Land acquisition for rivers can help maintain small watersheds critical for India's river systems
Riverbed cultivation results in the extinction of perennial streams and rivers. Author provided

Land acquisition for rivers can help maintain India’s critical small watersheds

National Water Policy 2012 and National Land Utilization Policy 2013 must be ammended to allocate 10% India's area to streams & rivers in small watersheds
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There was a time when river ecosystems such as mountains, plateaus, pediplains and alluvial plains covered 10-12 per cent of India. Today, this share has dwindled to 0.5-3 per cent. With that, the livelihood practices and ecosystem services have shifted from being river-centric to aquifer-centric.

The progression of ancient, medieval and modern civilisation and livelihood practices has brought about irreversible changes in the structure and function of river ecosystems, especially the small watersheds. Watershed is an area of land that drains rainfall and snowmelt into streams and rivers, but their topographical features are not limited to that. They also include mountains, plateaus, rocks, vegetation, barren measures, wildlife, settlement and occupation and waterbodies (rivers, reservoirs, lakes, ponds, wetlands and aquifers).

Small watersheds spreading over 300-2,000 square kilometres are the primary units of small river basins. But the wholesomeness of these small watersheds sustains the existence and perpetuation of any large river system.

To restore aviral dhara (continuous flow) and nirmal dhara (clear flow) of any river system, we must define the “wholesomeness of small watersheds”. These are the only natural entities that help restore the overall health of the large river basins.

Small streams in the large river basins are disappearing and there is no study or update on their historical and current morphometric status. The five intrinsic attributes of any watershed are: Stream order, stream number, stream length, watershed area and drainage density. These have never been used to describe irreversible alterations in watershed morphometry under changing land use scenarios. The land under forests and river ecosystems has been diverted for agriculture, settlement, infrastructure and industrial development.

The recent irreversible changes are more profound because the administrative boundaries are yet to be demarcated to protect the natural boundaries of the small river ecosystems. Consequently, the length, width and depth of such streams and rivers in small watersheds are scaled down by anthropogenic diversions and encroachments.

Multiple stakeholder land use practices result in irreversible changes in the morphometry of small watersheds.
Multiple stakeholder land use practices result in irreversible changes in the morphometry of small watersheds.Author provided

The most vital solution for restoring and conserving any stream or river is demarcating its administrative boundary. Administrative boundaries are highly relevant from an implementation point of view since they capture the hierarchy implicit in authority structures that shape multilevel governance of environmental resources.

If a river's right and left flanks are physically identified using unanimously designed standard protocols, more than 50 per cent of the threat to the riverfronts will be reduced. In addition, their natural restoration courses may begin by inheriting the intrinsic ecosystem characteristics.

We can take lessons from the demarcated administrative boundaries of the railway lines, highways, protected forests, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, agricultural fields, urban centres and industrial parks. Such administrative boundaries help in ongoing and future planning exercises, development and management of natural and human-made ecosystems. In the National Forest Policy of 1952, for instance, 33 per cent of the subcontinent's geographical area was provided for sustainable conservation of native forest cover.

It is high time to revise the National Water Policy, 2012 and the National Land Utilization Policy, 2013. An amendment that deals with 10 per cent statutory land acquisition and allocations for the ex-situ and in-situ conservation of streams and rivers in the small watersheds must be introduced. Such judicious and sustainable land use practices can bring enormous change in the restoration and conservation of small watersheds. 

The framework of the 'River Red List Categories and Criteria' deals with the percentage change in the number of streams (Nu), length of streams (Lu), and drainage density (Dd) in watersheds and sub-watersheds. It firmly advocates the protection and conservation of rivers within and outside the protected areas:

  1. Near threatened: Those with less than 30 per cent change

  2. Vulnerable: Those with 30-50 per cent change

  3. Endangered: Those with 50-70 per cent change

  4. Critically endangered: Those with more than 70 per cent change

  5. Near to extinction: Those whose only Lu of the main trunk is recorded without Nu and Dd

  6. Extinct: Entire loss of watershed, where no Nu, Lu or Dd are recorded

At present, the small watersheds and subwatersheds are falling into the 'vulnerable' to 'critically endangered' categories. They are rapidly progressing toward the 'extinct' category under current land use practices continue, indicating streams and rivers have reached the tipping point.

Therefore, statutory land acquisition and allocation are inevitable to rejuvenate diminishing river-centric ecosystem services in the Indian subcontinent.

Overburden dumping, settlement and wastewater discharge in the riverbed irreversibly impair the perennial flow in the river ecosystem.
Overburden dumping, settlement and wastewater discharge in the riverbed irreversibly impair the perennial flow in the river ecosystem.Author provided

We can take a leaf out the retranslocation exercise of African cheetahs to the 395.28-square kilometre Kuno National Park, which could become possible only because the Kuno River flows through the protected area. However, the current morphometry of the Kuno watershed is highly affected beyond the KNP, indicating that immediate attention is needed to maintain the perennial flow in the 4,469.74-sq km Kuno watershed, which is also providing ecosystem services to the Guna, Shivpuri, Baran, Sheopur, and Morena districts in the Chambal lower sub-basin.

The morphometric conservation of small watersheds thus has immense potential in restoring and conserving biodiversity, ensuring water and food security and mitigating the impact of climate change.

The 2023 United Nations Water Conference in New York had also recognised that the challenge to restore 300,000 km of degraded rivers by 2030 needs statutory land acquisition and allocation in the transboundary river basins. In India, such a project will give strength to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources), which at present regulates jal (water) without shakti (land).

Anshumali is a professor in the environmental science and engineering department at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.

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