several other changes further exacerbating water risks (GoI 2018b). The stationarity
view that serves as the foundation of much of water resources planning, using
assumption that hydrological variables can be described based on time-invariant
probability distribution functions, is being increasingly challenged in the context of
climate change-induced uncertainties and risks (Milly et al. 2008).
A business-as-usual approach to water management, based on only conventional
grey infrastructure solutions, will be highly insufficient in the current contexts.
The discourse on water has greatly matured, from a recognition as a vital
resource and economic good as per Dublin Principles in 1992 to being the
‘bloodstream of the biosphere’ determining the sustainability of living systems
(Ripl 2003). The water resources thinking has gradually broadened in the last four
decades from run-off-based management to precipitation-based water management
incorporating land use, focusing on multiple scales and integrating role of
ecosystems in water resources management (Falkenmark and Rockström 2010).
A widened green–blue approach to planning (partitioning rainfall into a green water
resource as moisture in the unsaturated zone and a blue water resource in aquifers,
wetlands and water impoundments such as dams, which subsequently generate
flows, as green water flow from evaporation and transpiration and blue water flow
including river and groundwater flows) and understanding their functions in the
water cycle (regulation, production, carrier, maintaining ecosystem state) has been
posited providing system view to build resilience against state shifts and tipping
points which can be triggered through salinization, terrestrialization of aquatic
habitats, desertification, basin closure, aquifer depletion, waterlogging and
ecosystem collapse (Falkenmark and Rockström 2006; Falkenmark et al. 2019). In
an era of increasing water variability and extreme events, it is argued that
stationarity-based water allocation approaches may need to graduate to one that
focuses on building resilience, especially preventing breaching of thresholds, which
can shift water systems and society to alternate and often undesirable states (Boltz
et al. 2019; Falkenmark et al. 2019; Rockström et al. 2014).
A major emphasis on water management in India has been on harnessing blue
water, the run-off, using inflexible infrastructure managed often on rules determined
on historical hydrological observations—which are found wanting in the face of
extreme events and uncertainties imposed by climate change. A widened focus on
building water system resilience considering the entire blue–green water interactions allows for addressing the inherent inflexibility of hard engineering infrastructure by bringing in the role of green infrastructure solutions which use natural or
semi-natural systems to provide water resources management options (UNEP
2014). Nature-based solutions, which are inspired by nature, and use or even mimic
natural processes to contribute to improved water management are at the heart of
green infrastructure solutions (Nesshöver et al. 2017). These solutions include
wetlands conservation and rejuvenation, and wetlands-based technologies such as
constructed wetlands to address various water management issues. A preliminary
mapping of suitability of wetlands solutions for different biogeographic zones of
India is presented in Table 1.
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R. Kumar et al.
view that serves as the foundation of much of water resources planning, using
assumption that hydrological variables can be described based on time-invariant
probability distribution functions, is being increasingly challenged in the context of
climate change-induced uncertainties and risks (Milly et al. 2008).
A business-as-usual approach to water management, based on only conventional
grey infrastructure solutions, will be highly insufficient in the current contexts.
The discourse on water has greatly matured, from a recognition as a vital
resource and economic good as per Dublin Principles in 1992 to being the
‘bloodstream of the biosphere’ determining the sustainability of living systems
(Ripl 2003). The water resources thinking has gradually broadened in the last four
decades from run-off-based management to precipitation-based water management
incorporating land use, focusing on multiple scales and integrating role of
ecosystems in water resources management (Falkenmark and Rockström 2010).
A widened green–blue approach to planning (partitioning rainfall into a green water
resource as moisture in the unsaturated zone and a blue water resource in aquifers,
wetlands and water impoundments such as dams, which subsequently generate
flows, as green water flow from evaporation and transpiration and blue water flow
including river and groundwater flows) and understanding their functions in the
water cycle (regulation, production, carrier, maintaining ecosystem state) has been
posited providing system view to build resilience against state shifts and tipping
points which can be triggered through salinization, terrestrialization of aquatic
habitats, desertification, basin closure, aquifer depletion, waterlogging and
ecosystem collapse (Falkenmark and Rockström 2006; Falkenmark et al. 2019). In
an era of increasing water variability and extreme events, it is argued that
stationarity-based water allocation approaches may need to graduate to one that
focuses on building resilience, especially preventing breaching of thresholds, which
can shift water systems and society to alternate and often undesirable states (Boltz
et al. 2019; Falkenmark et al. 2019; Rockström et al. 2014).
A major emphasis on water management in India has been on harnessing blue
water, the run-off, using inflexible infrastructure managed often on rules determined
on historical hydrological observations—which are found wanting in the face of
extreme events and uncertainties imposed by climate change. A widened focus on
building water system resilience considering the entire blue–green water interactions allows for addressing the inherent inflexibility of hard engineering infrastructure by bringing in the role of green infrastructure solutions which use natural or
semi-natural systems to provide water resources management options (UNEP
2014). Nature-based solutions, which are inspired by nature, and use or even mimic
natural processes to contribute to improved water management are at the heart of
green infrastructure solutions (Nesshöver et al. 2017). These solutions include
wetlands conservation and rejuvenation, and wetlands-based technologies such as
constructed wetlands to address various water management issues. A preliminary
mapping of suitability of wetlands solutions for different biogeographic zones of
India is presented in Table 1.
118
R. Kumar et al.