SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT IN HILL TOWNS – A CASE OF DHARAMSHALA, HIMACHAL PRADESH.

Abstract

Water is the most precious resource on earth for survival, which is limited. Water is not only essential for life but is considered as life. “Water is the lifeblood of the planet” (Ifabiyi and Ashaolu, 2013). In recent decades’ cities have been growing rapidly. This growth includes additional basic infrastructures such as buildings, roads, waste, and emissions, in addition to the population. Growing urbanization and built-up development result in higher runoff due to impermeable surfaces and reduced groundwater recharge, contributing to water shortages, resulting in the declining water table of any hill-town and aggravating urban water issues. While planning for any hill-town development, consideration for water catchment areas will necessarily help in improving water-related problems. The systems/ processes referred here can be implemented at the city scale or at the neighborhood level to fulfill the water requirements of any hill-town. It is evident from the trend of worldwide water distribution that just 0.5% is available for human use out of the overall water generated. But even this is being contaminated today in the accelerated rate of growth due to human activities such as manufacturing, industrialization, and so on, which has generated a severe scarcity of potable water. Since the water resources are limited, we should focus on alternate resources as well as managing the current blue assets. Urban water applies to any water that occurs in the urban area, including natural surface water and groundwater, potable water, sewage, and other 'waste' waters, stormwater, and flood systems. Sustainable water management becomes more important, considering population growth and climate change. Now towns got more urbanized; more than 55% of the world’s population lives in cities, which were 30% in 1950 and projected to be 68% in 2050 (United Nations, 2018). Urbanization intensely alters the natural resources leading to water scarcity (Boulos, 2017). More than 40% of the world’s population affected by water scarcity, and if the same scenario will continue, then one in four people affected by water shortage by 2050 (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2015). Water is not only essential for life but also important from a social and economic point of view (Lausier and Jain, 2019; Shrivastava and Sarkar, 2016; UNESCO, 2017). According to NITI Aayog, by 2030, approximately 40% of Indians will be unable to access drinking water.

This study is an attempt to address the water management issues and concerns, along with suitable approaches and strategies for hilltowns. The study has been formulated in three stages; first being the identification of sustainable water management approaches and models, second being the critical appraisal of water management in the study area, Dharamshala Himachal Pradesh. The third stage deals with the analysis of alternative water management scenarios for Dharamshala Hilltown while determining the most appropriate solution for sustainable urban water management (SUWM). The Research process initiated with the need identification and understanding of the contextual water management System. Literature review and case studies are used to identify sustainable approaches for urban water management. A comprehensive literature review is focused on the water management cycle, water management approaches, and scenario development. The water management cycle has been studied under the main categories as the source, water treatment, water distribution, usage, and wastewater management. Under these main categories, various subcategories have also been studied to formulate sustainable approaches. Among available various urban management approaches, the sustainable approaches which are more contemporary have been discussed in this research work. These management approaches are namely: Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM); Sustainable Water Management (SWM); Total Water Management (TWM); Water Demand Management (WDM); Least Cost Planning (LCP); Urban Water Management (UWM); Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM); Low Impact Development (LID), and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD). The understanding of various urban management approaches reveals that at present integrated urban water management at the city level and sustainable water management at the regional level addresses various areas of concern to a higher level. However, there is a need to integrate both the management system approaches for sustainable urban water management policies. These approaches are broad in nature and less contextual. For hill areas, there is no specific approach for water management. Various sustainable scenarios have also been studied for the implementation of SUWM. These scenarios can broadly be classified as Business As Usual (BAU), Demand Reduction (DR), Rain Water Harvesting (RWH), Wastewater (WW) Recycling, Reviving Traditional Water Resources (TWR) and Stormwater management. The analysis of these scenarios as individual and coupled is based upon the implementation strategies percentage ranging from 100% to 25%. Literature reveals that most of the water management scenarios are generic in nature, and the II contextual scenarios are limited. In the present research, coupled scenarios for the SUWM approach have been identified for optimal solutions in hilltowns. The best water management practices (BMPs) have been studied, Globally, Nationally, and Locally, pertaining to sustainable urban water management. To know the global trend, a case study based approach has been applied. In that regard, Case1- Singapore, Case 2- Cape town, Case 3- Phenom Penh have been studied, and practices for SUWM have been highlighted. For the national level case study, the city Nagpur in the Maharashtra state of India has been considered for the implementation of a 24X7 water supply. A case example of hilltown Lavasa water management has been added as it is contextual and relevant for the present research. Since the study area falls under hill region, hilltown Shimla has been taken as a base case for a primary case study to know the challenges and issues. All cases have been studied by keeping in mind the whole water circle regarding the sustainability of water resources, collection/ treatment, distribution, usage, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment, including the institutional governance. From the case studies, it's clear that despite having enough water availability, many cities are facing a crisis due to poor water management. Smart water grid (SWG), community participation, good governance, improvement in water services, and revival of traditional water resources are the key outcomes of these case studies. Implementation of coupled or hybrid scenarios has shown an edge over the individual approaches and scenarios. The next stage is to deal with the critical appraisal of water management in the study area, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. Appraisal of the area is incorporated by extracting the information from various maps like land use/ land cover, drainage pattern map, topographical map, figure-ground map, and climatic maps. The allocation of water resources with respect to residents has also been identified. The water supply network and water management of the Dharamshala urban area have been analyzed by zone-wise mapping. Rainfall Trend Analysis by using the Mann- Kendall test for getting the information regarding the possible variability in the availability of water resources study has been conducted. The rainfall pattern in Dharamshala Kangra indicates a decreasing trend during the study period, especially in pre-monsoon, monsoon, and winter. Various parameters and indicators are identified in Dharamshala, relevant to urban water management challenges. This section helped in understanding the urban water management aspect in Dharamshala. The water management cycle for the Dharamshala is explored using numerical methods, Key Informant Interviews (KII), secondary data, and primary survey. Since the freshwater resources in Dharamshala are limited, additional sources of water in the form of III reclaimed water (RWH, TSW, DR, and WW recycling) are identified to fulfill the current and future needs. For the SUWM, the coupled/ hybrid scenarios are the urgent necessity in the hill town of Dharamshala. After evaluating the household (HH) survey and institutional survey or KII, problems and issues related to urban water management sustainability in Dharamshala are extracted, and people's perception of readiness to make the necessary meaningful changes is exhibited. The last stage deals with the analysis of alternative water management scenarios for Dharamshala hilltown while determining the most appropriate solution for sustainable urban water management (SUWM). Different scenarios are designed based on water demand and water reduction/ saving in a million liters per day (MLD), and a million liters per yearly (MLY) basis. Six key scenarios and twenty-six sub-scenarios have been developed to determine the efficiency and implimentability of the strategies for SUWM scenarios. Parameters and indicators are identified from the survey analysis/literature review/ case studies, and based on that individual, and coupled scenario or hybrid scenarios have been generated to achieve sustainable water management systems in Hill-towns. Four basic individual scenarios (1.DR. 2.RWH, 3.WW, 4. TSW) has been considered for creating coupled scenarios (CS). Generation of scenario-based alternative strategic interventions for sustainable urban water management in Dharamshala, by using Coupled Scenarios (CS) for current (2011) and future (2035) sustainable growth with their implementation rates of 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% for the practical application in the study area have been analyzed for optimal solutions. The results indicate that the scenario CS2@9.63 MLD is an appropriate solution with the current residential and floating population. For achieving SUWM in Dharamshala in the future (2035), the scenario CS4@25.25 MLD with a 100% implementation rate is applicable. As we can expect a change in population growth rate and improvement in technology, CS4@25.25 MLD with a 75% implementation rate may also act as an optimal solution for SUWM in Dharamshala. The inferences suggest that wastewater recycling and rainwater harvesting, decentralized water management systems, reuse of treated wastewater, and water-efficient devices are the key areas for sustainable water management approach for Dharamshala. As there is a need to have a contextual scenario, four varied coupled scenarios under the SUWM approach have been extracted from the research, which can be implemented in hilltowns based upon the combinations of permanent and floating population.