Pronami Gogoi
(pronamigogoi9@gmail.com)
The idea of virtual water comes when we ponder over the balance between sustainable development goals that we simply call SDG, a pack of seventeen goals of which Goal 6 reads as clean water and sanitation for all by 2030 and the dire need to fulfil this goal in a perverse scenario of water stress. According to a report, due to climate change and population growth, the demand for water will increase by 40 per cent by the year 2030. United Nations has also been alarmed that water use has grown twice the growth of population in the last century which is going to be alarming in the coming years. This is certainly not an itching point for the people of Assam and Bihar since people there experience heavy floods each year. But not for all!
From different dimensions:
The year 2020 saw a thousand farmers from the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh set for protest due to the introduction of farm bills. The issue of MSP still hovers around us. But have we ever calculated the total risk of growing 1 kg of rice in an already water-stressed region like Punjab? The rice that has been produced in these areas is basically irrigation-based thus creating another issue of increasing salinization due to over-exploitation of water, making the land unfit for further cultivation. This is going to hit hard in India's promise of a sustainable future.
The case of Maharashtra is no different. Here the cotton cultivation takes a large share. The water footprint of cotton cultivation has been assessed by M Pahlow, M.S. Krol and AY Hoekstra in their research report published in the UNESCO-IHE journal. The data has shown that India has a huge difference between the actual cotton yield and attainable yield. India that produces a total of 10 million bales of cotton from a nine million hectare area has been facing a low productivity issue compared to its cotton water footprint and a large area of production. These are the result of mismatches in water management where groundwater is used extensively especially in the areas of Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan to grow this crop. This necessitates the search for an immediate alternative to the growing scenario of water stress.
Along with water shortage there comes the issue of water quality. Due to the over-extraction of groundwater, the water quality has gone down helping India to secure 120th rank out of 122 countries in the Global water quality index in the year 2020. The intraregional picture is as gloomy as the global one. A study conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standard among major cities of India has brought Delhi to fail all the 11 parameters to stand as poorest in water quality delivered to its citizens. Uranium contamination in the areas of Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat where groundwater is overexploited is becoming a real concern in recent years. Thus a new water footprint calculation strategy is needed worldwide to arrange these mismatches in a logical way.
A new alternative: Virtual water trade
Virtual water refers to the idea of the total amount of water that has been used to produce something, that is included in the product cost virtually with little awareness among the people about that. This is the hidden part of any agricultural or industrial commodity that we use in the country or are exported. The virtual water trade among nations in the world shows India as a gross exporter of water standing in rank 12 among fifteen countries in a study published by AK Chapagain and AY Hoekstra in their research report on water footprints of nations. Also, India is ranked 8th in the top ten net exporters of water countries by the same study while finding no place among the top importer countries in the world which is mainly occupied by European nations. This shows a major anomaly in the virtual water balance (v.w.b) between the developed nations which have a more stable v.w.b and the developing nations like China and India. India's rice export (basmati export rise up to 40 lakh MT and non-Basmati export around 33 Lakh MT) takes a heavy toll on this. This becomes more costly as India is highly dependent on irrigated water when the required amount touches 5000 litres of water to produce one kg of rice. Another hurdle is bovine meat which is exported in a huge amount failing to understand the intake of virtual water that has been used to produce it.
With the current estimation, India has the largest water footprint in the world. The use of water in agricultural production in India is highest leading to the growth of a grey area where the decreasing water level does not suffice the required amount to produce these commodities. The situation aggravates when India becomes one of the top exporters' countries in virtual water with a national water scarcity index. On the flip side, many other countries have been able to assess their net virtual water use. Countries like Jordan, Mexico are importing water-intensive products to replenish the groundwater level as well as to cut down the water footprint of these commodities. There are failure stories as well. Yemen while being a water-deficient zone is not being able to switch to virtual water importing nation due to its lack of Forex reserves, whereas Egypt is still hopeful for its dependence on Nile water in spite of its conflict with the GERD project – a yellow flag for India to rethink over its export strategy.
Searching for a panacea:
India's national water policy needs a re-evaluation in this situation of virtual water export vs. national water scarcity. New ideas have to be assessed to make the export list more water-friendly, consisting of commodities that can be grown with easily available resources rather than putting stress on the country's water resources. Like the other countries that are importing water-intensive crops rather than growing them by themselves, India can use this strategy at its regional level to incentivize its water-surplus eastern region for growing more rice and announcing MSP in oilseeds and horticulture products to grow in water-deficit zones of Punjab and Haryana. Also, overuse of irrigation can be done away with adopting a proper strategy of "deficit-irrigation" where irrigation is used only during the most essential period of crop growth. Extreme conditions of flood in the eastern part of the country and drought in the western part at the same time has become normal in recent decades. Here linking the rivers is not the only solution where a huge cost is intact with every river-linking project. The government needs to invest in water harvesting mechanisms more heavily than before. Proper assessment of the national water resources and more research on virtual water trade is the need of the hour. Awareness should be brought among people about the water used to make a product so that consumption patterns can be changed towards a more sustainable way.
Along with that are needed proper agricultural techniques. Pahlow and trio have assessed the efficacy of using the "No Regret" method extensively. Crop rotation is important to retain the fertility of the soil. Using locally available organic manures with mulching, intercropping will help to reduce fertility loss. This can be regarded as the less expensive method. Rather than providing huge agricultural subsidies in urea and irrigation practices, more sustainable practices can be adopted to reduce the environmental impact of agricultural subsidies that are increasing the government's subsidy bill as well. However, all these need the political will to reverse the situation which the green revolution had created long ago- the problem of green, grey and blue water footprint through the prism of water stress. In a country like India where 90% of the extracted groundwater is used in irrigation alone, the idea that India is going to achieve the SDG goals by 2030 with the current government's initiatives can be mere speculation. However, we are left with very little option but to believe in this.