Effective water governance for ecological conservation of urban micro-watersheds: case study of Ramnadi River of Pune city
Student name: Ms Bhargavi Thorve
Guide: Ms Ranjana Ray Chaudhuri
Year of completion: 2014
Host Organisation: Shrishti Eco-Research Institute, Pune
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Prof. Sandeep Joshi
Abstract: Indian historic approach of water governance reveals the cultural and traditional attitude of
people towards conserving and protecting nature. The changing scenario due to urbanization
and industrialization has forced us to rethink about our water governance. The focus of this
paper is to have an effective institutional framework for water governance at the basin level to
ecologically conserve and protect micro-watersheds of urban areas with respect to Ramnadi
River in Pune City, as a case study. The River Ramnadi, being a micro-watershed has been
greatly manipulated and declared as a drain in the City Developmental Plan. The deteriorated
water quality due to continuous ingression of sewage and degradation of riparian ecosystem has
greatly affected the existence of Ramnadi River. This paper identifies the interferences which
need to be addressed after carrying out a comprehensive field study of Ramnadi. A gap analysis
of the City Developmental Plan determined that major problems like non-cooperation between
different local authorities along the river stretch, encroachment, illegal sewage discharge, ect.,
have not been addressed. This has led to adjourning of implementing the actions that are
mentioned in the developmental plan of Pune City. The survey findings in the Ramnadi Basin
suggests that i) there is need to have a decentralized institution for Ramnadi River basin
Management ii) training/capacity building will help sharing information of policy at all
institutional levels iii) need to have political will and institutional co-operation for better
planning and management of Ramnadi basin. National Water Policy, 2012, is in favor of river
basin management and also examines the water governance needed to have an ecological
approach to conserve rivers as well as addresses interferences at the regional level. However,
the main motivation is to have a sector wide approach to discuss the beneficial policy reforms
which are already underway at the national level. The Planning Commission, Government of
India, in its twelfth fifth year plan report’s to have an “eco-treatment zone for open drainsâ€
which carries sewage directly to rivers causing pollution. A discussion on “Eco-Treatment zones
in Open drains and riverâ€, with multiple environmental decision makers was an effort made to
address this innovative approach acknowledged by the government.
Key words: Water governance, Ramnadi River Basin, City Developmental Plan, National Water
Policy, Eco-Treatment Zones in Open Drains and Rivers
