Indian Rivers

River is considered as the lifeline of India. The Indian sub-continent is endowed with several large rivers which have distinctive hydrology and sediment transportation due to climatic settings. Many of these rivers have attracted international attention for the last several decades and continue to do so for their unique features. Some river basins are also responsible for tapping of oil and natural gas which also contribute to the list of usefulness of these rivers.

Rejuvenation of River Ganga

(a) Namami Gange: a three-phase cleaning plan was initiated under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in June 2014 with a massive budget of Rs 20,000 crore. It promised a cleaner Ganga in just five years.

• Over three quarters of all waste from the northern plains still flow into the Ganga untreated, owing to the gap between treatment capacity and waste generated.
• A total of 163 projects have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 12,892.33 crore under the NamamiGangeprogramme till June 2017, according to the ministry of water resources.
• However, only Rs 1,704.91 crore has been released until June, 2017, or barely 8.52% of the Rs 20,000-crore budget.

(b) Ganga Action Plan: The first attempt to clean the river was made in 1986 when the Rajiv Gandhi government launched the Ganga Action Plan or GAP-I, aimed at restoring water quality to the ‘bathing class standard’ by treating sewage and industrial pollutants.

• GAP-II was launched in 1993 with a broader strategy since large amounts of pollutants were flowing into the Ganga through its tributaries such as Gomti, Damodar and Yamuna.
• While GAP-I and GAP-II spent Rs 986.34 crore until March 2014, there are many reasons why GAP-I and II failed.

(c) Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs): STPs were not only few in number but also performed poorly. They were inept in treating microbes, such as faecal coliform, and other chemical pollutants. Besides, maintenance of STPs was severely hit due to a lack of funds.

• At present both industrial waste and sewage are being thrown into a sewer, which goes to a centralised STP.
• Existing STPs cannot treat industrial, chemical and toxic metal waste because it requires different techniques.

(d) Industrial Pollution: Industrial pollution is something that successive governments have failed to address.

• By the end of GAP-I, only 45% of the grossly polluting industrial units had effluent treatment plants.
• Many didn’t function properly even as the effluents discharged reached 2,667.16 million litres per day (MLD).
• Under the present government, till October 2017, Namami Gange had created only 224.13 MLD of sewage treatment capacity of the 2205.08 MLD capacity it aimed for.
• In the past three years, merely 18 sewage infrastructure projects have been completed of the 93 sanctioned.

Aviral Flow of the River Ganga

• The Central Government on 10^th October, 2018 notified the minimum environmental flows for River Ganga that has to be maintained at various locations on the river.
• Environmental flows are the acceptable flow regimes that are required to maintain a river in the desired environmental state or predetermined state.
• The Central Water Commission will be the designated authority and the custodian of the data,and will be responsible for supervision, monitoring, regulation of flows and reporting of necessary information to the appropriate authority as and when required and alsotake emergent decisions about the water storage norms in case of any emergency.
• The notification also stipulates that the concerned Central and State authorities shall implement demand side management plans to reduce water withdrawal from River Ganga by adopting good and scientific practices such as efficient method of irrigation, reuse and recycle of water including monitoring and regulation of groundwater withdrawals for various purposes.

The Paradox Irrigation Efficiency

• A new study titled “The Paradox Irrigation Efficiency” was published in the Journal of Science; by Quentin Grafton of Australia with co-authors from France, UK and US which has pointed out that increased irrigation efficiency does not translate into more water availability for other uses at the watershed level.
• The subsidies for increasing irrigation efficiency are intended to increase crop production as well as more return flow from irrigated areas that can be allocated to urban, domestic and industrial uses. But this does not seem to be happening.
• This report cites Rajasthan as one of the examples where increased irrigation efficiency due to approaches such as drip irrigation has led to increase in crop yields and agricultural incomes. While groundwater management is under the purview of state governments, the central government incentives to the state focus on irrigation efficiency as a step towards climate resilience.
• Future projections indicate a continued drop in water availability as well crop yields for most major crops. Consistent with the global trends, irrigation in India also accounts for well over 75% of the total water consumption.

Report on Coastal Erosion

• A research was conducted on Indian Coastal Erosion by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), which is an institute under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• India has a total coastline of 7,517 kms; of this, 6,031 kms were surveyed (excluding creeks) and 33 % of it was found to be eroded; Moreover, 29% of the coastline also saw a gain in soil or land accretion
• The Coastal Erosion was more on the eastern coast beside the Bay of Bengal rather than on the Western coast beside the calmer Arabian Sea.
• As per the report, West Bengal recorded maximum erosion of 63%, followed by Puducherry 57%, Kerala 45%, and Tamil Nadu 41%.
• The survey was conducted using data from 5 satellites: Landsat 5 and 7 (operated by NASA), ISRO's Resourcesat 1 and 2 and Cartosat-1.
• In making of this report nearly 526 maps were analyzed belonging to 66 districts in 10 states and UTs.

Ganga Vriksharopan Abhiyan

• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) conducted “Ganga Vriksharopan Abhiyan” in five main stem Ganga basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
• The drive was launched on the 9thJuly, 2018 to 15thJuly, 2018 which was also observed as ‘ShubharambhSaptah’.
• State Forest Departments of these 5 above mentioned states have been made the nodal agencies for the smooth and effective execution of the campaign.
• The implementation plan aims to contribute towards the Clean Ganga Mission, particularly ‘Aviral Dhara’ and ‘Nirmal Dhara’ besides maintenance of the ecological and geological integrities, by improving the base flow and filtration of the ground water pollution.

Arsenic in the Ganga Delta

• Researchers and Scientists today broadly agree on the source of arsenic in the Ganga delta, a consensus that didn’t exist earlier.
• The process is thought to have begun between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago, when small Himalayan rock particles, coated with iron oxide, entered the Ganga river delta. Along the way, these particles absorbed the tiny amounts of arsenic in the river water, like a sponge soaking liquid. These particles were then deposited in layers of sediment, over thousands of years, in what is now West Bengal and Bangladesh.
• Researchers agree that shallow tube wells, less than 150 meters deep, are the worst affected, because they contain arsenic-rich sediments from the Holocene era, when the arsenic arrived in the delta.
• Several arsenic removal technologies and ex-situ treatment technique are being practiced widely to provide potable water to the people in the arsenic affected areas after treatment of contaminated groundwater.
• Under the National Aquifer mapping programme (NAQUIM) of Ganga Basin organized by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) special attention has been given to this aspect and water wells have been constructed tapping arsenic free aquifersusing state of the art technology in parts of Ballia and Ghazipur districts of Uttar Pradesh”.

River Edge Encroachment

• Recently, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation expressed its desire to develop two landfills on the Yamuna floodplain, or the “O”zone.
• This move has been critiqued by several river experts. What took many by surprise is the fact that the Central Pollution Control Board, the apex pollution control agency of the country, does not consider the location of the landfill sites as being on the riverbed.
• But, such a project could destroy existing wetlands, pollute underlying aquifers and groundwater, and contribute to the already critical air pollution situation in the NCR.
• Even though a river’s edge is unambiguous, it must be defined to safeguard (under the ‘precautionary principle’) the integrity of a river’s space (riverbed) from anthropogenic threats.
• It must also be defined under the Doctrine of Sustainable Development so that people are not duped by vested interests into occupying lands on the riverbed because it is the people, not the unscrupulous developers, who will suffer losses during flood events.
• As per the River Ganga Authorities Order (October 7, 2016) issued under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, defines both a river bed and its floodplains as areas that come under water due to floods, corresponding to once in 100 years.

Joint Research Project for Clean Water & Energy

• The UK—India Joint Research Projects on “Water Quality Research and Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment” were launched in New Delhi on 20th February, 2018.
• The ‘Water Quality Research’ programme has eight projects and ‘Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment’ programme has four projects, with a total joint investment of up to £15 million.
• These projects aim to deliver mutual benefits and research solutions not only to the UK and India but also to address shared global sustainable development goals – clean water and clean energy.
• These projects will be supported by India’s Department of Science and Technology in collaboration with UK’s Natural Environment Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Social Research Council.

Ansupa Lake to be Resurrected

• Ansupa Lake (Odisha’s largest freshwater lake) is an ox-bow lake, an offshoot of the river Mahanadi, which is mainly dependent on freshwater supply from the river during the rainy season.
• There had been almost no water supply to the lake since 2014 and the lake was choking itself to death. Now, the silted-up area has been encroached upon for paddy cultivation.
• The water area of Ansupa Lake as ascertained from the satellite imageries now varies between 375 acres and 385 acres depending upon the season
• After lying in neglect for years, the lake is being cleared of weeds by Chilika Development Authority (CDA) with help of an advanced machine since December 17.
• Chilika Development Authority (CDA), the nodal agency, has taken up restoration measures under funding from “National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems”.
• The CDA has launched a comprehensive de-weeding process by using an Amphibious Weed Harvester procured by Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP) from Sweden.

World Water Development Report 2018

• The World Water Development Report 2018 (WWDR) focuses on nature-based solutions (NBS) to tackle the challenges of water management across all the sectors, particularly the water crisis faced by agriculture sector and cities.
• The present management system depends heavily on the human-built infrastructure (grey infrastructure).
• The global demand for water has been increasing at a rate of about 1% per year due to population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns, among other factors, and it will continue to grow significantly over the next two decades.
• Upscaling NBS is a need of an hour which will help in meeting growing water demand, maintaining water quality and availability and extreme events and water-related risks (such as drought and flood).
• The report explains how drought-prone state of Rajasthan could make its water source sustainable through rainwater harvesting.
• Not only Rajasthan, drought-prone areas of Maharashtra made news when they could avoid water scarcity by adopting simple water harvesting techniques