Stretched

Stretched

The challenge of development lies in balancing competing water demands

Hirakud is only the tip of the iceberg. Across India, industrial demand for water is set to grow exponentially. If this demand is not carefully planned, water will become the biggest point of conflict between industry and the people who currently use this water. In the industrialized world, industry and urban households use over 70 per cent of the water resources, while agriculture gets 30 per cent. In traditional water economies like India, the reverse is true: agriculture consumes over 70 per cent and industry and urban areas the rest.

The transition towards the industrial economy can thinly stretch water resources. This is what is happening in Orissa. In the past seven years, 70 industries were allocated water from various river basins in the state. Since the Brahmani has been extensively exploited, the Mahanadi has emerged as the next big source. Half the upcoming industries in the state are in the Mahanadi basin. Within the Mahanadi, the major burden of meeting water demand--31.44 per cent--has fallen on the Hirakud reservoir (see graph: Claiming Hirakud water).

Even before it could meet its original irrigation target, the Hirakud dam is being exploited to provide water to industries. In the past decade, 27 major industries around the dam have been given permission to draw water from it. Twelve of these are already using its water, while the rest are setting up their plants (see table: Water-guzzling industries). Invariably, all these industries are water-intensive: 22 are sponge iron plants, one power plant, two big aluminium units and one steel and one iron factory. In addition to these, the recently approved mega power plant of Reliance will get water from the dam and the Mittal steel plant has been given in-principle permission.

This as an alarming situation for farmers. The dam will have to supply about 1,170 million litres of water every day to industries proposed in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. The Reliance plant, proposed at Hirma, will draw another 1,468 million litres. "One cusec of water per day (2.5 million litres) can irrigate 40 ha. This means a major loss of irrigation if all industries are given water from the dam," says Lingaraj, basing his estimate on the current irrigation profile in command areas.

Blind facilitator?
The state government, eager to attract investment, has not only allowed industries to draw water from the existing irrigation projects but also given them the incentive of low water charges. Industries in Orissa are getting water at half the price the farmers are charged if the water is sourced from government facilities like the Hirakud reservoir.

Ever since the state water resources department formed a committee to monitor distribution of water to industries in April 1997, industrial allocation from rivers and reservoirs has shot up--by 2.5 times in just six years. According to the government's statement in the assembly on February 20, 2006, industries and mining companies have been allowed to withdraw 871 billion litres of water in a year. This is what we know. What about industries using groundwater? No one is keeping a tab on how much water they pump up (see box: Unaccounted for groundwater).

And the demand is only going to go up. In the past five years, the state government has signed agreements with 66 industries, most of them steel manufacturers. Projects worth Rs 300,000 crore are likely to be implemented in Orissa in five to seven years, a majority of them mining and mineral related. Industries are flocking to Orissa because it is mineral-rich and its per capita water availability of 9,203 litres a day is impressive in comparison to the national average of 4,986 litres.

Impressive it is, but not enough.The current spate of industrialization needs more than this water. Consider the scale of water use: in 2002-2003, Orissa produced 52.21 million tonnes of coal, using 10 billion litres of water, according to the Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa. This is 50 times the total urban water supply in the state. How much will the new projects guzzle? The proposed production of steel, for instance, will require 1.2 billion litres of water every year. This is more than five times the total urban water supply, which is mostly sourced from the state's 11 rivers.

According a report by the state water resource department, by 2051 the Brahmani river system will have to import 2,288.47 billion litres from the Mahanadi to meet growing demands. The Mahanadi's water needs for industrial use will double by then. So it is doubtful that Orissa will be able to meet water supply committed to upcoming industries.

It is also important to note that industry not only uses water but also discharges waste, degrading available resources. Orissa's high-level technical committee states that the industries should return 80 per cent of the water they used after treatment. But how diligently industries follow pollution guidelines is anybody's guess. But the state government is playing the role of a blind facilitator. An official note on industries' water needs shows that new industrial units will require 6.22 billion litres of water per day in the next five years. This much of water can support 60 cities the size of Dhanbad. Of this, 3.52 billion litres a day is allocated or recommended and proposals for 2.34 billion litres are under consideration.

Clueless
Now contrast this with the state's own assessment of agricultural and irrigation needs. The state had, going by the water resources department data, 6.59 million ha of cultivable land in 2005, of which 5.9 million ha had the potential for irrigation. Only 2.65 million ha could be irrigated. In the latest economic survey, surprisingly, all these figures have changed, for the worse. Cultivable land has come down to 6.17 million ha, of which 5 million ha has the potential for irrigation. Only 2.73 million ha is being irrigated. Cultivable land to the tune of four lakh ha just vanished from the government's estimate.

Interestingly, in an assembly statement on November 23, 2006, the chief minister put the total irrigated areas at 2.16 million ha. "There is confusion over the basic irrigation data. One thing is clear that the state needs irrigation desperately; 40 per cent more. Industrial priority in water use from existing sources is not understandable," says Barendra Krushna Dhala, an economist. The government's argument is Orissa needs economic development. Two million people in the state are unemployed and another 2 million underemployed. Will mining and industries change this? The proposed investment in Orissa can create not more than 175,000 jobs. "Industry's economic contribution is so little that to make it a prominent sector would be asking for unprecedented growth in the sector. That is not attainable," says Vaidyanath Mishra, former state planning board deputy chairperson.

The ground reality is that Orissa is the only major state in the country where the percentage of population dependent on agriculture has increased, even when agricultural production has come down (see table: Dependence on farming). Nearly 85 per cent of its population lives in rural areas and most of them are dependent on agriculture and allied activities. Industry is marginal to the state economy. "Both on creation of employment and income generation, industries have failed," says Sudhir Patnaik, a social activist.

What is true for Orissa, is true for India. Water competition is leading to conflicts across the country. In 2005, for example, in two separate incidents in Rajasthan farmers were killed when they rioted against withdrawal of water from reservoirs and canal for distant cities. The water crisis is about the management of competing needs--the vast rural economies, which need water for their food and livelihood and the newer growth economies of modern and industrial India. But this is not possible without a clear assessment of industrial water need.

Currently, there is very little or conflicting data on the use of water by industries and its future demand. In its report of 1999, the Union Ministry of Water Resources estimated that industrial sector used 6 per cent of available freshwater use. As per a 2000 report of the Central Pollution Control Board, industry accounted for roughly 8 per cent of the water used in the county. The World Bank estimated this to be 13 per cent in early 2000. Given this lack of clarity, the reallocation of water--from agriculture or cities to industry--is done without policy direction.

Also, the use of water in industry is inefficient and wasteful. India can turn this challenge into an opportunity--leapfrog into a process of industrial growth that is water-efficient and, therefore, waste-reductive.
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