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it is clear from this study that water
resource planning and management is
needed at levels above the village if many
large scale equity and sustainability
challenges are to be addressed adequately.
4. Shift from supply to demand management of
water resources. The results of the study
show clearly that the focus of the APRLP
and similar programmes should be on
resource management as opposed to
resource development. This said, demand
management is not going to be a panacea
and its introduction has many potential
unintended consequences, some of which
could impact negatively on poorer social
groupings. A whole range of demand
management options are listed in this
report. One of the most important options
relates to the essential need to create the
policy and legislative environment that
provide incentives for more productive
use of water by individual users and
disincentives for practices that are wasteful
or lead to environmental degradation.
However, changing current attitudes and
behaviour is not going to be an easy task,
particularly as many recent and current
state-level policies (e.g. grants for well
construction, subsidised electricity for
pumping irrigation water, support prices
for paddy rice) have had the unintended
consequence of encouraging inefficient
and inequitable use of water.
5. Use of GIS-linked rapid participatory
assessments as part of the M&E of rural water
supply programmes. The Water Audit has
revealed a major disparity between official
statistics and the users’ view of the status
of domestic water supplies. One reason for
this disparity is the strong emphasis of
current M&E on the functioning of
infrastructure and the meeting of supply
norms (i.e. 40 lpcd). Many of the other
problems faced by users are ignored by the
M&E systems. However, these additional
problems can be considered, and
appropriate steps can be taken if routine
M&E systemstake users’ views into account.
Incorporating and presenting this
information using a GIS database is one
way of processing and presenting the
relevant information in a form that can
easily be assimilated and acted upon by
decision makers at all levels.
6. Reassessment of “official” water-related
statistics. Finally, survey work carried out
primarily by government departments has
shown huge discrepancies between
“official” statistics and the reality on the
ground with regard to area under
irrigation, well statistics, stage of
groundwater development and status of
domestic water points. Hence it is
recommended that further checks on
relevant official statistics be carried out,
possibly using procedures used by the
Water Audit team. This work is needed
urgently because these statistics underpin
policies relating to: groundwater
development, NABARD loans, power sector
reform, protection of rural water supplies,
river basin management and irrigation
development. Findings from the Audit have
also shown that certain beliefs that
underpin the watershed development
programmes (e.g. annual runoff is 30-40%
of annual rainfall) need to be re-evaluated.
Concluding Remarks
The Water Audit has shown that in the study
areas demand for water is outstripping supply
and that scope for augmentation is limited.
Although the water resource situation in this area
is extremely serious and arguably at crisis point
for many villages, there is much that can be done.
However, it cannot be stressed enough that there
are no quick fixes to the complex challenges
facing people in the semi-arid areas of Andhra
Pradesh. Policies and practices are needed that are
based on accurate information and that seek
long-term solutions. Finally, it is strongly
recommended that a plan be developed and
implemented for the capacity building that is
needed at all levels if effective integrated water
resource management policies and programmes
are to be developed and implemented in Andhra
Pradesh.
Lifting a rainfed groundnut crop in Kalyandurg
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