Transcript Building a Sustainable Water Security System

India Water Week 2016
Water for all : Striving together
New Delhi, 4 April 2016
Building a Sustainable
Water Security System
M S Swaminathan
Universities and Sustainability Science
o Conservation of the Ganga
o Himalayan Eco-development
o Western Ghats Development
NSS volunteers to be
involved in mobilising
public understanding
and involvement in
Ganga protection.
Climate Change : Beyond Paris
The Paris Climate consensus essentially restores the
status quo with reference to the implementation of the
provisions of the 1992 framework convention on climate
change. There is a commitment to limit temperature
rise to 1.5 degree centigrade. Even this amount of
increase will lead to the loss of 6 to 7 million tonnes of
wheat in the Punjab, Haryana area. Countries in the
Northern latitudes will however benefit because of
increased crop duration.
Building a Sustainable Water Security System
Pathways
o Supply augmentation
o Demand management
o Quality monitoring and improvement
o Harnessing new technologies
a. Desalination
b. Breeding for abiotic stresses (Mendelian and Molecular
approaches)
c. Bioremediation
d. Precision farming, fertigation and green house
horticulture
e. Information and Communication technologies for
launching a Water Literacy Movement
Building a Sustainable Water Security System
S. No
Source
Action
Threat(s)
1.
Rain water
Collect every drop Climate change
2.
Surface water;
River, Tanks,
Reservoirs,
Wells
Conservation,
sustainable use
and equitable
sharing through
Pani Panchayats
Evapo-transpiration;
pollution
Seepage
3.
Ground water
Sustainable
management of
the aquifer
Water mining;
pollution
Contd…
Building a National Water Security System
Rain
(Ponds, Lakes, Reservoirs)
Ground Water
River Water
Sea Water
Waste Water
SOURCES
SECTOR
NEEDS
Household
Industry
Quality, purity
equity in availability
Efficient
treatment
Gender Dimension
Recycling
Agriculture
Watershed
Management
Efficiency
Conjunctive use
Ecosystem
Water
harvesting
Safeguarding of
hydrological cycles,
Pollution prevention
Small Water Harvesting Structures (Jal Kund)
Ideal for areas like
Sorah (Chirappunji)
Building Community Food and Water Security Systems
Conservation - Cultivation – Consumption - Commerce
Gene Bank
Seed Bank
Grain Bank
Water Bank
Demand Management
Improving Water
Use Efficiency
Aim : Mind set change from
quantity to the efficiency of
use
Farmer Participatory Action
Research in over 2500
villages
More Crop per drop of water and diesel
Allot atleast 5% of irrigation budget to
enhancing water use efficiency
More Crop and Income per Drop of Water
Movement in India
Technologies and Interventions Used
o System of Rice Intensification
o Micro Irrigation with Fertigation
o Protected Agriculture
o Promotion of Integrated Crop-livestock Farming
System
o Crop diversification and multiple uses of water
o Weather based crop insurance programs
o Convergence of Credit, insurance and market
Weather Information for All
Agro-met station and Climate Risk Managers
o
Village level agro-met stations will be useful to
take weather based farm decisions. Mini agro-met
station can be built in each village with basic
instruments to measure temperature, rainfall,
wind speed and RH
o
Climate Risk Managers are trained on data
collection, interpretation and assist farmers to
take timely location specific decisions
WAR for Water (DST)
(Winning, Augmentation and Renovation)
Components
o Rain Water Harvesting and Storage
o Recycling of wastewater
o Conjunctive use of water
o Technologies for desalination
o Providing safe drinking water for rural and
remote areas
WAR for Water (DST)
(Winning, Augmentation and Renovation)
Priorities
o To develop inexpensive methods of converting
saline water into fresh water
o Standardizing methods of harnessing and managing
rain water
o To manage flood waters
o To carry out research in rain water harvesting and
treatment of waste water
Share of various sources of water in
global supply
S.No.
Sources of water
Share in global
supply (%)
96.2688
1.
Oceans and seas
2.
1.68
3.
Ground water (saline +
fresh)
Ice, snow, glaciers
4.
Lakes (saline)
0.0062
5.
Others
0.325
1.72
Genetic Garden of HALOPHYTES
Converting Sea Water into Fresh Water through Halophytes
Obligatory halophytes
Tolerate high concentration
of sodium salts
> 3 times of seawater salinity
Even demand high NaCl for
survival and reproduction
1560 species
Facultative halophytes
Most of the species tolerate
only moderate level of
salinity
Reproduction requires low
saline condition
Mangroves
60 species
Genetic Shield against Sea Level Rise
Mangrove Forests : Anticipatory Research
Genetic Shield against adverse changes in precipitation
Prosopis juliflora has wide
adaptation to water stress
and drought conditions
Used as source of drought
tolerant genes
Control
36 days of water
withdrawal
Wake-up Call
Titanic tsunami of
December 26, 2004
Sea Water Farming
(Sea water constitutes 97% of the world’s water
resource)
Sylvi - Aquaculture
Agri-Aqua farming with sea water
Deepwater (floating) rice has
three special adaptations
i.
ability to elongate with
the rise of water levels;
ii. develop nodal tillers
and roots from the
upper nodes in the
water
iii. the upward bending of
the terminal part of the
plant called 'kneeling'
that
keeps
the
reproductive
parts
above the water as flood
water subsides.
Rice : A major climate change management crop
Gene Banks for a Warming Planet
The Global Biodiversity Convention (CBD) that
was adopted at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 calls for
the conservation and sustainable and equitable
use of biodiversity. However, the extinction of
species and erosion of genes continue to occur at
an
alarming
rate.
The
agro-biodiversity
conservation model of mobilizing the power of
partnership may be useful for achieving the goals
of the CBD.
Science – Vol. 325, 31 JULY 2009
Tools for the Spread of Water Literacy
Locale-Specific
demand driven
content in local
language
Data
Generators &
Providers
Uplink /
Downlink
Satellites
Internet
Telephone
Workshops
Meetings
Local Municipalities / Blocks – Village Resource Centres (VRCs)
Mobile
Information
Users (Rural
families)
Village
Knowledge
Centres (VKCs)
Internet
Radio
VRC
Fisher Friend Technology
Information on Wave Height and location of
fish shoal Transformational Technology
Six Steps for Sustainable Water Security
o Augment supplies through mandatory water
harvesting and conservation
o Give attention to demand management by
eliminating all sources of unsustainable use of water
and promoting “more crop and income per drop”
methodologies of crop cultivation
o Harness new technologies relating to improving
domestic water use efficiency, de-salination of sea
water, breeding of drought and salinity tolerant crop
varieties, bioremediation, etc.
Six Steps for Sustainable Water Security
o Develop in each agro-climatic area in the country a
sustainable water security system with community
involvement.
o Promote seawater farming through integrated agroforestry and aquaculture production systems in coastal
areas.
o Pay attention to water quality. Equal attention should be
paid to the improvement of drinking water quality and
quantity of water supplies. Bioremediation techniques
will have to be used for removing arsenic and heavy
metals from tube well water.
Sea Water : A Social Resource
Dandi March (6 April 1930) of Mahatma Gandhi