Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Keywords:

Water technology Water infrastructure Water supply Governance
Water in agriculture

1. Background of water problem in Gujarat

Gujarat has just 2.28 per cent of India’s water resources and 6.39 per cent of the country’s geographical area. This is again constrained by imbalances in intra-state distribution. The State has an average annual rainfall of 80 cm³ with a high coef- ficient of variance over time and space and as a result droughts have been fre- quent. Out of 185 rivers, the State has only eight perennial rivers and all of them are located in the southern part. Around 80 per cent of the State’s surface water resources are concentrated in central and southern Gujarat, whereas the remaining three-quarters of the State has only 20 per cent. On average, three years in a cycle of 10 have been drought years. Since Indian independence in 1947, the drought years of Gujarat have been as follows: 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1962, 1963,

1965, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1999, 2000 and
2003 (Gupta, 2004).

Before 2001 drinking water scarcity had posed a serious threat to the human and cattle population in Gujarat. Successive governments had to spend billions of rupees on temporary measures to supply drinking water by road tankers and some- times even by special water trains. The State, which generally had a track record of peace and a harmonious social ethos, even witnessed “water riots” due to severe water scarcity compounded by poor water resources management.

Over extraction of groundwater (as compared with annual recharge) has caused serious water quality problems due to excessive fluoride, nitrate and salin- ity. The number of fluoride-affected habitations increased from 2,826 in 1992 to 4,187 by 2003. The fluoride concentration in these villages ranged from 1.5 mg/ litre to as high as 18.9 mg/litre. Fluoride has been the cause of extensive health damage in many parts of Gujarat. Dental fluorosis causes permanent pigmentation of teeth in children and bone deformities are caused by skeletal fluorosis even in adults. Other serious problems experienced as a result of high concentrations of fluoride include anaemia, loss of appetite, nausea and thyroid malfunction, which sometimes results in brain impairment of children and an adverse impact on the foetus, in some cases causing abortion or stillbirth in expectant mothers.

The water problems have also led to intra-state migration from drought-prone regions such as Saurashtra and Kutch (western and south-western Gujarat) to the central and southern regions of the State. Often, this migration occurred alongside the movement of the livestock population and also caused a shift in the primary workforce of hundreds of thousands of people, dislocating them economically, so- cially and culturally. Therefore, the regional imbalances in Gujarat have been ac- centuated because of increasing water scarcity (Gupta, 2003).
Historically, most of the drinking water supply was based on groundwater from deep tube wells; high-capacity pumping machinery was utilized in the State, lead- ing to tremendous electricity consumption and a high carbon footprint for water supply.

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