With depletion of forest cover, water scarcity looms large in Manipur

Sobhapati Samom
IMPHAL, OCTOBER 16

Hillson Ws, who runs a shop in Ukhrul town, used to buy 1000 litres of water every week at Rs 800 during dry seasons from November-March. Thus, his five-member family in the hill town, which is located about 80 km northeast of Manipur’s state capital-Imphal, will roughly spent around Rs 100 daily if they buy 4000 litres of water every month.
Thus, his annual budget only on water could be somewhere not less than Rs 20,000 if the family continues to buy water for the whole year minus rainy season (say about five months). In one way this is a huge amount for a family in a poor state like Manipur.
Similarly thousands of residents in Imphal also buy water from private suppliers even as the state run water supply agency- Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) aims to provide at least 135 litres of water for an individual living in urban area and 40 litres per capita per day in rural areas.
Around 7.55 lakh estimated population of Imphal and sub-urban areas including floating population of para-military forces need 101.9 million litres per day (MLD), PHED sources said.
The reasons are lack of comprehensive water management and other regulations over the use of water even though the improvement of the existing system and water management at the community level to address the current problems is said to be on the pipeline.
Efforts are also reportedly on to bridge the gap as the actual production from 17 water supply plants is hardly 70 MLD against its installed capacity of 101.3 MLD.
Researchers here observed that rainwater and groundwater besides the wetlands were the main water source of the state which comprises of 1820 sq km of flat alluvial valley and 20,507 sq km of hilly terrain which forms a part of the Himalayan mountain system.
Similarly, most of the experts in the field of water management in the recently concluded four-day World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) in New Delhi, held under the aegis of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) have also recommended efficient rainwater harvest system, proper conservation of water by developing required infrastructure for the proper management of water in the region.
Country representative Dr. Alok Sikka of International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a scientific research organisation focusing on suitable use of water and land resources in developing countries, said, “I think you should write more on this issue as your region requires efficient rainwater harvest system besides enhancing conservation and storage facilities. We’ve been in Mizoram and Meghalaya. So we know the potentials there.”
Sharing a similar sentiment, Chairman Dr. A Ravindra of Centre for Sustainable Development and Institute for Social & Economic Change, appealed to “capture the rain water” for sustainable development in NE region which gets high rain falls around 2,500 millimeters on an average.
Programme Leader (Water & Sustainability) Dr. Geneviene Connors of World Bank India office also observed that the World Bank is taking up certain projects in Assam considering the water issues in the region where flash floods are prone during rainy days.
In Manipur hills, natural sources of water are fast depleting due to rampant deforestation. As a result, the state’s water security for its growing population will be really decided by those in the frontline. The tribesmen in hills will have to change the way they look at a tree as it provides life giving water for their families and future generation, while the people in the valley will have to realize that the rivers are not sewage drains or garbage dumps but sources of drinking water. So time has come to address issues of common people in the ground by converging the development programmes as only 47 per cent of Manipur’s 5,07,152 households depend water on “other sources,” while only 38.6 per cent gets tap water, according to 2011 census.
Interestingly, TERI is also exploring ways to find “community based solution” for efficient way of conserving water in North Eastern region of the country which is one of the wettest places on this planet.
In an Exclusive interview during the WSDS, Director General, Dr. Ajay Mathur of TERI said, “We need to find specific community based solution for water conservation in the hilly terrains of North Eastern Himalayan region.”
As per IWMI records, only 21% of households in the NE region which occupies 8% India’s landmass, having about 44.98 million across eight states, about 4% of the total population of India, as per the 2011 census, have reportedly access to tap water as the main drinking water source in the region even though there is enough annual rainfall due to lack of conservation practices.
Dr. Mathur, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s Office on Climate Change, also expressed the need to think and work on geography, contour and locals need based practices while taking up the efficient water conservation activities in the region.
However, the country would be facing two key challenges – Urbanisation and water availability when 300 million people move to cities in the next five decades. So the participation of each individual besides government will enable India in achieving sustainable development goals as “India charts out innovative and sustainable development activities”, according to CEO Amitabh Kant of NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.