Friday, February 1, 2008

Draft ESR framework - Water

Pune and the Status of Water

Scope

River basin and water regime in which Pune is located
- Rivers and streams flowing through Pune and reservoirs on these
- Groundwater

Pune city uses surface and ground water, and in the process impacts the physical integrity of the resource, consumes energy and returns water of a certain quality and quantity back to the water regime. The ESR attempts to assess the impact of the city on three aspects related to water:

  • Physical integrity of the water regimes (surface and ground) (local and regional impact)
  • Physical and chemical quality of the water resource (local and regional impact)
  • CO2 released to the atmosphere (global impact)

Why this is important to assess - Impacts on human health locally, regionally and globally

Policy and legislative framework

  • Land records (for ecosystem integrity) administered by District Collector
  • Water Act (for surface water quality) implemented by MPCB
  • Ground water Act (for ground water quantity and quality) administered by GSDA
  • BPMC Act (for municipal obligation to supply – linked to net consumption) by PMC
  • Irrigation agreement (for water returned to regime and net consumption) by Irrigation dept

Key drivers or factors influencing Water

  1. Population growth (for quantity abstracted)
  2. Tapping of groundwater for home and commercial uses (for quantity abstracted)
  3. Economic growth and pattern of economic activity (for quantity abstracted)
  4. Pattern of settlement (for physical integrity of both surface and ground water regimes)
  5. Amount of untreated or uncollected sewage and garbage (for quality)
  6. Industrial effluents (for quality)
  7. Technology used by PMC and private entities (for quality, quantity and energy efficiency)
  8. Fiscal instruments (their role as regulatory instruments)
  9. Extent of rain water harvesting (for quantity)

Status, Trends and Projections of Key Indicators

Primary indicators

  1. Physical status of rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers (including channel integrity and ecosystem base flows)
  2. Water quality in rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers
  3. Net consumption and where released (supposed to be in Mutha right bank canal as per Irrigation Dept and PMC agreement)
  4. Energy used for net consumption (municipal water supply, estimated spend in sump to overhead tank, bore well pumps) (yields global impact of CO2 related to water supply)

Secondary indicators (relate to social and economic aspects)

  1. Coverage of households - municipal supply, private (tankers, bore wells – nothing wrong with private supply except bore well difficult to regulate)
  2. Municipal spending
  3. Technology used

Key Issues and Concerns

Against above selected indicators

  1. Physical status of rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers channel integrity not maintained; no concept of ecosystem base flows; natural aquifer systems being dismantled and degraded due to construction, etc
  2. Water quality in rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers is being degraded; toxicity in rivers and reservoirs reaching levels that will affect animal and human health;
  3. Net consumption rising and where released (supposed to be in Mutha right bank canal as per agreement)
  4. Energy used for net consumption (municipal water supply, estimated spend in sump to overhead tank, bore well pumps) (yields global impact of CO2 related to water supply) - CO2 footprint rising (energy used by water sector)

Secondary indicators (relate to social and economic aspects)

  1. Coverage of households - municipal supply, private (tankers, bore wells – nothing wrong with private supply except bore well difficult to regulate)
  2. Municipal spending

Concerns related to information, regulatory authority, technology etc

  • Policy and legislation gaps and issues of coordination between multiple authorities
  • Data and information gaps
  • Financial gaps

Response

TBD

Recommendations

Primary

  • Physical integrity related
  • Quality related
  • Consumption related
  • CO2 / energy efficiency related

Secondary

  • Data collection systems related
  • Local policy related

Appendix: Data Sets Contributing to Water Indicators

Primary indicators

Physical status of rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers (including channel integrity and ecosystem base flows) and MPCB classification of River I, II, III, IV and A, B, C zones

Data needed
· Channel information
· Aquifer information
· Encroachment
· Base flows

Water quality in rivers, streams, reservoirs and aquifers
Data needed
BOD, COD, pH, turbidity measurements at appropriate locations and times
Proximate measures
- Waste water treatment
- Sewage not captured (informal settlement data)

Net consumption and where released (supposed to be in Mutha right bank canal as per Irrigation Dept and PMC agreement)
Data needed: Quantity measurements before and after (or use proximate measures – which ones?)

Energy used for net consumption (municipal water supply, estimated spend in sump to overhead tank, bore well pumps) (yields global impact of CO2 related to water supply)

Data needed
Municipal supply electricity units used and converted to CO2 equivalent
Number, type of sump and bore well and how long they run (alternatively MSEDCL records on domestic pumpsets – total units used and converted to CO2 equivalent)

Secondary indicators (relate to social and economic aspects)
Coverage of households - municipal supply, private (tankers, bore wells – nothing wrong with private supply except bore well difficult to regulate)