WATER SECURITY or WATER STEWARDSHIP

I have been part of the water security discussions and may be one of the accused of taking the vocabulary to the villages without really understanding it.

Water is a fugitive resource and it flows both on the surface as well as in the aquifer. Therefore, there is really a tension in the use of the term – it is a difficult term as it is inherently relative and is shaped by rainfall variability and seasonality, groundwater availability and recharge (aquifers), storage (tanks, ponds, anicuts), slope, soils, and land use, crop choices and livelihood need, and dependent population and equity of access.

When we say “water-secure village”—especially under Localised SDGs— sounds like the issue of water security is solved or achieved and thereby unintentionally risk creating the illusion of permanence.

In my understanding, when we talk about water, it is about living in bounds, there is a limit to water conservation/ storage naturally, therefore after a certain point of time, it no longer remains a supply issue – it becomes an issue of managing demands – which is about behaviourial change, it is about governance!

This, therefore, brings forth uncomfortable questions, like -

1. What does “enough” mean for domestic use vs livelihoods mean?
2. Who uses how much water—and for what? Should everyone get equal water?
3. Which crops are we growing? Which crop are we shifting to?
4. Are upstream actions harming downstream users?
5. How much water does the ecosystems need? How do we budget for the same?

This is where the role of institutions and governance comes in. This is the least attended to or discussed area programmatically. Water security may mean different things for different people—women, farmers, brick kiln owners, livestock owners, pastoralists, etc. This is the role that institutions need to play – is to understand varied needs, to balance demands, to allocate or restrict, and bring optimal use of resources equitably.

When it comes to water security, I have learnt, institutions matter more than infrastructure because they define rules of access, norms of use, enable enforcement (formal or social), evolve conflict resolution mechanisms.

With governance - water security gets defined as WATER STEWARDSHIP - the focus shifts from emphasis on supply to collective restraint and coordination – by regulating demand, prioritising uses, protecting recharge zones and sharing scarcity.

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The evolution & typology of rules have been evolved with support from Bryan Bruns and engagement with communities across locations. Several participatory tools have helped in engaging with governance of water. Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Thomas Falk and colleagues from Foundation For Ecological Security (FES)