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In North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch, due to scanty rainfall, very limited ground water resources are available. Gujarat has a long coastal line of about 1500 kms. There is salinity ingress resulting in ground water becoming saline in the areas near to the coast line. Many areas of north Gujarat and Kutch are slowing getting converted into desert iand because of advancing deserts from Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch. Besides, there are recurring droughts in Gujarat. There have been 11 drought years in last 36 years.
Though the activists have tried to put a very strenuous attempt to show that there are other ways and means apart from SSP to solve the water problem of drought prone areas in Saurashtra and Kutch, it may be appreciated that the said aspect runs contrary to the hard realities which suggest that the recommended ways and means can never be sufficient enough to take care the miseries of the people at large of drought prone areas of Gujarat, where the command area of SSP is to operate. For this purpose, they have endeavored to show that decentralised water shed management and water harvesting can solve the water problem drought prone areas without the need for the Sardar Sarovar Project. It may be appreciated that this is nothing but an isolated view of a few who are philosophically against the Sardar Sarovar Project without there being any regard to the hard realities. In furtherance of this, following are a few points suggesting specific reasons responsible for acute drinking water scarcity faced by North Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch regions Gujarat, which can never be resolved unless and until Sardar Sarovar Project sees the light of the day.
- Due to 1100 kms long coast line, the ground water in the
coastal region has become saline due to ingress of sea
water into the ground water.
- The land area in Saurashtra consists of hard rock and limited
quantity of groundwater is available from the cracks and
crevices. Ground water recharge in rock strata is almost
impossible.
- All the 168 rivers, flowing in the North Gujarat, Saurashtra
and Kutch are non-perennial and remain almost dry due to scanty rainfall of 400 mm of less annually. Because of this very limited ground water resources are available and the ground water has been lowered beyond 300 meters.
- The advancing deserts in many parts of North Gujarat, Mehsana and Banaskantha districts are getting converted into desert land and similarly the advancing of Rann of Kutch and little Rann of Kutch are threatening to barren Kutch and Surendranagar districts.
- The most important factor is the recurring droughts in Gujarat in three years in every 10 years. Gujarat was formed in 1960s and last 36 years, there have been 12 years of draught and in the last 76 years there were 23 years of drought. The year 1991-92 was severe drought year in Gujarat in which 15 districts and more than 15000 villages were declared as drought affected and GOG had to prepare a master plan of Rs. 5 billion as drought relief measures. Before this, there were 3 consecutive drought years from 1985-86 to 1987-88 during which Gujarat spent as much as Rs. 15 billion on drought relief measures and suffered loss of agricultural production worth Rs. 50 billion.
- The drought is such a menace that not only it eats away billions of rupees but alongwith it because of lack of surface and ground water resources, millions of cattle and shepherds have to migrate from Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat to the area of South Gujarat. Even the World Bank has reported in one of its findings that if water ever not taken to these areas, then by the year 2021 people of these areas would come on the streets.
- The cities of Rajkot, Surendranagar, Vadhwan/Jamnagar and the towns of Dhoraji, Jetput, Gondal had been facing the problem of drinking water year after year. The State Government had to lay emergency pipeline based on Narmada canals as the only reliable source of water and implement emergency measures to supply water to these cities in war foot basis by encouraging an additional expenditure of almost Rs. 100 crores, just in two months as otherwise the population in these towns would have needed migration.
- 113 major and medium surface water reservoirs in Saurashtra with a total storage capacity of 2222 million cubic meter are totally rain-fed and largely dependant on natural precipitation. The statistic indicates that in 14 years (1986-1999), the water reservoirs were full in only 4 years.
- Water is being tapped from confined acquifers and the quantity of water in each such acquifer is limited. The percentage of failure of tube wells which have been pinpointed after detailed geo-physical investigations supported by remote sensing technique is also more than 20%. From these facts, it can be appreciated that there is not certainty about the availability of ground water in large areas of the state even at greater depths, on a long-term sustainable base.
- The deteriorating quality of ground water is also a matter of major concern. The problem of excessive flourides in ground water is predominantly high in the districts of Bhavnagar, Amreli and Junagadh. The flouride problem is more pronounced in basaltic terrain as besalt is known to be one of source rock flouride mineralisation. In Amreli district, the concentration of flouride is much above the permissible limits (4-10 ppm) and has affected population in many villages. Excessive flouride in ground water has been responsible for the disease of flourosis in the districts of Mehsana, Banaskantha, Amreli and parts of Bhavnagar districts.
- Statistical analysis of rainfall patterns and drought prone occurrence show that arid and semi-arid areas of Gujarat are among the most drought areas in the country. The area has a probability of moderate drought (25 50% rainfall deficit) every three to five years,
- The government of Gujarat has appointed M/s Tahal Consultants of Israel to study the water resources planning for the state of Gujarat. This consultant in its report presented to the government of Gujarat suggested as under:
- under the conditions, restrictions and constraints of the state of Gujarat, an appropriate approach to the short and long term development, exploitation and management of the water resources should be based on 2 main components.
- a state system for transfer of water
- conservation and augmentation of the local
resources.
- The state water system with the Sardar Sarovar Project reservoir and Narmada Canal as the backbone will serve to transfer surplus water from the south to the north and north-west . A combined optimal operation and management of the major schemes in general and of those located to the south of the Sardar Sarovar Project dam in particular will increase the availability of water. The links between the water systems should include all the existing conveyance facilities like channels, irrigation distribution networks, rivers and streams etc. and if necessary, additional new links and additional storaqe facilities.
- Augmentation and conservation of the water resources should be based on storage induced recharged and artificial recharge through small structures like check dams, percolation tanks, village ponds, river beds conjunctive use and waste water reuse, in this way each drop of water should be tapped and harnessed for surface or underground storage. Alternative storage of water supply will be created enabling a higher reliability of supply particularly during dry years. This is short term component for immediate implementation. Some of these structures will later be combined into the state system.
- The Government of Gujarat has also attached priority to the issues like ground water recharge and development of local sources . The state Government has allocated financial resources also for this programme . However, looking to magnitude and acuteness of problem of drinking water in Saurashtra, Kutch and North Guajrat, the efforts put in towards constructions of small and medium check dams, rain water harvesting on individual and community basis would only ease the difficulty on a short term basis and for long term basis, supply of water through Narmada Canal is the only dependable and sustainable solution for survival of people in the region.
- The Government has, therefore, prepared a Master Plan to supply drinking water drawn from Sardar Sarovar Canals to 8215 villages and 135 urban centers of Saurashtra, Kutch and North Gujarat. Construction of 2700 km long transmission mains is already under way and is in advance stage of completion
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