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Punjab is in the grip of a severe water crisis and may face the shortage of this precious natural resource in coming years. Due to the excessive use of groundwater, 103 blocks out of total138 are over exploited and 93 of them have been declared ‘dark’ and another 13 gray. Only 31 blocks are white, where the groundwater situation is comfortable.

According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), the annual water recharge is in Punjab is 23.78 billion cubic meters (bcm) and the net water availability is 21.4 bcm. The withdrawal, on the other hand, is 31.16 bcm annually, which is 145 per cent of the availability, causing fast decline in or the water table, which has been falling at the rate of 25 to 30 cm per annum for the last two decades. In 1973, the area where the water level was below 10m stood at mere 3 per cent. Now, it is estimated to be more than 75 per cent.

 The World Watch Institute has cautioned that if the water is hauled at this rate, the whole groundwater in Punjab shall be finished by 2025. The only comfortable areas, where the water level is not much lower, happens to be in the vicinity of rivers or in those districts where the canal irrigation ad network exists for agricultural purposes.

The canal system, which irrigates nearly one-third of the total area in Punjab, is highly skewed and 87 per cent of its catering is just in five districts of Amritsar, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Bhatinda and Mukatsar. Further, more the area under the canal irrigation is also declining every year because of decreasing carrying capacity of  canals and lesser water coming from the rivers of Sutlej, Beas and Ravi.

In 1970-71, the area under canal irrigation was 12.861akh hectares, which rose to 16.6 as lakh hectares in 1990-91, but fell to 9.62 lakh hectares in 2000-01. At present, 11.01 lakh hectares are under canal irrigation, which is around 36 per cent of the total irrigated area in the state. The water availability from the three rivers has also fallen from 17.17 million acre feet (MAF) two decades ago to around 14 MAF today.

The inability of canals to meet the irrigation needs of the state has led to the increase in the number of tube wells, which have led the state to the present crisis. In 1970-71, there were 1.92 lakh tube wells, of which 1.011akh were running on diesel while 91,000 were running on electricity. This number trebled to six lakh in 1980-81 and touched eight 1akh in 1990-91. At present the number of tube wells is 12.581akh, of which 9.71akh are running on electricity while 2.88 lakh are running on diesel. Thus, in a period of three and a half decades, the number of tube wells increased by six times and three-fourth of them are being run on electricity, which led to the higher power consumption in the agriculture sector. This increase in number of tube wells along with deepening water level aggravated the power crisis as more power is needed to draw same amount of water from the deeper water level.

According to Dr S. S. Johl’s report on crop diversification, beyond the water level of 5m, every subsequent fall of 5m in water table needs double amount of electric power to draw the same amount of water. Thus, about two decades ago, the water a 3hp electric motor was drawing is now arranged from deeper levels by 12 hp or of higher power motor, leading to four times increase in power consumption.

Based on supply to the agriculture sector, yearly per tube well power consumption, which stood 2,417 units in 1970, rose to 6,533 units in 1980 and to 8,506 units in 1990. It further went up to 6,970 units in 2000 and 7,092 units in 2005. Thus, the falling water level led to increase in power consumption by 2.5 to 3 times in the agriculture sector in the state.

The climatic changes and consequent decline in rainfall further added to the water woes of the state in form of inadequate recharging of groundwater. The annual rainfall, which was 672.3 mm in 1970 and rose to 754.6 mm in 1990, has since been falling rapidly and nearly halved to 391.9 mm in 2000. In the new millennium, it has t remained below the mark of 400 mm and stood at 375.5mm in 2004.

 The combined effect of squeezing canal irrigation, deepening, water table and deficient rainfall put pressure on the Punjab State Electricity Board, as more power is now needed to pull water for agricultural use. The PSEB, seemingly caught unaware, has added a very little to the generation capacity in the last decade and a half.

Contrarily, its connected load stood at 21,078 MW on March 31, 2007, three and a half times to its installed capacity and applications for additional load of 1,635 MW are pending.

The twin crisis of water and power calls for immediate attention as both are critical to the agro-based state economy and some drastic steps need to be taken to set the things in order.

The state has a wide network of tributaries and sem-nalas, which were dug in the early 60s to solve the problem of water logging. The same now can be used for recharging the groundwater by cleansing them properly and releasing fresh water in them from canals. The cleansing of Kali Bein in the Doaba region by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal has led to a dramatic rise in water table and the same magic can be made to happen in the whole state. The rainwater harvesting from rooftops also needs to be made compulsory by enacting a suitable law, which many states in India have already done.

The canal irrigation system, which is very old and is not in a position to carry the full water according to capacity, needs to be remodeled. By doing so, the capacity of canal irrigation can go up by another 30 per cent according to reliable estimates.

The proposed spending of Rs 4,000 crore by the present government can do wonders if spent properly. For controlling the over exploitation of ground water, the crops like paddy need to be discouraged in critical areas and sowing of alternative crops should be induced for few years.

Improvement in climatic conditions is also important for which the burning of crop residues in the fields needs to be banned and the area under forest cover has to be upped by taking some drastic steps like encouraging agro-forestry. The PSEB also needs to pull up socks and add to its capacity.

The announcements for enhancing the installed capacity by 9,000 MW in three and a half years by the government is a welcome step in this direction and it needs to be done in the minimum of time frame.

All these combined efforts can find a sustainable and long-term solution to the water and power crisis of Punjab, which hold the key to the economic and social prosperity of the state.