Carrot and Stick for drinking water protection and recharge in Faridabad

Chetan Agarwal Winrock India (WII) Commons Initiative (FES)

Drinking water source sustainability

Running Pure study of 105 cities - 33 of the largest cities (or 1/3) obtain a significant % of drinking water from protected areas For many cities, time is running out . Protecting forests around water catchment areas is no longer a luxury but a necessity. When they are gone, the costs of providing clean and safe drinking water to urban areas will increase dramatically. (Dudley et al, 2003)

Aravalli hills high potential recharge zone AND have sweet water
Ridge land has high infiltration rates upto 85% of water is available for percolation into the ground (CGWB report in Supreme Court) Sweet water in Aravalli (low EC)

Securing Aravalli for Faridabad & Gurgaon Delhi drinking water

 Sweeter water in Aravalli (low EC)

 Direction of flow from aravalli to adjoining areas

Status of Aravalli lakes in Faridabad /Gurgaon

Historical Water Status
1 2

Water status 209-10

Surajkund Peacock Lake (adjacent to Suraj Kund )

perennial perennial

seasonal seasonal

3 4 5

Badhkhal Lake Dhauj jheel Embankment and lake at Lala Kherli (village Mandawar) Damdama lake

perennial perennial seasonal

seasonal seasonal seasonal

perennial

perennial

High Recharge in Aravalli

High secondary porosity
because of joints and fractures. storage capacity and yield may be low Likely high transmission capacities because of fractures. The ridges are therefore likely to be important recharge zones for the surrounding alluvial plains

Need to protect through zoning as critical groundwater recharge zones.

Suggest Recharge zones in Manger/Kot/Dhauj gair mumkin pahar (ACWADAM, Pune)

Boundary of Aravalli hills

Delhi

Gurga on Faridaba d

Mangar bani sacred forest

Damda ma lake

Sohn a

Context
Faridabad (95%+) depends on Ground Water MCs
Cash strapped Investing in physical infrastructure for water pipes and pumps Selling Natural Ecological Assets - pahadi land important recharge zone

Aravalli hills high potential recharge zone AND have sweet water
Ridge land has high infiltration rates upto 85% of water is available for percolation into the ground (CGWB report in Supreme Court) Sweet water in Aravalli (low EC)

 At a moderate infiltration level of 33.6% of annual rainfall and 10 paise per litre as the value of infiltration, the infiltration value is Rs 2.0 lakhs /ha per year, and the NPV value (6%, 20 yrs) is Rs 23.5 lakhs /ha

Unique tenurial context

Panchayat / MCF own shamlat deh land Farmers own shamlat deh land - jointly Value increases after partition, demarcation, and landuse change
Joint Private undivided 1x Joint Private divided 4x Private demarcated on paper 8x Private demarcated on ground 10x Private land use converted 100 -300x

Supreme court Aravalli case has supressed land values in the short term, but cessation of mining has increased real estate interest.

Source protection zones

Increme ntal financin Earmarki g ng
y

Legislative backing Catskills /NY

SFDA SFDA and Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act SFDA SFDA SFDA

land acquisitio Zoning n

y

Monitor regulato ry deed complia restriction nce s to Land outside exchang Partne jurisdicti easement reduce value e s rship on
y y

Pine Barrens Edwards aquifer San Antonio Portland Salt Lake city Seattle Chester Syracuse Berlin,

y y y y y

y y

y y y y

y y

SFDA, and 1914 federal public law 199 y SDWA, and Cedar River Watershed Act 1992 SFDA SFDA y y

y y y y y

Berlin zones

three protection zones 230 km2:

well head protection area (Zone I). closer (Zone II), wider (Zone III),

40% - green, lake, river

Austin City region, Texas

Landuse plan identified: Drinking water protection zone 1/3 area Desired Development Zone 2/3 area

Purchased land and easements Large scale funding by city through long term bonds.

Actions in NYC catchment

Land Acquisition
purchase environmentally sensitive lands brought 128,000 acres.

Land Management
passive use - hiking

Forestry:
to protect water quality

Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrades Watershed Agricultural Program.

implement pollution prevention practices on watershed farms. Pay farmers to reestablish vegetative buffers

Legislative Mandate for source protection and incentive programs.

Safe Drinking Water Act ( USA):
a. Source Assessment for all public water systems b. Mandate for maintaining water quality, linked to national funds c. Single Source designation
a. (if source > 50% of supply, then critical)

d. State Revolving Funds

Practioners tool box for drinking water source protection

1. Identify source areas and threats 1. Delineate aquifers critical zones 2. identify threats

2.

Protection activities and rules

1. 2. 3. 4. Zoning, Land purchase, Land Management Conservation easements Forest management Agricultural practice changes including riparian buffers

3.

Finance 1. Surcharge on or earmarking portion of water supply fee 2. Local Bonds , Surcharge on sales tax 3. Leveraging funds externally

4.

Institutions - U/S D/S and intermediaries

1. 2. 3. Watershed Agricultural council (New York), Aquifer Authority (San Antonio, Texas) Protected Area management authorities, Upstream communites have legal tenure right to protect and contract for payments

Practioners tool box for drinking water source protection..2

1. Partnerships 1. Between Forest & Park departments, Water Supply, Planning, Environment Protection, and civil society

2. Legislation provides mandate

1. Local 1. Long Island Pine Barrens Protection Act 1993 (in New Jersey state, USA) 2. Cedar River Watershed Act of 1992 in Seattle, USA. 2. National 1. Safe Drinking Water Act (in the USA)

3. Judicial
1. Enforcement backup e.g. to spur action and enforce protection for maintaining water quality

Steps in Urban Areas

1.Restrictions on new borewells. 2. Urban Rainwater harvesting
Mandatory rainwater harvesting requirement in new buildings in urban areas Efforts to facilitate RWH in older public establishments and areas schools, parks etc

3. Early efforts at promoting water efficiency

4. Right to groundwater (based on sustainable availability)

Relative retail pricing of water

1 L mineral water Rs 1 L Bottled water Rs 20 L bottle Rs Tanker supply Rs Municipal supply Rs RO treated water supply (self collection) 30 40 per litre 10-12 per litre 2-3 per litre 10-50 per 1000 litre 4 per 1000 litre Rs 0.20 litre

Financing Rainwater Harvesting and Biodiversity Conservation

Options Benefit Increased recharge Feasibility High as existing pot of funds with large inflows with a local spending mandate and unspent balances.

Earmarking a portion External Development Charges levied for

urban landuse change (huge funds collected much of which are unspent)

RWH cess on new buildings to

contribute towards city and peri-urban,

in lieu of building their own injection borewell.

No net financial cost High as no net financial cost, in fact could lead to instead of selfsavings for some. construction, contribute to community recharge

Graded Charges on monthly water bills and use for sustainability

investments.

High users pay more. Regular flow of funds.

Moderate as a new payment. However, basic level of water supply can be exempted to increase political acceptability. May promote efficiency investments as well. A key challenge will be metering borewells in private sector.

Seasonal monsoon Credit for roof rainwater harvesting

Can be used to offset the cess on water use and incentivize RWH on a regular basis

High as incentivizes good behavior.

Options Earmarking a portion External Development Charges levied for urban landuse change (huge funds collected much of which are unspent) Transferable Development Rights acquire privately owned hills and pay thru marketable TDRs that can be applied in urban MC areas.

Benefit Reducing risk of landuse change on privately owned hills and linking to fund collected expressly for external development No financial cost.

Feasibility High as existing pot of funds with large inflows with a local spending mandate and unspent balances.

One time cess on private borewell registration new and old borewells

Cess on property registration and land use conversion charges Contributions from the State Compensatory Afforestation and Management of Protected Areas

High as no financial cost, Utilized extensively in other Indian metros for road widening and other purposes. Regulatory provisions in gurgaon as well. Needs careful structuring to prevent perverse outcomes targeting low value land of preferred owners. Linking capital investments in Moderate as a new payment that will groundwater infrastructure to have to be levied which is likely to be capital investments in land for resisted widely, especially as those groundwater recharge obtaining canal water have no such requirement Regularly levied Low, as the state views it as their revenue and will resist earmarking fiercely Can be earmarked for Limited funds in the state as low forest biodiversity protection and cover to start with restoration

Ways forward
Contamination risk map High Recharge Zones Map Zoning to protect high recharge zones in the Aravalli Registrar of tubewells ? Water quality
Task certified path labs for water testing along with blood, urine, stool.

 GW levels fine scale monitoring in urban areas

Dark sectors / dark colonies not just blocks

Nehar Par area new area can do a fresh start

Water efficiency standards Water meters in individual flats No private swimming pools Bulk meters on private wells