See the writing on the wall

Pradeep Purandare

Situation in the Jayakwadi irrigation project in Marathwada region of Maharashtra is going from bad to worse. It’s an inevitable, unfortunate & perhaps, irreversible effect of socio-political as well as technical reasons. In order to understand the complexities involved, it would be better to see the things in broader & right perspective. Running away from the reality does not help in long run.

Jayakwadi project is situated in lower Godawari river basin with its catchment area in upper basin. Obviously, it would always be at the position of disadvantage & would experience either feast or famine. Feast if upper basin receives excessive rains & famine if there is less rainfall upstream or water is not released from upstream reservoirs for any reason. Later is being witnessed this year.

Vested interests from upper basin have built number of irrigation projects & impounded large volume of water far exceeding the permissible limits (196 TMC as against 115 TMC). Moreover, being at strategic location, they start utilizing impounded water in kharif season only. They, thus, effectively use more water than their net storage capacity. Though nothing can now be done to correct the historical wrong & reduce the storage capacity upstream, releases can be legally regulated, at least in theory, to have equitable distribution of water in the river basin. But this is not being done in right earnest; thanks to the ineffective regulatory mechanism. Virtual absence of political will in Marathawada & presence of too much of killer instinct in Nashik & Nagar districts have adversely affected the so called river basin-wise management of water resources which is supposed to be the main stay of State Water Policy, 2003. The top brass of Water Resources Department – both at state & regional level – remains paralyzed due to various scams which can aptly be described as “water gate”. It would be hoping against the hope to say that things will change for better in the immediate future.  

      Serious lacuna in original water planning, subsequent drastic changes, un-scientific management and inefficient & unauthorized water use have further complicated the things for Jayakwadi. Water use for non-irrigation purposes (drinking, domestic & industrial) & lift irrigation from reservoir & canals was simply not considered in the original planning. Encroachment of silt in the live storage too was not anticipated & provided for. In the course of time, subsequently, the water use for non-irrigation & lift irrigation has increased like anything. Encroachment of silt has also significantly reduced the effective live storage. (See box) In order to compensate, irrigation managers have now abandoned the practice of providing for “carry over” in the water budget. Carry over means reservation of some percentage of water from live storage in the current year for one or two rotations for irrigation in the kharif season next year. Carry over acts as a buffer in case rains get delayed & it ensures protective irrigation. Not providing for carry over in water budget increases the vulnerability. This year has witnessed the adverse effect.

[all figures in M cum]

Item	Original planning	Actual
Non-Irrigation	Nil	154
Lift Irrigation	Nil	180
Silt in live storage	Nil	127
Carry over	382	Nil

The actual Overall Project Efficiency (OPE) of Jayakwadi project is hardly 20-25% as against design OPE of 49%. It is due to criminal negligence in maintenance & repairs of the system & non implementation of water laws. On the other hand, water use for Hot Weather Ground Nut & Sugarcane has almost doubled. The average area irrigated per unit of water is 63 hector per Mcum as against the norm of 134 hector per Mcum. This has deprived the tail end farmers of their water rights. Since now they don’t have any stakes in “water”, they too are indifferent towards the water crisis. They refuse to be the foot soldiers in the so called agitations started by the elite.  

It’s time to read the writing on wall. If Marathwada fails to unite & act, and act decisively & urgently, it may face untold miseries & even migration in the coming summer. Getting water from upstream reservoirs is of course the first priority. But equitable & efficient water use should also be on the top of the agenda.

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^{[Published in Lokmat Times, Aurangabad, supplement, page-3, 30.10.2012]}