![image](http://cdn.downtoearth.org.in/dte/userfiles/images/mahanadi.jpg)
Mahanadi is in turbulence. The river has too much water, believed the Odisha government and classified it as “surplus river”. But that was before a wave of rapid industrialisation swept the state. Subsequently, anyone who wanted to set up an industrial unit along the river was promised its water. This over-allocation has left little water for irrigation.
Industry takes it all
For the past 15 months, residents of villages in Athamalik sub-division of Odisha's Angul district have been treading the protest path. “We have lived with this paradox for generations, but will not accept it any more,” says Dinabandhu Pradhan, president of the citizens' front Jiban Jibika Surakhya Committee while addressing residents of 30 villages. The paradox he refers to is the fact that the sub-division has plenty of fresh water sources, but hardly any water comes their way. On January 6, the residents blocked national highway 55 and the railway line between Sambalpur and Cuttack at Bamur for 12 hours, snapping the link between the western and coastal areas of the state. The reason for the ongoing protests is the setting up of the JR Power Gen Private Limited, a 1,980 MW thermal power plant, in the district's Kishorenagar development block. The plant will lift water from the Mahanadi that flows by. The residents respond to Pradhan in unison: “Give us irrigation water and then water to industry.”
For a person from outside the state, the protests would seem unusual for a district that hosts the state's largest and second largest rivers—the Mahanadi and the Brahmani. One never loses sight of either of the two rivers while moving through the district. But the easy availability of water has also attracted industries to the district. Already listed as one of the “critically polluted” areas of the country, it is currently implementing industrial projects worth Rs 80,000 crore. Mostly, water-guzzling thermal power plants are in the pipeline or under construction. The district has three plants generating 4,420 MW power. This output will increase to 13,960 MW once the under-construction projects are completed.
Over time, the growing protests have metamorphosed into an outright fight between two competing water users: farmers and industry. Local communities say the government has shown undue haste in allocating river water to industries while ignoring their irrigation needs. The state government has decided not to allocate water from Brahmani as there is no water available in it. Mahanadi is viewed as the “surplus” source in the district from where the industries have been allowed to lift water. But communities depending on Mahanadi have a different story to narrate.
“Mahanadi flows 72 km by the Athamalik sub-division (the longest for any sub-division in the state). Yet it is chronically drought-prone. It is more than five decades since government promised us an irrigation project,” says Pradhan. A generation has grown up in Bamur area with the promise of irrigation and the hope of escape from drought that has ravaged them for 80 years in the past one century.
What is making the farmers all the more angry is the fact that the power plant will be built at the site of an irrigation barrage called Sureswari project. The current wave of protests started the very next day after the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the power producer on April 9, 2010. It was a community managed dam built on a tributary of the Mahanadi. It irrigated farms of 29 villages till Independence when government promised to build an irrigation project. When the government took over the community project, the irrigation cover came down to just four villages. “Now, the company will get total benefits out of it,” rues Kailash Chandra Sahu, a local leader. “This is not acceptable,” he adds. |
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The communities are angry. In the past five years, there has been at least one protest every two months. The government finds itself in a swirl. But there is no easy way out.
In the past decade, Odisha has signed at least 100 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for projects worth Rs 441,471 crore. From 2002, the state government went on an MoU signing spree.
It has bagged 12.6 per cent of the country’s total investment proposals in 2010. “Industrialisation has surpassed our expectation,” says Nanda Kumar Mahapatra, chief engineer of Orissa Water Planning Organisation.
The eastern coastal state, rich in coal, bauxite and iron ore reserves, is a big attraction for industries that aspire to set up water-intensive thermal power, aluminium and iron plants.
Earlier, aluminium and iron plants depended heavily on the Brahmani and the Baitarani rivers, while coal plants depended on the Mahanadi. But citing over-allocation, the state stopped assigning water of the Brahmani and the Baitarani.
Water resources department’s latest data on allocation for industries, procured by Down To Earth, reveals that Mahanadi accounts for 62 per cent of Odisha’s total industrial water allocation. About a decade ago, it was only 13 per cent.
Along the river’s 461-km stretch in the state, at least one industry is proposed every 10 km. Its major tributaries, like the Tel, have also been marked for water supply to industries. The state has 10 more river basins, but maximum quantity of water for industrialisation has been allocated from the Mahanadi.
The state’s total installed thermal power generation capacity is about 7,500 MW. Having signed new MoUs, an additional 75,000 MW is in the offing. Of this, about 45,000 MW are in Angul, Jharsuguda, Dhenkanal and Sundergarh districts. By 2015, 60 new projects will draw water from the Mahanadi.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, for every 100 MW capacity plant, water requirement must not be more than 3.92 million cubic metre (mcm) per year. This means the 45,000 MW addition will require 1,700 mcm water per year, enough to irrigate close to 350,000 hectare. “This will increase water allocation from the Mahanadi six times,” says a senior irrigation department official.
Chhattisgarh shares 53 per cent of the river’s catchment area, but the two states have no water-sharing treaty. About 11 per cent of the total investments in India last year were made in this young state.
To meet its industrial requirements, Chhattisgarh has planned at least 600 check dams to arrest 30 per cent of the Mahanadi’s available flow. The aim is to draw 1,500 mcm per year and another 1,200 mcm from its tributaries Lilagarh, Hasdeo and Seonath. When this happens, Odisha will become water deficit.
Chhattisgarh is also constructing six barrages on the Mahanadi. Government claims this is being done to address the state’s irrigation and domestic needs. It seems too much of a coincidence that industrial houses with 31 projects in their kitty have been allocated 250 mcm water, just as much as the barrages’ total water capacity.
The demand for water allocation from the Mahanadi is unprecedented, admits Mahapatra. No further allocation is feasible, he says.
Farmer v industry
In Odisha, the Mahanadi sustains close to 18 million people, more than half of whom are farmers. From Hirakud reservoir, which marks the river’s upstream boundary in the state, to Cuttack where the river ends creating a delta, 30 movements have raged against industrialisation. Midstream areas are attracting the largest number of industries, mostly thermal power plants. In 2011, western Odisha witnessed 13 shutdowns over three proposed barrages.
Hirakud itself is close to reaching its peak demand, leaving downstream flow and barrages as the only source of industrial allocation. Government began allocations in 1990-91 with 12.35 cumec. Between 2000 and 2007, allocations from the reservoir increased six times. A technical expert team raised the alarm in 2006 that the allocations could hamper power generation.
![Farmers block a railway line to protest a thermal power plant in Angul (Photos: Ranjan K Panda) image](http://cdn.downtoearth.org.in/dte/userfiles/images/20120229_p27.jpg)
The state government ignored the warning and made further allocations to industrial houses in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts.
Across the state, the Water Allocation Committee of the water resources department has now given 40.2 cumec of water to 61 industries. Of this, about 14.16 cumec was from Hirakud reservoir. “This is much more than what the government engineers recommended,” says Ranjan Panda of Water Initiatives, an association of farmers and civil society groups.
![image](http://cdn.downtoearth.org.in/dte/userfiles/images/20120229_p28.jpg)
Availability has never been the parameter for water allocation, says a senior water resource department official. “Officials who sign MoUs with industries just agree to the nearest water source,” he adds. A glaring example of indiscriminate allocations is the Mahanadi Barrage in Cuttack. Built in 1866 for famine relief, the barrage has been exclusively used to irrigate about 395,378 ha of farms in Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts through an extensive network of canals. Industrial allocation began six years ago. Four industries set up close to the barrage were allocated its water. Seven proposals are still in pipeline.
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The barrage on the Mahanadi was built in 1866 for famine relief. It irrigates 395,378 hectares. Now, many industries draw water from it |
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But the barrage does not have enough water. According to official data, the canals have silted by 20 per cent. “For eight months in a year, water is not adequate to irrigate farms,” says Suvendu Mohanty, a lawyer in Cuttack. There has been a steady decline in the flow in the past five years because industries lift water from the barrage. Many lift irrigation projects have stopped functioning.
Government has also allotted 3.47 cumec of water to POSCO India through the Taladanda irrigation canal from the Jobra barrage. “We are totally against further diversion of Mahanadi water for industrial use because of growing pressure on Hirakud dam.
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Mahanadi accounts for 62 per cent of Odisha’s total industrial water allocation. A decade ago, it was 13 per cent |
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Its water is meant for irrigation,” says Dillip Malik, spokesperson of Mahanadi Bachao Andolan. “The dry season flow in the Mahanadi has already reduced 4 mcm,” he adds.
Even as protests over water allocation to POSCO were on, the public sector Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) started constructing water intake points at Hadia Patha without government permission. Angry farmers moved the Orissa High Court, which has now stayed the IOC works. The court has also set up an expert committee to look into the various water demands on the river.
In September last year, farmers and civil society groups demanded constitution of a water commission to make judicious allocation. Government showed undue haste in allocating water to industries and ignored irrigation needs, they said. But state industries minister Raghunath Mohanty rules out its need. “Water has been allocated for agriculture, industry and power generation as per the recommendations of the Water Allocation Committee. It has been done keeping in mind the interests of Odisha,” he says.
Incorrect assessment
Government has based all allocations on the Third Spiral Report, an assessment made in 2001. But it was done without any long-term data for a large number of flow stations. The assessment did not factor in water use in Chhattisgarh. The report admitted it could not do an accurate forecast of future industrial uses because the basin did not have a “recognisable” level of industrialisation then. Nor did the state have a long-term industrial planning.
In absence of a detailed water flow data from Chhattisgarh, the report used the flow of the Ib river at Hirakud as the flow from the state. The report estimated that water utilisation in Chhattisgarh was about 13,804 mcm. So at 75 per cent dependability (government ensures assured water availability in three out of four years), about 20,124 mcm water from Chhattisgarh would be available for use in Odisha. But during 2001-2011, this changed drastically. According to the Chhattisgarh water resources department, the dependable annual water availability in the river over the past 11 years is an average 1,528 mcm.
“Our estimates of water availability were made on the basis of the big reservoirs we decided to build,” reasons Mahapatra. The state based its water availability on three phases of damming the Mahanadi water. Except the Hirakud reservoir, the other two phases have not been taken up due to public opposition to big dams. There is a political decision not to build even barrages. The state’s water plan of 2004 based its estimates of water availability in the Mahanadi on the three reservoirs.
Odisha now faces the challenge of keeping its promise of water to industries. A senior official says 40 per cent of the industries will not get water from river or stream sources. The 2004 water plan states that overall availability of water is not a problem but its availability round the year is. “On an annual volume basis, there seems no problem in supplying water to the entire population. The problem is to make water available to all throughout the year. In most cases, surface water is available only for a few days in a year and has to be stored in sufficient quantity to last a year,” the senior official says.
Sensing public mood, the Odisha Water Resources Board has become cautious. It now suggests “emergency measures” that will impact both present and future industrial water use. It has decided not to allow more than 10 per cent of a river’s non-monsoon flow for industrial use. This will mean a substantial rethink on the allocation from the Mahanadi. But government is yet to take a decision.
The department has also asked the government to enforce an old order which prohibits industries from lifting river water during April-June. But if this is implemented, some 50 per cent of the industries will have to cut their production drastically.
Government needs to create a balance between how much water the already ravaged Mahanadi has, and how much it can give away.