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| Water Wants: A History of India's Dams |
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Two especially controversial examples are: Tehri, an 855-foot-high dam, the world's fourth largest, that sits on the edge of the Central Himalayan Gap, one of the earth's most tremulous seismic fault lines; and the massive Sardar Sarovar, which has already displaced tens of thousands of people in a drive for improved irrigation, flood control, and water supplies in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. Dam critics say the real beneficiaries are wealthy and powerful sugar refiners, who have been granted licenses to build 10 factories at the head of the main canal.
Yet, India, desperate for water, continues to build. The International Food Policy Research Institute recently predicted that rapid population growth will more than double South Asia's food requirements in the next 25 years. More food means more water and, by 2025, India's demand for water is expected to double as well. There are already chronic water shortages in Indian cities like Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai, and groundwater levels are falling in many places around the country. Water conflicts have become persistent between Indian states and even between India and Bangladesh, sparking concerns that India's water resources not be used carelessly.
Some of India's most effective work with water is on a small scale and closely linked with her past. In a place where rain is concentrated in seasonal monsoons, storage remains vital. Every Indian town once possessed one or more water tanks that captured and held monsoon water or step wells that provided access to water kept deep underground where it would not evaporate. Scores of non-governmental organizations are helping people refurbish ruined tanks, to harvest rainwater, recharge wells, and restore degraded watersheds. This "silent revolution" has helped restore water sources to thousands of villages and towns across the country.
And not just in the countryside. New Delhi's presidential palace now features a rainwater harvesting system and new government buildings are required to use similar technology.
Still, the enthusiasm for mega-water projects shows no signs of slacking. Current debate rages over what may be the world's largest and most ambitious water project, a scheme meant to remake India's hydrological map (and, in the process, correct India's cycle of flood and drought) by taking water from 14 northern rivers and pumping it to 17 southern rivers in a $200 billion network of canals and reservoirs that would sprawl a thousand miles, and displace millions of people.
Whether India will continue to think big or opt for more localized solutions remains in question. No single solution will solve all of India's water problems. Those dilemmas will require all of its attention and the knowledgeable involvement of its scientists, politicians, engineers, and ordinary citizens as the country faces the burgeoning population pressures of the 21st century.
Diane Raines Ward is a New York-based journalist whose work has appeared in NEWSWEEK, SMITHSONIAN Magazine, CONOISSEUR, and INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE. She is the author of "Water Wars" (Riverhead Books, 2002), an overview of big dam projects around the globe and the politics of international water disputes. She first started covering dam controversies in the late 1980s with a story for SMITHSONIAN Magazine on Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Project.
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What future for dam-affected villagers?
The Narmada Valley's Hapeshwar temple, now submerged.
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