Indian NGOs Propose Alternatives to Privatising Water

The water supply, especially in overcrowded cities such as Delhi, is irregular and inefficient. Only those who can afford a tank can store water.

If the water stops flowing, most poor people have to wait until it starts again. Sometimes this can take up to a day.

The government is considering privatising water as a possible solution in some cities. However, most NGOs have condemned all efforts to turn water into a commodity.

Strengthening community participation

Wilfred D’Costa from Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF) says an alternative would be the strengthening of community participation regarding water-related issues. He explains that in certain villages, especially in western and northern India, there is something called "pani panchayat", a water parliament.

"The whole village gathers together and democratically -- there are no rich people, there are no influential people from higher castes and even women are involved. The Dalits, the untouchable community, are involved, the indigenous people are involved. They basically do the mapping of the resources and they also decide how to allocate."

Falling ground water levels are another indicator of how pressing the issue of water scarcity has become. Rama Mohan, a water expert from the Centre for World Solidarity (CWS) in Hyderabad, said that although irrigation from ground water had substantially contributed to agricultural growth over the last decade there were now visible problems.

"For example, about 20 years ago we had eight to 10 million wells in India, whereas now it is around 20 million wells. So it has doubled in just 15 to 20 years."

Ground water is becoming depleted

Ground water is easily accessible for farmers on their own land. It is also cheap because the energy supply is subsidised and in some states it is even free.

Rama Mohan from CWS gives the example of Andhra Pradesh, where 60 percent of the area is already covered by ground water irrigation. "We have around 2.5 million wells. Almost 20% are dry, are failed."

Avanthi Rao, also from CWS, explains that many farmers just do not understand that ground water resources can be depleted and that there is a simple connection between overusing ground water and falling water levels or dried wells.

Water literacy projects

She coordinates "water literacy projects" to raise awareness about water-related issues among the population. One of CWS’s pilot projects was initiated in southern Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, which is a drought-prone area with very minimal and irregular rainfall.

"We initiated this pilot project where farmers decide what crops they grow proportionate to the rainfall whether they have actually recharged actually that much of ground water."

She adds that they also advise farmers about more effective methods: "Less water intensive crops, and more use of judicious irrigation methods like sprinklers and drips."

These community-oriented projects have proved quite successful. Some government agencies have even been tempted to implement similar schemes.

However, NGO-initiated experiments such as village water parliaments and "water literacy" programmes for farmers are not yet shaping national and state water policy in India.

A common vision of how the issue of water should be approached in a fair and sustainable manner remains a long-term goal.

Author: Fritzi Titzmann
Editor: Thomas Bärthlein