The inter-State sharing of river waters, which had been done amicably during the first four decades post-Independence, gave rise to acrimony between the States during the last three decades or so, former Chairman of the Central Water Commission Ashwinkumar Blavantray Pandya said on Saturday.
He was delivering the Dr. K.L. Rao Endowment Lecture on ‘Water, energy and food security nexus,’ organised by the Department of Civil Engineering of GITAM Institute of Technology, GITAM University, as part of Dr. K.L. Rao centenary celebrations here.
Mr. Pandya said a number of inter-State agreements on sharing of river waters had taken place between 1950 and 1980, but after that they were marked by lack of dialogue and bitterness between the States.
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He appealed to the people, who could be displaced by the water projects, to contribute to the national development by allowing construction of dams, which in turn could spur economic growth.
Water security required a multi-dimensional strategy and no unique solution existed for ensuring it.
It would not be possible to sustain water security with one-time solution as many factors such as climate change and global economic situations, which were continuously impacting the availability and usage patterns, were involved.
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The solution once applied would have to be continuously monitored and tweaked to ensure that the regime once established kept delivering results for generations to come, he added.
Major consumer
He said that the irrigation sector was the major water consumer and one of the most sought-after strategy was improving irrigation efficiency and saving water. The present level of overall efficiency was about 35%.
However, improvement in efficiency would require multiple interventions in storage, conveyance, and application methodologies.
“India has built-up storages of about 250 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM) and an additional 50 BCM capacity is under consideration,” he said, and added that the National Commission on Integrated Development of Water Resources estimated that an aggregate storage capacity of 450 BCM was needed for efficiently managing the utilisable surface water resources of 690 BCM.
Mr. Pandya said sustained efforts through diplomatic and other channels were required as water resources of the country were coming under stress from operation and implementation angles.
GITAM University vice-chancellor M.S. Prasada Rao presided over the function.
GITAM Institute of Technology principal K. Lakshmi Prasad and Head of Department of Civil Engineering K.V. Ramesh were present.