Negotiated Approaches to Integrated River Basin ... Approaches to Integrated River Basin Management Conference Report 10 th and 11 th of April 2007. 3 1. At the river basin / sub-basin,

Negotiated Approaches to Integrated River Basin Management Conference Report

10th and 11th of April 2007.

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National and State level Experience:

Gomukh Trust has been

involved in the process of water

advocacy for over a decade on the

National and State level. We believe

that citizens involvement in lobbying

and advocacy is an integral and a

crucial part of the democratic process.

Econet a non-governmental

organization had organized first

workshop on the need for

groundwater legislation in

Feb/March1993. This was before the promulgation of the Groundwater Act (1993). Many water experts

and stakeholders were a part of the workshop, which submitted its recommendations and

amendments to the Government of Maharashtra. Many of these were finally included in the

Groundwater Act. The process led to the formation of Pune Water Group that met periodically to

discuss issues related to water policy. This led to workshops on the National Water Policy in 1996 and

State Water Policy (February 2002). Through these processes, an alternative State Water Policy was

formulated. Another workshop was organized to discuss the draft Maharashtra Water Resources

Planning and Regulatory Authority (as it was known then) in November/December 2002. Again,

recommendations and amendments were sent to the authorities and some of them have been

accepted in the final act. Gomukh conducted these workshops jointly with the Council for Equitable

Water Rights, AFARM, Gongotree, NCAS, Aquadam, Soppecom, River Action Group etc in the year

2002.

River Basin/ Micro Catchment Level

At the same time, acknowledging the crucial role of stakeholders, especially weaker sections of

the society, Gomukh Trust has been organizing Kolvan Valley Water Conferences in the Kolvan valley

(a small cluster of 18 villages in the mountain ranges of the Sahyadris) for the past four years. This

provides a platform for the population of a small valley to voice their issues and concerns. And yes,

some issues are resolved right during the conference itself! This process has been up-scaled to the

Bhima Basin and ‘Bhima Basin Multi stakeholder conferences was organized.



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With this background, it was a logical step for Gomukh to initiate a discussion on the “Maharashtra

Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act” and to examine it in the context of Integrated River Basin

Management and community participation.

Objectives:

The main objectives for organizing the conference were;

1. To discuss the discuss and disseminate intricacies of the MWRRA Act and the functioning of

the Authority

2. To analyze the process of river basin planning, as stated in the Act and role of people’s

participation in this crucial process.

3. To showcase community-led river basin initiatives from different of the country and to discuss

how these initiatives can be internalized and up scaled through acts like MWRRA

4. To draw lessons learned from the entire process for different states of India.

We are happy to state that Arghyam, a funding organization, based in Bangalore working on issues

related to water management agreed to provide financial support to this conference.

Background and evolution of MWRRA Law in Maharashtra:

The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Act was passed in the year 2005, as a part of

the Maharashtra Water Sector reform process. It was passed immediately after the Management of

Irrigation Systems by Farmers Act, 2005. The stated reasons behind formulating the MWRRA act were

the actual problems faced by the Water Resources Department in managing the irrigation system in

Maharashtra. The utilization of the created irrigation potential was low (In1999-2000, potential created

was 3.500 million hectares and actual potential utilized was merely 1.286 million hectares), water tariff

recovery was low, leading to financial losses for the department, There was absence of coordination

between departments, water pollution was increasing dangerously, and the water management system

in Maharashtra was highly iniquitous and therefore not conforming to the globally accepted norms of

holistic and participatory management. It was felt that this was mainly a systemic problem and hence,

with the help of technical advise from the World Bank, the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory

Authority Act was formulated. Through MWRRA Law, MWRR Authority was constituted and the main

functions of the MWRRA are as follows:

• To regulate the water tariff systems and water charges for the use of these resources.

• To ensure that water resource development and management within the State is carried out

as per the Integrated State Water Plan prepared by the State Water Board and approved by

State Water Council

• To review and ensure administration of water use entitlements-



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1. At the river basin / sub-basin, water using sectors such as Urban and Rural drinking

water, Industries and Irrigation etc. and

2. At utility/project level between water using sectors, and also between various water

user, within each sector, within the State.

• To assist and facilitate the development of a framework for the preservation and protection of

the quality of surface and sub-surface water within the State

• To decide the criteria for trading rights of water so as to maximize the efficiency of the use of

water.

Thus, it is clear that the law deals with some of the most basic and significant facets of water

management. Unfortunately, despite its significance, there was hardly any dialogue or public debate

regarding the intricacies of the law and its implications on various sectors, and the common

stakeholder was in dark about the actual functions and powers of the law and the authority.

With this in mind, Gomukh Trust initiated a process of dialogue, not limited to the MWRRA, but

broadly about Integrated River Basin Management and the pivotal role of stakeholders in the entire

process, termed as “The Negotiated Approach to Integrated River Basin Management.”

About the conference:

The dates finalized for the conference were 10th and 11th of April 2007. Nearly 200

stakeholders from all over the Krishna basin and some experts from States like Karnataka, Tamilnadu,

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, New Delhi, etc, were invited. The invitation letter sent to the participants

stated the brief background of the process and the objectives of the conference.

The venue for holding the conference was BAIF in Pune.

Structure:

As the main objective of the conference was to initiate a ‘dialogue’ on MWRRA and IRBM, the

conference was planned with a focus on parallel thematic sessions, which enabled each participant to

contribute to the discussions. Plenary’s were limited to the inaugural session and concluding session.



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Each thematic session dealt with different facets of Integrated River Basin Management and discussion

centered around the implications of the MWRRA Act on the selected themes and the way in which they

would affect the implementation of this act.

An expert in the respective field chaired each session; the Initiator presented current status and led

the discussions forward.

A brief outline and introduction was prepared for all the sessions so as to introduce the participants to

the themes and help keep the discussions on track.

Day I

Themes for discussions were as follows:

A) Water Laws in India: Implications for Statutory and community-based river basin

management initiatives

Chairman: Dr. Madhavrao Chitale, An internationally acclaimed expert in water resources.

Co Chair: Shri. Ajit Nimbalkar, Chairperson, MWRRA

Initiator: Shri. Bhavanishanker Benkipur, Sahaoyoga, Bangalore

Rapporteur: Shri. C.T. Pandit, Yashawantrao Chavan Pratishthan



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B) Resolving water conflicts in river basin management

Chairperson: Shri. Janakarajan, Madras Institute for Development Studies, Madras.

Initiator: Dr. K.J. Joy, Soppecom, Pune.

Rapporteur: Shri. Sudhir Bhogale, WALMI Aurangabad.

C) Managing Floods through IRBM

Chairperson: Dr. S. Bhingare, Ex Director, WALMI.

Initiator: Shri. R.S. Gaikwad, Engineer and expert in Flood Zone Mapping.

Rapporteur: Vinod Bodhankar, Jal Dindi Pune.

Day II

D) Ground water Management in IRBM

Chairperson: Dr. Mukundrao Ghare, AFARM

Initiator: Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, AQWADAM, Pune.

Rapporteur: Dr. Shashank Deshpande, GSDA, Pune.

E) Allocating Water for Nature through IRBM

Chairperson: Dr. Prakash Gole, Ecological Society, Pune.

Initiator: Ms. Parineeta Dandekar, Gomukh Trust.

Rapporteur: Mr. Pramod Pokharkar Gomukh Trust.

F) Urban Issues in River Basin Management

Chairperson: Shri. Vivek Kharwadkar, Pune Municipal Corporation.

Initiator: Shri. Vishwanath, Arghyam, Bangalore.

Rapporteur: Vinod Bodhankar, Jal Dindi, Pune.

Program of the conference:

The program was finalized after a number of internal meetings. The main aim was to have a

program, which fulfilled the stated objectives of the process as well which could provide a platform for

all the participants to voice their opinions. The final program is attached as annexure.



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Day I: 10th April 2007

Proceedings of the conference;

Inaugural Session:

After Deep Prajwalan, Prof. Paranjpye introduced Shri. Nimbalkar, IAS, and a Senior Executive

officer in the State Government of Maharashtra. He retired as Chief Secretary of Government of

Maharashtra in 2004, and has headed the Maharashtra Electricity Regulation Commission. He has been

the Chairperson of MWRRA since August 2005.

Shri. Ajit Nimbalkar:

He initiated the

address by thanking Gomukh

and Arghyam for organizing a

conference on MWRRA and

inviting him to inaugurate. He

added that though he had a

good administrative

experience, he had never

dealt directly with water. But

water, is an all-encompassing

subject and hence he has

been in touch with water in

the positions that he has held. He acknowledged the presence of experts on the dais as well as in the

audience. He elaborated on the rationale of the Authority and some of its functioning aspects.

The inaugural address is presented below verbatim.

“Maharashtra is the first state to pass the MWRRA Act and forming the Authority. What was

the reason? This was piloted by the Water Resources Department. Almost 80% of available water in

Maharashtra is used for irrigation; therefore water as a subject, was always handled by the Irrigation

Department. This embraced all aspects of water management from planning, tariffs, etc, but water is

not a subject limited to Irrigation Department. Though with evolution of several other departments,

Water Resource Department continued to be the parent department. Irrigation and Power

departments received the bulk of budgetary allocations. Together, Irrigation and power constituted

more than 50% of the budgetary allocations. Despite spending Rs. 40,000 Crores in Maharashtra, and

the creation of surface irrigation of about 4 million hectares there were many short comings in the

process and management e.g. large demand, political pressures, thrust was on initiating too many



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projects and not on completing them, low water use efficiency, tariffs were not according to water use

etc.

The main problem was a lack of coordination at the field level. It was felt that the Irrigation

Department was forcing its policies of water tariffs on to other departments like Industries.

Unsustainable use, pollution of water was a major problem, and people’s participation was largely non-

existent, or was rather limited only up to consultation. But the world over, things were changing and

therefore, there was a feeling that even in Maharashtra, participation should be encouraged and

government should take the role of a facilitator. The present Chief minister felt that in order to have

more efficient systems, entire management and distribution should be revamped. He felt encouraged

from the outcomes of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission.

He mooted the idea of a separate authority, independent of political pressure, which was

taken up later by the World Bank. This came hand in hand with the efforts to establish Water Users

Association (WUA). A total of 554 WUA’s were in operation even before the promulgation of

Maharashtra Planning of Irrigation by Farmers Act (MMIFS Act).

Shri. Nimbalkar then explained the organizational structure of the MWWR Authority. He

explained that the main function of the Authority was to manage water use entitlements, fixing water

tariffs for different users, coordinate work on IRBM plans for the State and river basins and that the

Authority will play a role of a watchdog to see whether the basin plans are in keeping with the

integrated State Water Plan.

It has emerged from several meetings that groundwater also has to be an integral part of the

water management process. This will mean several amendments in the MWRRA Act, which would be

done simultaneously. One more important aspect that needs to be studied in details is water tariffs in

urban areas, at the same time, thrust has to be on effluent treatment and improving the water quality.

The Authority has special responsibilities in Vidarbha and Marathwada to ensure that the Maharashtra

State Governor’s Directive regarding regional imbalance are followed.

He then explained the process of basin planning. He accepted that no one has any experience

in formulating these plan. Hence, a technical manual has been prepared by the MWRRA for guiding the

River Basin Agencies (RBA) in preparing the River Basin Plans (RBPs). It is expected that the river

basin plans and the ISWP will hold for a period of 20-25 years and they will be reviewed after every

five years.

The primary data collection will be an important prerequisite for formulating the RBPs, and the

Plan should look at the present level of development and the balance available for future

developments, should cover status of water quality and action plan for preservation of water quality.

The plan will consist of nearly 23 chapters dealing with various issues. There will be a short term and a



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long-term plan. A Draft plan will be given wide publicity through media and feedback from various

stakeholders will be taken and then this plan will be finalized.

Generally government departments are not willing to share power, but this will be done

through the MWRRA. Only time and experience will decide how successful we will be. The role of this

authority is not only ‘regulatory’ but also that of guiding and promoting the process. I hope that in the

coming months, we will be successful in initiating the process. Today’s conference will also go a long

way and all the experts, present here, will be with us in the process and we will seek your guidance”.

Prof. Paranjpye thanked Shri. Nimbalkar and introduced the next speaker, Shri. Suresh Sodal.

Shri. Sodal has retired as the Secretary of the Irrigation Department. He has played a major role in

water sector reforms in Maharashtra starting from regular publication of Irrigation Status Reports,

publishing Water Audits, Benchmarking studies of Irrigation projects. He has received the Shanti

Mohan Yadav Award recognizing his desire to share information, and his initiative in making all such

data available to the public.

Shri. Sodal:

He initiated his speech by

thanking Gomukh and Arghyam for

organizing a conference on a subject of

Water Policy, a subject that is

neglected quite often. He said that such

neglect had led to non-involvement of

users, causing major problems. Taking

a note of these problems the Govt. of

Maharashtra has made an effort to

solve these to meet challenges of the

21st Century. His presentation mainly focused on the role of MWRRA, process of preparing and

monitoring river basin planning and people’s participation in the process.

The presentation started with the objectives and functions of the MWRRA Authority,

Objectives:

• Establish an institutional framework.

• Regulate water resources within the State.

• Facilitate & ensure judicious, equitable & sustainable management, allocation & utilization of

water resources.



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• Fix rates for use of water for agriculture, industrial, drinking & other purposes.

Functions:

• To determine, regulate and enforce the distribution of entitlement for various categories of the

users.

• The distribution of entitlement within each category

• To determine & regulate seasonal / annual water entitlements during scarcity.

• To establish water tariff system for various categories of water uses for stable & self-

sustainable management of service delivery.

• To regulate water resource projects.

• To ensure development as per Integrated State Water Plan (ISWP),

• Economic, hydrological & environmental viability

• Statutory & other obligations for inter-state entitlements.

• To facilitate protection of water quality and its preservation.

• To promote ‘sound’ water conservation practices.

• To function as Appellate Authority for Dispute Resolution.

Special Powers of Authority for Removal of Backlog in appointments (Section 21 of Act).

The Authority has special responsibility in regards to districts & regions affected by backlog in

appointing personnel in the Irrigation Sector as per Governor's Directives. Out of total sanctioned post

41 (Regular – 21, Contract – 20), only 22 posts are filled so far.

Salient features:

Mr Sodal then explained the salient features and structure of this Authority and underlined the

importance of stakeholders in the process. Main functions of the authority are entitlements; water

tariffs and river basin planning, where as remaking the plans are additional functions.

He added that the Government has decided to test the Act on pilot basis for selected projects and the

concept of entitlements has been introduced in six projects for two years viz Kukadi (major project),

Ghod (major project), Mangi (medium project), Wafgaon (minor project), Diwale & Benikre.

The Authority has prepared a manual on deciding the entitlements for Irrigation, Industrial and

drinking water sector.

From fifth year onwards, entitlements will be up-scaled for the entire state.

Water Tariffs:

Users will be involved in preparing tariff plans. In the year 2007, the Authority will decide tariffs for

the next year the irrigation department. A Draft Base Paper has been prepared based on international

best practices.

Manual:



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Draft Operation and Maintenance manual has been prepared and will be published in March 2008 and

it will decide the exact number of staff required for asset management.

Integrated State Water Plan:

Technical manual for State Water Plan has been prepared and will be published next month. This will

be circulated to the participants for amendments.

Contents of River Basin Plan:

• Development plan for entire basin.

• Management plan for completed projects.

• Watershed management plan (for portions other than command).

• Water quality management plan.

• Flood management plan.

• Action Plan (to be included later) forecasting the demand for water in the next 20 years.

Many provisions have been made in the rules of the Act and the technical manuals. Though the

preamble of the MWRRA states that it will regulate surface as well as sub surface water, groundwater

act did not come in time with the MWRRA, therefore, Ground Water Development and Management

Act has been prepared in consultation with WRD, involving GSDA. Draft Bill, that was limited for

drinking water, will be expanded. Thus, MWRRA will also function, as State Groundwater Regulatory

Authority and MWRRA Act will be amended accordingly. Draft amendments have been sent to

Government Of Maharashtra for approval.

After the 1990s, growth in the agriculture sector has been negative. There are many factors

responsible for this, mainly the Irrigation sector. According to him an integrated approach to basin

management will help to revive the agriculture sector also. He further explained the process of framing

the State Water Policy (2002) with the view of equity and sustainability in mind. He explained the

various institutional, legal and policy reforms. He concluded his address by presenting the draft new

logo of MWRRA.



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Prof. Paranjpye thanked Shri. Sodal for his presentation and for making “people’s participation”

it’s central theme. He stressed the importance of concentrating on the non-irrigational uses of water,

as they form a major part of the revenue generated.

He then introduced Dr. Madhav Chitale and said that Dr Chitale has been working in water

management since 1956 and has served the Government of Maharashtra till 1992. Dr Chitale is also

the Chairman of ICID (International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage). And he was awarded the

prestigious “Stockholm Water Prize”.

Dr Chitale:

Dr Chitale expressed his

pleasure that the tone of the two-day

conference is set through expert

presentations. He said that a

multipurpose approach to

development and management of a

river valley has not been new to India.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar framed the

Damodar Valley Development and

Regulation Act with this vision. This

was a Parliamentary Act, but somehow, we could not realize it. Why was the success partial? This

analysis can be a good starting point in assessing the MWRRA. Another document which needs

attention is the Indus Treaty: Report on Krishna Godavari Commission, released in 1962 by

Dr.N.D.Gulati .He was a negotiator with Pakistan at that time.

In the water sector, fortunately we have many well-written documents, but the problem is

translating them into action. One of the points highlighted by the Krishna-Godavari Commission was

the complete change in the cropping pattern in these two valleys. The Kaveri Award has taken some

bold steps in this direction and has changed the irrigation year from 1st of June to 31st of January. No

irrigation should take place from man-made storages later than 31st of Jan. This has been given a

legal status through the Kaveri Award. Thus our irrigation season now has been confined from June to

the end of January. A major change in cropping pattern will be the main reform in the agriculture

sector, which will have to keep pace with water sector reforms.

The third set of documents is the awards of different water tribunals, starting from the Krishna

Tribunal. One of the ticklish issues was the variability in availability of water. Management of variability

has not been addressed in many river basins for example, in Krishna river basin,

Documents

Negotiated Approaches to Integrated River Basin ... Approaches to Integrated River Basin Management Conference Report 10 th and 11 th of April 2007. 3 1. At the river basin / sub-basin,