WATER – THE WORLD IS GETTING PARCHED EACH YEAR

By Ruma Dubey

Rajesh was getting ready for his summer holidays and was travelling to India from USA. He lived in a small village in Maharashtra and when he called up his father, asking what he should for everyone back home, pat comes the answer, “ Get some water if you can.”

No exaggeration, this is how the situation in some parts of India is. It is World water Day today and ironically, a large part of the population in India walks miles to get drinking water. We might have made major technological advances, have the world at the tip of our fingers yet can anyone yet claim to have the technology to make water. There is also a simple chemical formula to it – two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen. Yet can anyone play God and create water? We continue to remain at the mercy of the rain gods.

This year around the rainfall has been good across most of India, barring parts of Maharashtra and South India.

Data from the Central Water Commission (CWC) is enlightening. It monitors live storage status of 91 reservoirs of the country on weekly basis and is issuing weekly bulletin on every Thursday. As per the latest, issued on 16^th March, out of the 91 reservoirs, 37 reservoirs have hydropower benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. The total live storage capacity of these 91 reservoirs is 157.799 BCM which is about 62% of the live storage capacity of 253.388 BCM which is estimated to have been created in the country.

As per reservoir storage bulletin dated 16.03.2017, live storage available in these reservoirs is 58.03 BCM, which is 37%of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. However, last year the live storage available in these reservoirs for the corresponding period was 47.54 BCMand the average of last10 years live storage was 57.8 BCM. Thus, the live storage available in 91 reservoirs as per 16.03.2017 Bulletin is 122% of the live storage of corresponding period of last year and 100% of  storage of average of last ten years. This was the good news, now for the bad part.

CWC’s Southern region includes States of Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, AP&TG (2 combined projects in both states) Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are 31 reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 51.59 BCM. As per Reservoir Storage Bulletin dated 16.03.2017, the total live storage available in these reservoirs is 8.66 BCMwhich is 17% of total live storage capacity of these reservoirs. The storage during corresponding period of last year was 19% and average storage of last ten years during corresponding period was 31% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last ten years during the corresponding period.

The storage status shows that reservoir status in Himachal is 43% deficient, Uttarakhand is 42% deficient and in South, AP & TG are at -72%, AP at -55%, Karnataka at -38%, Kerala at -27% and Tamil Nadu at -80%.

Monsoon is still a three-four months away. There is already talk of the El Nino making an appearance and there are already reports of water cuts in parts of Maharashtra and South.

Water and power are two necessities of life and there is a deficit of both. As the years roll, water will become as precious as oil, if not more. It would be no exaggeration to say that water will get transported through pipelines, not just in India as it is already being done but like oil, get imported.  Tankers will travel more to transport water and maybe across the seas too, like oil. Shortage of water is not just endemic to India but all over the world. There are very few countries which can all themselves “water abundant” and Canada ranks on the top. It has the same amount of water as China and just 2.3% of its population. Turkey exports water to Israel and Cyprus in large balloons that can hold up to five million gallons of water. Singapore buys 10% of its water from private-sector suppliers who have built desalination plants in order to reduce its reliance on Malaysia.

Where there is a scarcity there is an opportunity – that is how stock market views every crisis. There is a shortage of supply and demand is only expected to grow and that in simple economic sense makes great investment sense. And looking at a horizon of 7-10 years down the line, investing in “water stocks” makes perfect sense. There are only a few listed on the Indian stock exchanges. A quick look at some of them:

Thermax : The best and well known water management company. It might be low on orders right now but future for the sector thus for the company, given its expertise is extremely bright.

Jain Irrigation: The company is the first and last name when it comes to drip irrigation and that is the way ahead and given its dominance in this field, it’s the company to watch out for in this sector.

ION Exchange: This company has been around for years and pioneered water treatment when no one was even thinking about it. It is one of the best bets when it comes to water treatment, supplying not just to the companies but to homes also. Indian Railways water, Railneer, which is pure and safe drinking water is supplied by this company.

Finolex Industries: It makes PVC pipes and as stated earlier, with water in the future expected to get transported by pipelines, this company could become a preferred choice.

VA Tech Wabag: Deslination is going to be the way ahead and this company has got the expertise and the experience. Chennai’s desalination plants stand testimony to this fact and they were set up by VA Tech.

The listed “bottled” water company is Mount Everest Mineral water which sells water under the brand name of “Himalaya”. This is now a part of Tata Global Beverages and thus has got an assured market through its Starbucks outlet for now.

Tata Chemicals: This Tata company has done a “Nano” in the water purifying sector with its Tata Swach water purifiers. With the starting price at Rs.899, going up to Rs.2000, the product is distributed all across Tata networks.

Shakti Pumps is a well-known name in installing solar water pumps in power and water deficient states. Its business is sure to pick up in Maharashtra and South India.

There are quite a few unlisted companies which are making headway into water management. For eg: Hydroair Tectonics has set up 340 waste management plants and is expecting a turnover of Rs.1000 crore this year. It buys sewage from BMC in Mumbai and converts it into potable water plants used to water golf courses. Jindal too has big stake in water management through Jindal Aqua Source and Piramals sell water under the brand name of Sarvajal through their privately held company, Piramal Water Management. It supplies drinking water in 154 cities, towns and villages across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Maharashtra. Another immensely successful water company is Waterlife which manages water purification plants for state Governments.