Ensure equitable distribution of water for urban and rural areas, and for wildlife: organic farmer The State government has been urged to formulate a water policy for the Cauvery basin to harness the resource in a judicious and effective manner. The suggestion comes in the wake of unprecedented drought and failure of monsoon this year and the imperatives of bracing up for a dry summer in Mysore and surrounding regions which depend on Cauvery in the months ahead. Vivek Cariappa, an organic farmer and winner of the Krishi Pandit Award, has written to the government seeking a water policy to ensure equitable distribution for urban and rural areas, and for wildlife, in the months ahead while expressing fears that the resultant scarcity could give rise to water mafia. He said formulating such a policy and executing it would require active participation of citizens, panchayati raj institutions, all departments of the administration and not just the irrigation and Cauvery Command Area Development Authority (CADA). In a letter to the Chief Secretary, Mr. Cariappa said it was imperative to identify and protect all available potable water sources in the region and estimating the availability after accounting for seepage and evaporation. As a long-term measure, it was suggested to link all tanks, ponds and lakes to the water channels to ensure flowing water that would help recharge water bodies. Mr. Cariappa said the State would have to calculate in actual terms drinking water requirements on a monthly basis for urban, semi-urban, rural , human and animal, cattle and wildlife, rural and forest needs apart from checking and plugging all avenues of wasteful water consumption as in swimming pools, water theme parks, among others. Calling for regulating the industrial use of water, it was suggested that the gram panchayats check every village for leakage, breakage of pipes and the contamination of water therein. Underlining the importance of regulating cultivation of certain types of crops, Mr. Cariappa called for a ban on planting and growing of crops like ginger near and around water bodies, as the growers use highly toxic agro-chemicals that leach into the water systems through wash off or though the sub soil. “As water-levels will be low this time, the concentration of poisonous chemicals could increase toxicity endangering all life forms,” he added. Drawing the attention of the government to the imperatives of encouraging and supporting judicious use of water by farmers, Mr. Cariappa said the Agriculture Department must encourage cultivators to take up drip irrigation and the government must subsidise them. On the cropping pattern in the coming days, it was suggested that stress should be on cultivation of food and fodder crops while there should be a ban on cultivation of commercial crops. The release of water from Kabini and Nugu dams will affect wildlife in the region, according to Mr. Cariappa who pointed out that the backwaters of these two reservoirs helped quench the thirst of wildlife in Bandipur and Nagarahole. Terming the situation in the forests for wildlife as precarious, Mr. Cariappa said animals were already coming out of forests for water and this could escalate man-animal conflict in the months ahead. Calling for proactive measures to prevent such a scenario, the government was advised to ensure speedy crop compensation for farmers living on the periphery of the forests. Another suggestion of significance to the farmers was the plea to include crop loss due to wild boars in the compensation protocol as the crop damage from wild boar exceeds that from wild elephants, he added. Release of water from Kabini and Nugu dams will affect wildlife in the region: Vivek Cariappa ‘Cultivate food and fodder crops, and ban the cultivation of commercial crops’