wasdrilled up to a depth of 400 feet and thistime sand seeped in. What can be thesolution? Drill another tubewell? The thirdtubewell, 450 feet deep this time, wasdrilled next to those lying dry.

Several fields of this village have suf-fered multiple failures of their tubewells.Incidentally, this village supplies water tothe Kandla-Gandhidham Complex formany years from nine tubewells. Besides,a large number of private ‘wadi’ ownerssupply water tankers to Kandla-Gandhidham. With such high extractions,the water table is going down at the rateof 15 feet every year.

Quality-related Problems

As the water table goes down, seriousdeterioration in the quality of groundwatercomes to light. In Lakhpat-Maliya region10,478 wells have become saline due tosea water ingression. Groundwater in thewhole of Lakhpat, parts of Abdasa, Mandvi,Mundra, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar hasmore than 4,000 TDS rendering it unsuit-able for both drinking and irrigation. WHOrecommends 500 TDS as the highestdesirable level and 1,500 TDS as themaximum permissible level for drinkingwater. Out of 260 wells monitored by theGujarat Water Resource DevelopmentCorporation, 162 wells recorded more than2,000 TDS [GUIDE 1996].

In many areas, excess fluorides, nitrates,iron and other minerals have also beenobserved. A survey conducted by GWSSBfrom 1983 to 1987, of 129 villages spreadall over Kutch, shawed that around 12 percent of the surveyed villages (15) were

affected by high content of fluoridesvarying between 1.6 and 6 mg/litre againstpermissible limits of 0.5 to 1 mg/litre. Theworst affected areas are the coastal vil-lages. The combined impact of increasingsalinity, fluorides and nitrates is shown inFigure 3. Another problem is also of excessiron. Iron makes the water look red in colour.People of iron-affected villages use waterafter leaving it in containers for 2-3 daysto allow the red sediments to settle. Excessiron corrodes the pipes and tanks and attimes leads to failure of tubewells.

A government survey of 245 villages inthe coastal belt from Malia to Lakhpat,covering a population of 2.5 lakh peopleshows that an area of 15,500 ha, includingsizeable cultivable lands, has become saline[Raju 1992]. More than 50 farmers aban-doned their fields in the coastal village ofMaska as the soil became saline leavingit uncultivable due to repeated irrigationwith saline water. Irrigation with salinewater gradually turns the land saline andreduces its productivity. A local pesticidedistributor told us that in the coastal beltgroundnut cultivation had fallen by 75 percent in just a decade and was replaced bycotton, a more salinity resistant crop. Theseare by no means isolated incidents. Recentdata from GWRDC have brought out theextent of salinity ingression as shown inFigure 4.

The overall financial impact of thesalination process is alarming. A study bythe department of agriculture, Gujarat,shows that the cropped area before seaingression in Malia-Lakhpat belt was11,812 ha bringing an annual income ofRs 605.59 lakh to farmers. This area hasreduced to 7,705 ha reducing income toRs 240.45 lakh, an annual loss of Rs 365.24lakh [Raju 1992]. The government ofGujarat has prepared a comprehensivecoastal salinity prevention and treatmentplan for Kutch envisaging an investmentof Rs 186 crore. Ironically, this amount is56 per cent of the total financial allocationof GWSSB for the whole state of Gujaratfor the Eighth Five-Year Plan, which is Rs330 crore.10

VSumming Up

With a specific combination of geology,climate and topography, there are struc-tural constraints in the usable water inKutch. The lands are more suitable forgrasslands than agriculture. The pre-inde-pendence economy of Kutch evolved

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Economic and Political Weekly November 30, 20024866

within these natural limitations of land andwater resources. Good grasslands and along coastline gave rise to a pastoraleconomy and maritime trade. Agriculturewas poor and was never a widely practisedoccupation due to low productivity of land,low rainfall and poor availability of water.Scarcity, drought and famines forced peopleto migrate to neighbouring Sindh.

Geological and groundwater surveyssince 1950 clearly brought out the naturallimits of usable water in Kutch. However,more rational and sustainable regionaldevelopment policies or the regulation ofwater use did not become a serious concernfor the state.

After Kutch became part of the newIndian state, there was a sudden departurefrom a historically evolved socio-economicset-up. The decentralised sea-trade of earliertimes was all centralised at Kandla port.No efforts were made to further developtraditional low water-consuming occupa-tions like pastoralism and handicrafts.Instead, water-intensive modern agricul-ture was promoted in ecologically fragileKutch too.

Newer water extraction technologiesentered the quiet villages of Kutch on alarge scale. Diesel engines, electrical motorsand submersible pumps replaced the tra-ditional ‘kos’; virdas, wells and talavs weregradually replaced by tubewell-basedmodern piped water supply systems. A smalltubewell zone became the primary source ofwater for all water users, agriculture, ruraland urban areas and industries. Drinkingwater never became a serious concern andwas eventually sacrificed for other uses.

This over-dependence on groundwaterhas exploited the resource much beyondits rechargeable limits. This has resultedin severe deterioration in the quantity andquality of water. Over-extraction alongcoastal areas has resulted in seawateringression into the inland fresh-wateraquifers making them saline. Irrigationwith saline water has led to large-scalesalination of agricultural lands. In theprocess, the soils began losing productiv-ity and water extraction became moreexpensive making agriculture unviable. Thelivestock-based pastoral economy thatflourished at one time is in a shambles nowas the fodder and water resources areshrinking.

Advanced understanding of geo-hydro-logy, ecology and agriculture and develop-ment of newer water-extraction technolo-gies should have facilitated the process ofovercoming the natural water scarcity and

drinking water needs could have been meton a priority basis. However, unregulatedand unsustainable groundwater exploita-tion and an inappropriate developmentapproach converted the natural scarcityinto a severe water crisis.

Address for correspondence:[email protected]

Notes[This paper is based on a detailed study carriedout by the authors in 1996-97. The fieldwork andsurvey of 100 villages, mentioned at various placesin the paper, was carried out in January 1997. Allthe drawings are prepared by Charul Bharwadafrom various sources.]

1 Kutch never became part of the Indian CustomsUnion (ICU) hence Kutchi goods entering anyIndian port under the British Dominion weretaxed heavily, which made them very expensiveand thus uncompetitive. Heavy penalties werelevied upon the Maharao under the pretext thathe was not able to control piracy by Wagaddacoits in Saurashtra, large parts of whichwere under the ICU. Steamships coming toKutchi ports were also often harassed andobstructed. Due to all this Kutchi trade andeconomy suffered heavily.

2 As per 1991 census.3 From the Administrative Summary given in

the Gazetteer by, Campbell, J M (1880),‘Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol V:Kutch, Palanpur and Mahi Kantha, Bombay’.

4 Analysis based on the report by C C Patel andAssociates (1988).

5 Dholavira is a major archaeological excavationsite of the Indus Valley civilisation located inthe north-west end of Khadeer island in theGreat Rann of Kutch.

6 ‘Bhayyads’ were the family members, kithand kin of the Kutch Maharao who were rulingsmall dominions on behalf of the Maharao.Nearly half of the Kutch lands were underBhaayad rule.

7 RWSS are for a group of villages. In Kutch,

the number of villages in such schemes variesfrom 2 to 45.

8 As the schemes were executed at differenttimes and by different governments, a cumu-lative official figure was not available. Thishas been calculated based on the analysis ofofficial information of 113 RWSS. The averageinitial investment comes to Rs 5.04 lakh pervillage. Thus for 780 villages the investmentcomes to more than Rs 39 crore for RWSS alone.

9 Technology Mission on Rural Water Supply,(1988).

10 Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board,Eighth Five-Year Plan, 3rd Revision.

ReferencesCampbell, J M (1980): Gazzetteer of the Bombay

Presidency, Vol V: Kutch, Palanpur and MahiKantha, Bombay.

Gala, Manilal (ed) (1989): Prarambhik Kshitijo:Ognisvin Sadi Darmyan Kutch Ma GnanSanshodhan, Rachna Prakashan, Ahmedabad.

Goswami, Rajratna (1992): Kutch Sanskruti:Samasyao Ane Samadhan, Junagadh.

GUIDE (1996): Process of Desertification inKachchh And Banaskantha Districts ofGujarat, India (1961-1991), Bhuj (Kachchh),Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology.

Patel, C C and Associates (1988): ‘Report of theTechnology Mission On Rural Water Supplyand Related Water Management, Mini Mission:Kachchh (Gujarat)’, New Delhi.

Patel, P P (1996): ‘Kutch Ni Jal Samasya: Swaroop,Kaaran Ane Nivaran’, Kutch Taari Asmita,Kutch Mitra, Bhuj.

Raju, K C B (1992): ‘Status of GroundwaterResources: Kutch District – Gujarat’, paperpresented at a seminar on Kutch’s water pro-blems and their solution, Gandhidham, March.

Sampat, Dungarshi Dharamshi (1935): Kutch NunVepari Tantra, Karachi.

Thakkar, Mahesh and Shashikant Thakkar (1988):Sindhu Waters and Kutch, Bhuj.

Vaidya, Dilip (1996): ‘Puratatva Ni Prayogshala-Kutch’, Kutch Taari Asmita, Kutch Mitra,Bhuj.

Vasa, Pulin (1996): ‘Dholavira:Sindhu (Harrapiya)Sanskruti Ni Vishisht Vasahat’, Kutch TaariAsmita, Kutch Mitra, Bhuj.

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