Thread by @jamewils

How 6 Kerala panchayats worked together to achieve water abundance in three years.

Jalasamrudhi, a rainwater conservation scheme launched in June 2016, used the concept of storing rainwater and releasing it back into the ground. thenewsminute.com/article/how-6-…

One of the main co-ordinator behind this project is Kerala Land Use Commissioner Mr. Nizamudheen, a good friend of mine. Very glad to see their efforts are yielding wonderful results on the ground and getting wider recognition.

To get a perspective, though Kerala is blessed with immense rainfall and surface water flows, due to some inherent limitations our ground water recharge is very limited.

I spent couple of days with the hydro-geologists of state ground water department to understand the nuances.

The reason is I am assigned to redraft a counter affidavit in a suo moto writ petition by Kerala High Court on the ground water scenario of the State.

Though I am very familiar with the surface water and its availability issues, my knowledge base on ground water was very limited

Let me share some interesting facts with you. Kerala doesn't have a severe over exploitation problem of ground water unlike our neighbour Tamil Nadu.

Our main problem is reduction of recharge due to many manmade interventions such as wetland reclamation, change in land use, etc

Coming back to the statistics, Kerala is having around 3000 mm rainfall and have an average annual surface water runoff if 78 BCM. But our dynamic ground water recharge is limited to 5.21 BCM as of March 2017.

This is just 6.7% of the surface water runoff.

Kerala's topography and physiography imposes severe restrictions of ground water storage and recharge.

Due to our steep sloping topography, more than 80 percent of the rainwater do not get sufficient residence time to replenish the ground water before draining into Arabian Sea.

About 88 percent of the total geographical area of the Kerala State is underlain by crystalline rocks devoid of any primary porosity, with limited ground water prospects.

Out of total 5.211 BCM annual extractable ground water, actual extraction for all uses in Kerala is estimated as 2.623 BCM, which is around 50 percent of the extractable recharge.

As per the national criteria, this is well within the safe recharge limits of 70 percent.

Out of the 152 blocks in Kerala, only Chittur block in Palakkad is qualified as ‘over exploited’ (>100%).

While out of the total 6584 blocks in India, 1034 blocks are qualified as critical, ie, 16 percent.

Tamil Nadu’s annual extractable ground water recharge is estimated as 18.59 BCM & extraction is 14.36 BCM, ie, 77% extraction against 50% of Kerala.

Out of total 1139 blocks in Tamil Nadu, 358 blocks have been categorized as ‘over exploited’ as per CGWB.

TN has an annual ground water recharge of 18.59 BCM against an annual surface water runoff of 27.03 BCM (incl.imports from neighbours). f are one third of Kerala State, 69% of recharge is happening there.

Tamil Nadu’s topography and physiography allows the rainfall and subsequent runoff to have more residence time to replenish its rich ground water resources though its rainfall and runoff.

But over exploitation for agriculture is creating spatial ground water problems there.

Coming back to Kerala, our major reservoir systems can at present store only 5 BCM of the runoff, which is around 6.4% of the average annual run-off of 78 BCM.

Many ask why cant you store more water? Answer is our reservoir options are very limited.

Let me explain

Economically viable storage options are very limited in mid lands. Moreover, it requires more submergence per storage and will result in huge displacement of population and prohibitively costly.

In the coastal areas, the reservoir options are almost nil.

Due to above topographical constraints, our storage options are zeroed into the high lands wherein only technically, geologically and economically viable storage options are available.

But 26.6% of the geographical area of our state is covered by forests, mostly in highlands.

3902.04 sq km of forest area is protected as sanctuaries, national parks and biosphere reserves, which will come around 38% of total forest area.

Hence development of reservoirs at there needs a balancing act between conservation of forests and dire needs of the population.

So there are conscious interventions by the Government to enhance rain water harvesting and ground water recharge and regulation.

For construction of borewell/tubewell, a NOC from GWD is mandatory as per Kerala Building Rules Section 93A(1).

State Ground Water Authority is giving permissions to extract ground water for industrial purposes only from the safe blocks where extraction is <70%

Any industrial unit requires more than 5000 lit/day is termed as water intensive project & mandates clearance from State GWA.

Also Kerala Building Rules amended to enforce recycling and reuse of waste water for buildings above area 1500 sq. m.

Though the regulations are in place, its actual implementation by local bodies are not upto the mark.

Government has started an decentralised initiative named “Haritha Keralam” in 2017. The mission goal is identified as a new culture to inculcate a new culture in conserving, utilising sustainably managing the water resources both surface water and ground water of the State.

This is for a sustainable and equitable distribution for water for drinking, irrigation and for an inclusive development through water security.

The news article shared by me is a further enhancement of the Haritha Keralam initiative.

The following activities are actively pursuing under it viz. effective management of runoff, improved soil and moisture conservation, watershed as a basic unit for interventions, integration of river basins, prevention of pollution and modernisation of drainage channels.

A participatory approach of stake holders are there in from conception to implementation to assessment. Renovation and rejuvenation of ponds in all Pancyaths are taken up with participatory campaign with eminent personalities, students and youth.

Now let us look at the legal frame work around the ground water.

Globally in various cases Courts have reinforced State’s eminent domain over surface water and its absolute right to regulate its appropriation and use.

But in case of ground water, it's still evolving.

As far as ground water is concerned, land owners enjoyed unlimited access and an inalienable part of the right to land, which is supported by the common law principle, where basic principles of access and control are derived from the Easement Act, 1882.

Under these principles, land owners have rights to collect and dispose of all ground water found on their land. This implies that ground water is mostly controlled by individuals and legal entities that own or occupy the land.

Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta vs Kamal Nath & Othrs [(1997) 1 SCC 388] discussed the public trust doctrine at length and decided it is to be a part of the law of land.

Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta vs UOI [(1997) 11 SCC 312] directed the Central Government to constitute Ground Water Board as an Authority under Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986 to regulate the indiscriminate boring and withdrawal of the ground water in the country.

Recognising the doctrine of public trust & also considering the fact that in certain areas, there is a tendency of indiscriminate extraction of ground water is prevailing, Kerala enacted Kerala Ground Water (Control and Regulation) Act, 2002, first of it's kind in the country

But it is very interesting to look into the conflicting legal positions taken by Kerala High Court in this regard too.

Yep, the famous Coca Cola case and the judgements of Single Bench and Division Bench

The Single Bench of Justice K. Balakrishnan Nair in the Permatty Grama Panchayath Vs State of Kerala [(2004) 1 KLT 731] hold that ground water should be regulated by the State under public trust doctrine and observed that:

But the Division Bench of this Hon’ble High Court in Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages (P) Ltd Vs Permatty Grama Panchayath [(2005) 2 KLT 554] reversed the above judgement of the Single Bench and endorsed the common law principle of ground water rights by observing that:

Not only that the Division Bench rejected the reliance of the Single Judge on the Supreme Court judgement on Public Trust Doctrine here:

Though appeals were filed in the Supreme Court, as the Coca Cola company informed the Court that they are not intended to operate the plant, the appeals were disposed of ae they became infructous by the Bench J. Nariman & J. Sanjiv Kaul on 13 July 2017.

These are the things I learnt last week, when I got an assignment to redraft an affidavit by the State.

I done my own legal research, thanks to Senior Adv @mohankatarki who taught me how to do that.

Very glad to share these things with you all.