Community-driven decentralisation of water management is the only solution for water security and appropriate availability of water for everybody, said Mr. Rajendra Singh, Founder, Tarun Bharat Sangh at the “International Conference on India’s Water Economy: Law and Sustainable Development” organised by the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Society of Indian Law Firms and the Ministry of Water Resources here on Saturday. Communities should be given responsibility of water management along with the rights for water conservation and utilisation, Mr.Singh said.

Citing the example of successful Arvari river project, he said that village councils were constituted with the specific purpose of rejuvenating Arvari River and protection of forests using historical and traditional practices.

Major water quality issues in India are pathogens, salinity and toxicity, and 90% of the water pollution is through domestic sewage and industrial effluents, said Dr. B Sengupta, Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board. He mentioned that India has 1019 water monitoring stations in 27 states and six union territories with a target of having 2000 stations in the 11^th Plan. Dr. Sengupta recommended that decentralised waste water treatment facility and linking of rivers for optimum utilisation of water resources should be promoted by the government. He emphasised the use of treated water for irrigation and maintenance of minimum flow of water in river to achieve the desired water quality. He said that quality of water at the intake points of water works to be strictly maintained as per CPCB guidelines.

Dr. Sejal Worah, Programme Director, WWF, said that two of the top 10 rivers at risk in the world are from India and water issues can lead to socio-economic and environmental conflicts. Presenting the importance of “environmental flow” of water resource, Dr. Worah said that “environmental needs” of water are recognised globally, and environmental water allocations have already been introduced in some countries. She said that environmental flows are usually a compromise between water for development and water for nature.

Dr. Worah mentioned that the environmental flow of water is not about the amount of water, but how the water flows in the river, and it depends on hydrology and ecology of a particular river. Fresh water ecosystems provide a range of services for humans including fish, flood protection and navigation, said Dr. Worah. She added that National Water Policy (2002) gives ‘ecology’ fourth priority for water allocation, and this is a positive step towards water management and environmental flow.

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