Bhubaneswar inching closer to a groundwater crisis

The capital city of Odisha is inching towards becoming a semi-critical zone so far as the groundwater scenario is concerned. With groundwater extraction reaching 64% at this point of time, the city having a population of over 13 lakh may not take very long to exceed 70% usage or a semi-critical zone.

Several surveys including the one conducted by the Directorate of Ground Water Survey and Investigation (DGWSI), Odisha in 2011 suggest that groundwater level of Bhubaneswar is depleting . However, there is discrepancy of opinion among the authorities. Officials of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and those in the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) though admit the fact that groundwater level is reducing, they are of the view that the rate is not that fast and it is not a matter of concern yet. Environmentalists, however, warn against being content and suggest to act before it is too late.

While unmindful use of water for domestic and commercial purpose is the reason behind exhaustion of groundwater, it is catalysed by prolonged dry spells and extreme precipitation events; massive deforestation and concretisation, they said.

Discrepancy of opinion on city’s scenario

The study conducted by the DGWSI suggested that between 2007 and 2011, the groundwater level has shrunk by one metre in major areas of the city. In many areas on the city outskirts, the groundwater level had depleted by 10 metres and more.

Replying to questions in the State Assembly in July 2019, Water Resources minister Raghunandan Das had said that 1.12 billion cubic metres of groundwater has depleted between 2009 and 2017, that amounts to decrease of level by 6.71 per cent.

A special article by Mihir Shah and Himanshu Kulkarni titled, Urban Water Systems in India – Typologies and Hypotheses, also backs the fact that cities of the country are largely dependent on groundwater. It says – India is the largest consumer of groundwater in the world and at least half of urban India depends on groundwater for its various needs.

Groundwater in Bhubaneswar is reducing but the rate is not that fast as being talked about and the situation is not that critical, opine CGWB and BMC officials.

The city’s dependency on groundwater

Bhubaneswar comes under safe zone, which means the stage of groundwater extraction is less than 70%, according to Block-wise Ground Water Resources Assessment -2017. The city’s current stage of extraction is 64%, said Sandhya Mohapatra, senior scientist, CGWB, Bhubaneswar.

In places like Jagamara, there is even surplus groundwater, her colleague Chirashree Mohanty, who is also a senior scientist with the CGWB, added. In many areas of the city recharging groundwater with rainwater is becoming difficult due to high level of groundwater, said BMC commissioner Premchandra Choudhury.

The city’s estimated requirement of water in 2020 is about 422 MLD at the rate of 165 litres per person per day and the groundwater can supply 122 MLD maximum, mentioned a report prepared by the CGWB titled Ground Water Scenario in Bhubaneswar City. The city’s requirement of water in 2010 was 206 MLD including 41.6 MLD groundwater, it mentioned. Thus, in the span of a decade, the requirement is more than double and the dependency on groundwater is three times more.

In Khurda district, to which the city belongs, total annual groundwater recharge is 47801.41 Ham and total natural discharge is 3665.18 Ham, according to National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India (NCDGWRI), 2017. While the annual extractable groundwater resources is 44136.23 Ham, the current annual groundwater extraction is 21805.41 Ham – irrigation: 15210.85 Ham, industrial: 0, and domestic: 6594.56Ham. The net groundwater availability for future use is 20838.37 Ham and the stage of groundwater extraction is 49.40%, NCDGWRI-2017 maintained.

If we look into the overall scenario of the state, the state of groundwater extraction has increased significantly from 30% to 42% between 2013 and 2017. Increase in groundwater extraction for irrigation is the main factor for this change. As compared to 2013 estimates, there is a reduction in annual groundwater recharge and annual extractable groundwater resources, while there is an increase in annual groundwater extraction.

Despite this, Mohanty said the situation in the state is not worrisome. While many cities (like Chennai) in southern India have crossed 100% mark, which means they have exhausted their resource completely, thankfully Odisha is much more dependent on surface water.

Contrary to the CGWB claims, Piyush Rout, an urban planner based at Bhubaneswar, maintained that the city’s dependency on groundwater is much more than 60%. So far as surface water is concerned, the city is dependent on rivers Kuakhai and Daya, which receive industrial and domestic discharges through wastewater drains, overflow of the septic tanks and thus river water can’t be used for drinking purpose. So, the PHED does not draw surface water directly from the rivers. It draws groundwater from the river bed. For the city, to be able to use surface water, it needs to treat the sewage before releasing it into rivers. He also emphasised on proper disposal of garbage by the city authorities, so that ground water would not be polluted through percolation.

Recharging groundwater: Schemes are there but monitoring is missing

The city is not doing enough to recharge groundwater, says Ranjan Panda, a renowned water and climate expert of the nation, also known as Water Man of Odisha.  Onus has been put on rooftop rainwater harvesting based recharge, which is too little especially in a city that has a great potential to conserve surface water bodies and take other ecological measures essential for recharge, he adds. The CGWB has issued guidelines for all the apartment complexes, individual households, commercial establishments, hotels and malls to implement rainwater harvesting scheme with a component of artificial recharge of groundwater. However, when it comes to monitoring and initiatives taken for groundwater recharge, the Board lacks manpower.

Mohanty said apartments and residential buildings, in order to get NOC to draw groundwater, need to submit a written declaration that their area lack PHED connection. They are given permission for per head consumption of 90-135 litres. They have been instructed to set up water flow-meters. The NOC needs to get renewed in every two years. Their NOC is rejected if the building authorities exceed the permitted limit of drawing water. Those who have not applied have been sent notices to apply for permission. However, individual households have been exempted from the purview of monitoring, she said.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting has been mandatory for those who use less than 10,000 litres of water per day, while for use of more than 10,000 litres, they need to harvest rainwater from rooftops, pavements, parking areas and gardens. The State Pollution Control Board monitors the industries and a number of units have been shut down for rule violation, she added.

Unlike other cities (notified as over-exploited or semi-critical) where individuals and organisations drawing groundwater are asked to recharge 50% of what they use, there is no such rules in Odisha that is in ‘safe zone’.

Pointing out to a number of laxities in the monitoring system, Panda says the city requires a strict vigil on groundwater regime both quantitatively and qualitatively. He warns against indiscriminate boring by multi-storeyed dwelling or other complexes.

Mindless use of water behind increasing burden on groundwater

According to BMC City Engineer Debasundar Mohapatra, the city has 500 odd apartments and 90% of these have not been covered under the government water supply and it is not possible for the government in the current stage to supply water to all. Mindless use of water takes a toll. A five-member family should require 675 litres of water per day at the rate of 135 litres per head per day. But, it consumes more than 2000-4000 litres. If people use water economically, the PHED with the current amount can meet the requirement of the whole city and there would have been very less burden on groundwater. He blamed it on the defective system and lack of awareness among people that leads to wastage and higher consumption.

An order has been issued making it mandatory for the buildings of at least with 300-400 square metres to construct rainwater harvesting systems, said Choudhury. The government is providing 50% subsidy to set up the system and people should avail the opportunity.

Groundwater does not get recharged everywhere. It needs a recharge zone. If there is hard rock and no fracture, it can’t be recharged. It needs a porous and permeable layer to get recharged. The main problem in recharge lies in the saturated zone that is confined aquifer (usually starts below 50 metres) from which water is drawn through bore-wells. This layer needs to get recharged artificially, said Sandhya. Most people in city lack knowledge on artificial recharge.

Lacunae in data and unaccounted water:

The city lacks proper data on the availability of groundwater and its exact dependency on this resource. According to Mohanty, the CGWB has the list of people who had taken permission to extract groundwater, but so far as the volume of extraction is concerned, there is no data.

Sandhya Mohapatra admits that the system has loopholes. A number of individual households draw water through bore-wells, but they are not listed.

Privately driven, individualistic pumping of groundwater in large parts of urban India has provided benefits by filling gaps in public water supply schemes. However, it has also led to problems of co-terminal depletion and contamination of aquifers, maintained Kulkarni in his special article, Urban Water Systems in India. And this unaccounted water in urban areas exceeds 50%, according to the CGWB’s report on the groundwater scenario in 28 Indian cities (2011).

Panda suggested for a satellite-based monitoring system combined with construction of piezometers in the city area to know the exact groundwater scenario in finer details. The current data generation mechanisms are not enough, nor are the observation wells sufficient to give us a correct picture, he added.

Sponge city to fight climate change

Ranjan Panda said, India is already witnessing an increase in both extreme precipitation events as well as droughts. The disturbed rainfall pattern across the nation makes many areas vulnerable to low groundwater recharge. A NITI Aayog report has warned that 21 Indian cities are expected to run out of groundwater by the current year. This will affect at least 100 million people. The report also warned that critical groundwater resources that account for 40 percent of India’s water supply are being depleted at unsustainable rates.

He further added, Bhubaneswar authorities may not be thinking at the moment that groundwater depletion is a problem for them. However, the trends suggest that the city is up for a huge crisis. The city should increase the green cover spread all across the regions, limit and rather reduce concretisation of pavements, roads and almost everywhere; and develop itself in the concept of ‘sponge cities’ meaning recharging groundwater in a decentralised manner, suggested Panda. Problems with data, lack of coordination between all the line departments and agencies responsible for water management and other challenges make Bhubaneswar vulnerable to future crisis with regard to groundwater, more so in climate change scenarios, he warned.

Panda further added, neither groundwater should be seen as a standalone factor nor Bhubaneswar should be seen as standalone geography in this regard. He attributed the rapid depletion of ground water to multiple factors, the biggest contributor being massive deforestation and rapid concretisation.

The city was originally planned for 40,000 people and now the population is more than 13 lakh. A slew of industries have mushroomed and there are more than 500 apartments which suck groundwater with no one bothered about the recharge.

BMC authorities claim that they are particular about using permeable paver blocks on pavements and other parts apart from roads, a reality check says the opposite. Even in the main areas of the city like in several portions in IRC Village, the pavements are layered as sand, concrete, sand and then paver blocks, said a daily wager, who was laying the paver blocks. With little chance of water to percolate and recharge groundwater, paver blocks are only beautification materials.

Panda said, a sponge city concept needs to make revival of surface water harvesting bodies, lakes, cleaning and rejuvenation of all water ways and integrating all that into a strategic greenery development plan. Bhubaneswar can make itself a real smart city by adopting all these suggestions, he added.

Mapping, understanding and people’s participation

There is very little understanding among the authorities, stakeholders and the entire governance system in urban areas about aquifers, recharge areas, water cycle etc, said Kulkarni. It is high time measures be taken to ensure understanding; people’s participation in management of urban aquifers; setting up a groundwater governance system; and involvement of civil society, academia, government and experts in resolving the issue, he added.

Panda echoed the same and suggested that here is a serious need of integrating the role of natural forests and green spaces in the city’s efforts to recharge groundwater. The forest department and independent experts on forests and biodiversity can play a vital role in this. The city must take this into consideration, he said.

Kulkarni drew a simile between the recent groundwater scenario of the city and the pandemic Corona that has put the whole world on toes. There has been lack of preparation in dealing with these despite warning. The World Health Organisation had predicted about the crisis of the pandemic three months in advance. The prediction fell in deaf ears and what happened is history. In a similar manner, it is being predicted that the planet will face unprecedented crisis as groundwater is going to exhaust soon. It will be foolish to think we can bring back the situation to normalcy once the resource is gone.  Unfortunately, we are content that we have enough water in store, he lamented.

The author is a climate and human interest storyteller.

This story was reported under a fellowship of WaterAid India