It appears from the O Heraldo news report (March 14, 2023) that Mhadei River utilisation is permitted by taking into consideration the environmental flow in accordance with “Standard Terms of Reference for Environmental Impact Assessment or Environmental Management Plan Report for Projects or Activities Requiring Environmental Clearance under EIA Notification 2006 “of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change published in April 2015.
According to the above referred publication (refer page 48 of 254), environmental flow release should be 20% of the average of the 4 lean months of 90% dependable year during the lean season and 30% of Monsoon flow during monsoon season.
One of the urgent target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-6 was to protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes. The protection of the water-related ecosystems including coastal wetlands such as age-old mangroves and salt marshes, inland wetlands & upland forests is critical for implementing nature-based solutions for mitigating disaster risks.
Are we first deliberately destroying the water-related ecosystems along the banks of the ecologically sensitive rivers and at other locations? Are we then attempting to define e -flows through water policies for allowing rapid urbanisation linked to the housing and industrial projects for waste water disposal and for creating water stress areas due to unplanned urbanisation?
Vast areas of agricultural lands, the traditional irrigation systems and other physical infrastructure are being destroyed or damaged during floods due to unsustainable changes to land-use plans, improper management of construction debris and degradation of water-related ecosystems.
Can we blame climate change for such man-made disasters?
Massive flooding has been caused in recent years damaging roads, bridges, farmlands and settlement areas due to the release of water from upstream reservoirs, unplanned river diversion & over topping of the river banks. These man-made flooding disasters are due to inadequate storage capacities of reservoirs, related to sedimentation, unsustainable land-use development plans and environmental degradation.
The water storage planning issues such as prevention of sedimentation through protection of land-use plans of upstream catchment areas, restoration of the command area land-use plans for agriculture development and domestic water supply betterment areas (considering sustainable population growth rates for planned water demands) should get top priority in formulating sustainable water use management, command area development and agriculture policies. Based on such policies linked to sustainable land-use planning, site-specific stream and river protection action plans should be prepared and implemented for achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goals for Welfare and Harmony.
