environement

Is the Uttarakhand Tragedy Tied to Rawat Govt’s Move to Reduce Water Flow from Hydro Projects?

In 2018, the Centre had fixed environmental flow of the Himalayan Ganga at 20-30%. However, the Rawat government asked this limit to be further reduced to avoid monetary losses.

The massive flash floods triggered by a snow avalanche in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district recently and the extensive damage that ensued were a tragic reminder of the 2013 Kedarnath disaster.

Questions are now being raised about why the Centre and the state government did not learn any lessons from previous calamities and allowed ‘development’ work to continue unabated in highly sensitive Himalayan zones. The cost of this is very high – the recent disaster claimed the lives of a large number of labourers.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat expressed solidarity with people and assured them that they are doing everything possible to solve the issue, these claims are contrary to the decisions taken by the government regarding the construction of hydropower projects on rivers and the regulated discharge of water.

Nearly two years ago, the Rawat government wrote a letter to the Centre stating that the rules regarding water discharge from these projects should be relaxed as the projects are incurring losses worth thousands of crores of rupees owing to it.

Also read: In Photos: The Broken Uttarakhand Glacier and Its Aftermath

Deciding on the quantum of e-flow

The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR) – now Ministry of Water Power – issued a notification in October 2018, according to which the environmental flow (E-flow) of the Himalayan Ganga was fixed at 20-30%. Meaning, it was made mandatory for all hydroelectricity projects situated on the upper streams of the Ganga to release 20-30% of water into the river at different times.

According to the definition of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), E-flow is the water provided within a river, wetland or coastal zone to maintain ecosystems and their benefits where there are competing water uses and where flows are regulated.

To put it simply, environmental flow is the minimum flow required to sustain a river. It refers to the minimum amount of water required for the health of the river and the livelihood of its aquatic organisms such as fish, crocodiles, dolphins, etc. The concept is internationally viable.

However, the Uttarakhand government opposed this provision issued by the Ministry of Water and asked this limit to be further reduced as otherwise the project would incur heavy monetary losses.

Aerial view shows washed away Tapovan hydel power project plant after Sundays glacier burst, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, Friday, February 12, 2021. Photo: PTI

Official documents obtained by The Wire reveal that the chief secretary of Uttarakhand had told the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) – a unit of the Ministry of Water Resources – that the current E-flow discharges will result in the projects in the state incurring losses of about Rs 3,500 crore.

In his letter dated January 4, 2019, the chief secretary had said, “E-flow discharges prescribed by the MoWR,RD&GR will lead to a loss of about 25%, making most of the projects unviable and incur revenue loss of approximately Rs 3,500 crore.”

Accordingly, the Uttarakhand government asked to review the quantum of E-flow in the notification or viability gap funding for the hydropower projects.

The Ministry of Water Resources released a policy paper on E-flow in February 2017, based on which E-flows were prescribed for the upper streams of the Ganga river (from Devprayag to Haridwar).

In the paper – written by Dr Sharad Jain, scientist (level ‘G’) of National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, along with professor A.K. Gosain of IIT Delhi and N.N. Rai, director of Central Water Commission (CWC) – it was recommended that the E-flow should be maintained at 20% between November and March, at 25% in April, May and October, at and 30% between June and September.

The group said that this amount of e-flow into the river would ‘fulfil the needs of the river’.

Avalanche after a glacier broke off in Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district causing a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. Photo: PTI

However, experts and environmental activists claimed that the prescribed E-flow is not adequate, and if the river is to be revived, then more water should be released from the hydroelectricity projects.

The Uttarakhand government, however, believed that the prescribed E-flow would be adequate.

The chief secretary said that the E-flow during monsoon season may be considered as 25% of the average discharge, while the Centre had prescribed 30% E-flow for this period. While the Centre had set the E-flow against the total flow in a month, the Uttarakhand government calculated it on the basis of four monsoon months cumulatively.

Similarly, it was recommended that during lean months, E-flow release may be 20% instead of 25%.

In addition, the chief secretary of the state also demanded that silt flows be considered as contributions to E-flow and additional releases be made as per local administration’s demands.

However, a major aspect of E-flow is that it should be continuous or uninterrupted.

The Uttarakhand government had also refused to implement the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order to ensure minimum E-flow of 15%.

According to a report of the parliament’s standing committee on energy released in January 2019, the Uttarakhand government said, “The Ministry of Water Resources has announced 20-30% E-flow, which is very high. If we implement the NGT order as well, then on the basis of previous capacity, we will incur an annual loss of Rs 120 crores, leave aside the required new capacity. As far as the latest order is concerned, it will completely destroy the hydroelectricity sector.”

He said that since these rules apply to the upper reaches of the Ganga, Uttarakhand will suffer the most damages.

The Uttarakhand government told the committee that they have undertaken construction projects of about 18,000 megawatt (MW) of hydroelectric projects in the state. Out of these, projects of 4,000 MW have been completed, projects of 1,640 MW are under construction and projects of 12,500 MW will be built in the coming years.

Also read: Absence of an Early Warning System Cost Many Lives at Joshimath

‘Deep concerns’

Environmental experts have expressed deep concern over the earlier projects and hold them responsible for the disasters. In such a situation, if construction work is undertaken for other projects as per the state government’s wishes, it is likely to pose a serious threat to the environment.

As articulated above, environmental flow is necessary for the health of the river and the livelihood of its aquatic organisms.

But the construction of hydroelectric projects on rivers affects the amount of water in the river. With e-flow, the uninterrupted flow of a river is ensured. The Union Ministry of Water Resources had even coined the slogan of ‘aviral se nirmal Ganga’ (‘Continuous Ganga is clean Ganga’) for it.

After a mushrooming of hydropower projects, there have been demands for ensuring adequate environmental flow in the rivers across India during the last few years. Between 2006 and 2018, at least 12 reports were prepared at various levels in this regard but a consensus could not be reached as experts had different opinions about the amount of e-flow.

In a previous analysis, The Wire had explained how the government did not accept the recommendation of a committee to increase E-flow in the river, even though then Union Minister Uma Bharti had approved it.

Also read: When It Comes to Ganga’s Health, the Centre Has Ignored Several Key Reports

Besides, the report on the basis of which the government has formulated these laws, does not assess any primary (new) data. Instead, it was recommended after analysing various earlier studies on E-flow.

In short, four reports for hydropower projects have recommended about 50% E-flow while three other reports have suggested maintaining the E-flow at 20-30%. The Ministry of Water Power considered only the latter worth implementing.

The notification of the government regarding E-flow issued in October 2018 was termed “inadequate” and challenged in the Uttarakhand high court.

Rescue operations underway near the Rishi Ganga Power Project, a day after a glacier broke off in Joshimath causing a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, Monday, February 8, 2021. Photo: PTI/Arun Sharma

What do the experts say?

Vinod Tare, a well-known environmental expert and convener of the seven IIT groups that have prepared the report on the E-flow of Ganga and other aspects, said the notification was issued based on the assessment of the CWC. “CWC has its own understanding, we do not agree with it. They have arbitrarily fixed this E-flow,” he said.

“They have changed the definition of E-flow,” he added. “According to them, the amount of water that can be discharged is considered E-flow, rather than the amount needed to sustain the river. Our approach should be how much E-flow we need, not how much E-flow we can maintain.”

“The reality is that we do not yet have enough data which can accurately tell how much e-flow should be there,” said Tare. “First, the government will have to notify the definition and methodology. Later, its volume will be calculated. They claim that even if what they did is little, it is better than nothing. But the fact is that it is all futile.”

In its report, the IIT group led by Tare recommended about 50% environmental flow for the upper reaches of the Ganga. In 2015, the findings of this report were approved by a three-member committee set up by the Ministry of Water Resources. They demanded the ministry to implement its recommendations. This report was also approved by the then Water Minister Uma Bharti.

However, the ministry did not implement it and after Uma Bharti’s departure, the government led by Nitin Gadkari announced the current E-flow on the basis of this report.

It is noteworthy that the methodology suggested in the February 2017 policy paper was similar to the one adopted in the report presented by the IIT group, but there was considerable difference in the recommended E-flow.

Vinod Tare says that although the devastating floods in Uttarakhand cannot be directly ascribed to a reduced E-flow, it plays a crucial role in determining the ecology as a whole.

Also read: In Uttarakhand Disaster, the Handiwork of Climate Change Is Unmistakable

However, Shashi Shekhar, former secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources and a member of the 2015 committee that recommended the E-flow, blames insufficient E-flow for the Chamoli tragedy.

He said, “We definitely view this tragedy as connected to E-flow. The Himalayas are the most recent mountains and they are still developing. Their soil and stones are extremely weak and loose. As a result, a lot of water seeps into the gaps between the stones and when the water melts, the ground sinks. The construction of tunnels in such a terrain renders the surface quite loose.”

“The presence of cracks in a glacier means that frequents blasts have rendered the mountains loose,” he said. “When the glacier slides back, it leaves behind stones, mud, etc. and it comes down all at once. It moves as a turbulence, destroying everything in its path. No hydraulic project should have a height exceeding one km.”

The former secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources said that while water is a complex subject, bureaucrats have limited knowledge. Hence, they are not eligible to take any decision in this regard. “First, there should be an ecologist, the rest should be included later,” he said.

Translated from the Hindi original by Naushin Rehman.

How An Environmental Biotechnologist is Turning Waste Into Wealth

With the help of a government grant, Vanita Prasad, a scientist-entrepreneur from Baroda, is developing an innovative solution to the mammoth problem of waste management in India.

Vanita Prasad. Credit: Aashima Dogra/TLoS

In the early 80s, the 12-year-old Vanita Prasad suffering from acute headaches was one of the few fortunate Indians to get a CT scan at AIIMS Delhi, a high-tech technology at that time. Prasad wanted to be a neurosurgeon from the day her brain was scanned. Years later, running out of luck needed to get into a medical school, she settled for biotechnology.

Since then, she has come leaps and bounds in research on environmental biotechnology. Her efforts and ideas can be the key to solving the riddle of waste management in India. Having been recently awarded the government-funded BIG (Biotechnology Ignition Grant) grant of Rs 35 lakh from the BIRAC DBT programme, the 45-year-old has now moved on from being a scientist to an entrepreneur.

With this generous grant came the 18-month-challenge of readying the product – a microbe cocktail recipe, ‘dry granulated sludge’ as she calls it, for mass production and commercialisation. “The BIG initiative is funding product-based research in the country, not basic research. It is there for making a proof-of-concept study, which one can patent and get ready for commercialisation.”

This will be her third patent. The first two process patents (a declaration of invention and ownership of a technological process rather than a product), were the result of her PhD work on waste management in vegetable markets and extracting hydrogen gas from this organic waste. All three technologies are set to be the shining stars in the portfolio of her startup, Revy Environment Solutions.

“Revy’s portfolio will be much bigger but the granulated sludge that I’m working on now will be the first product to come to the market.”

Prasad’s goal is to fulfill the country’s urgent need to put its waste to use, specifically convert it to energy. According to a report for Energy Next, currently, only 154 MW of energy in India is being generated from industrial and urban wastes in a year. The potential, however, is 4GW-6GW, which is enough to power two cities like Delhi.

“I want to make my technologies commercial. I have the proof-of-concept of them already. This is my dream,” she asserted.

Updating India’s bioreactor software

Prasad describes her company’s first marketable product – a dry granulated mixture of 56 carefully chosen microbe – as a “software update” of the existing, yet redundant, anaerobic bioreactors in the country. This ‘software’ is many steps ahead of the currently used ‘flocculant sludge’ or a colloidal mix of bacteria from cow dung and other sources.

“There are lots of waste treatment anaerobic plants that are not working optimally or not working at all,” she added. “Even if you have planned for 75% waste to be degraded by the microbes, only 45 or 50% do. Slowly it became a problem and that’s how these bioreactors started to fail. Naturally, in India, people don’t want to go ahead with this technology called UASB (Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket). If the UASB unit is not working, the whole Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) gets choked up. Now even environment consultants don’t want to incorporate it.”

Prasad, on the other hand, having studied and audited these waste treatment plants, felt this is the best technology. It works fine abroad, why not in India, she wondered.

She realised that the design of the bioreactors which many farming communities and industries own might be advanced, but they don’t have the advanced microbial culture to treat the waste efficiently. The hardware was fine but the software wasn’t so good.

Indian anaerobic digestion plants have also been suffering from an unmet dependency on foreign companies. “When I worked in Paramount Environment consultancy in Baroda, we got this technology from Biothane, a multinational corporation. Nowadays, bringing the right bacterial cultures across the borders is problematic, due to the threat of biological weapons. Lots of regulations make it difficult for these cultures to be brought in.”

Being an advocate of anaerobic digestion, this state of affairs bothers Prasad. But she has the solution. “Now I am producing this granulated sludge, which will be an indigenous product to be marketed after a year or so.”

The microbe doctor

Anaerobic digestion is hardly high-tech; it is a natural process that takes place spontaneously in landfills or wherever decomposition is happening. The techniques of biotechnology make this process go faster by employing specially designed bioreactors and cultures. As a byproduct of the decomposition, biogas or even hydrogen can be obtained to be used as fuel.

To get the best mixture of bacteria into the bioreactors, Prasad doesn’t perform any genetic engineering or modification of the bacterial DNA, although such ‘super-cultures’ are available in some parts of the world, she informed me. She is simply isolating microbes that can efficiently work on particular waste.

From her PhD research on the metabolism of the waste-decomposing microbes and their applications in industrial ETPs as an environment consultant, Prasad’s viewpoint is one of a doctor’s. “A doctor will look at your blood glucose level, your cholesterol levels and tell you what is wrong. There are some parameters that are the operating values for these reactors. If you provide me with the data from a reactor, just like a doctor I can give you a prescription for your choked bioreactor.”

“Basically when you have a complex biological material, any protein, carbohydrate, etc. in the wastewater, decomposition of these by microbes takes place in a long chain-like process.”

For example, in the dairy industry that Prasad has ample experience in, the ‘waste’ is the effluent left over from the production of milk products. It contains lactic acid, cheese, whey or other compounds made up of fat, carbs and proteins. The industry cannot just dump this waste somewhere – that would be polluting and illegal. For degradation, the effluent has to undergo four chemical reactions. First hydrolysis, then acidification, then acetogenesis and lastly the methanogenesis. All this happens in the same reactor. Different bacteria work at different stages.

“What I am making is a consortium containing all these bacteria: acetogens, hydrolyses, methanogens – bacteria who are last in the food chain.” This mixed culture has to work robustly in a bioreactor and also make economical sense for mass production – this is Prasad’s current workload.

“Right now I have lab-scale UASB reactors. With the BIG fund, I was able to fabricate those reactors in my lab. There are two reactors that can accommodate ten litres of waste each.”

Pointing at pictures on her slideshow she presented at the 2017 National Summit on Innovation and Technology she explained, “These lumpy granules are the microbial cocktail. The reactor, the hardware, is filled in with the granules, the software. When you have these microbes here and the water to be treated passes through it, the compounds are eaten by the microbes.”

“This water will be cleaned and you get a gas from there, which can be used for making electricity. There is a gas that is burning over here,” she said pointing out a small flame. “Whenever you come in my lab you will see this burning gas that can be used as a direct fuel for cooking, heating or electricity.”

“This is a really simple technology, no electricity is required. There is no waste here. Waste is, in fact, the raw material for this reactor. You put waste water here and you get a gas here. All biological molecules get degraded.”

After the patent is filed, Prasad faces the challenge of setting up a pilot plant and inviting investors for mass production. “Right now, I am getting into entrepreneurship for which I am attending a lot of workshops so that I can start speaking the language of investors.”

“Industries need the product in very huge volumes. Right now I have a client asking me to provide two tonnes of culture. This means 2,000-metre cube of culture. I don’t have the manufacturing unit to provide this. This is a huge investment but as an entrepreneur now I can see that a market is there. And demand is very high”

The environment solutions consultant

As she moves forward from lab-scale to commercial scale, Prasad has behind her, over 16 years of experience working as the R&D head and environment auditor with two consultancies.

After her PhD in Delhi, the newly-married Prasad moved to Baroda with her husband. “I knew that Gujarat is in the industrial belt and there is a lot of waste water management to be done so I decided to come along with him. ”

It was easy to get the position of a lecturer at nearby colleges at the outset of her career but Prasad craved for more hands-on research. After a temporary lectureship at MSU (Maharaja Sayajirao University) Baroda, she joined as R&D head of Paramount, an environmental consultancy offering water treatability solutions to big projects in industries and government tenders.

“All over India wherever the site was, the sample from the treatment plant came to our R&D office. We did the analysis and offered cleaner and economical solutions. I was an environmental auditor, approved by the Gujarat Pollution Control Board that gives us the authority to audit any industry.”

For an audit as well as, an environment impact assessment needed before any project, a team of experts including geologists, microbiologists and field specialists is needed. Prasad spent many years leading such teams.

“While at Paramount I met with an accident; unfortunately my tail bone got fractured.” Prasad was left with a debilitating physical condition, unable to sit or stand for more than a few hours. She had to resign. R.V. Kadam, director at Paramount and a father figure to her, realised what a loss this was for the environment consultancies in Gujarat and also for the very driven Prasad. He offered her a part-time consultancy position at the newly formed Day Star Green technologies. “In India at that point of time, flexibility in work was not available. But recognising my aptitude and potential, I was offered this position.”

Even a few hours of work at Day Star Green, filling up as an R&D head at the new company, took a toll on Prasad’s health. She realised it was time to take a break that her ambition did not desire but her body needed. The family moved to Singapore, where Prasad recovered and had all the time to write projects that she had been thinking about for years. She visited Singapore’s premier institutes Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore and discussed the feasibility of her projects with the experts there. “My ideas were applauded, which gave me the confidence to pursue what I am doing now.”

On her return to India after her recovery, Prasad rejoined Day Star Green but the time had come for Revy to gain ground.

“By that time I had written and presented some possible projects that had been applauded. I really want to do something on a commercial scale with the patents I held from my PhD. I told Kadam sir that I want to pursue these projects independently and there were some grants I was ready to apply for, offered by the Indian government to develop some markatable products.”

Her mentor, as always, gave her the confidence and the support she needed. “He is always there as my mentor and always helping me. He keeps saying when I am doubtful: “no madam you can do it”. He is 75 years old and he is there every moment; if I want to ask any question he is there to answer them.”

Suicide at 45?

Prasad’s company Revy will provide the same environmental treatability and consultancy she worked on in Paramount and Day Star Green along with the products she is preparing now.

This is a lot of work but there is no stopping Prasad. “People tell me I have decided to commit (social and career) suicide at the age of 45. Maybe they don’t see a mother and a wife starting a research-based company independently at my age.”

The family – her husband and two adolescent sons are by her side. She gets all the encouragement from them.

“I don’t have a daughter, both my kids are boys. They are all males in the family and I’m the only female. I am here because they are supporting me. I’m here because of my kids and my husband,” she said holding back emotions. “Not only are they supporting me from the housework but they are morally supporting me. My kids say: ‘Mumma you had taken a step back to raise us. And now we can take care of ourselves. So you have to start it all again.’ They have given me the motivation I need. When your kids are wise enough to tell you, ‘don’t worry I’ll take care of my own studies and grades, you go on with your dreams’ you feel motivated.”

This piece was originally published by The Life of Science. The Wire is happy to support this project by Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj, who are travelling across India to meet some unsung women scientists.