Water Equity and Tourism: A Case of Nainital District, Uttarakhand

Resource System
Watershed
Resource Units
Groundwater
Location
Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India

The current case is based on findings specific to ten villages in two blocks, Ramgarh and Dhari located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, India. This study is based on fieldwork that was carried over the course of a few years since 2014; originally with the intent to ascertain the impact of climate change on the livelihoods of mountain farmers. It was found that urbanization and the increase in tourism infrastructure in the district over the past decade has resulted in a conflict over water access and equity. An increase in tourism operators in the region has led to the erosion of the social and cultural fabric of norms that had been in place for decades. The development of tourism infrastructure entails putting pressure on an already fragile mountain ecosystem and necessitates the inequitable sharing of an extremely limited natural resource. The key resource relevant to the commons dilemma faced by the community is the availability and access to groundwater and spring water for irrigation and domestic purposes. 

Water Equity and Tourism: A Case of Nainital District
Resource System

Watershed 

Resource Users

Farmers (locals) and Tourism operators (non-locals)

Public Infrastructure Providers

Local Self-Government (Panchayat)

State Government

Public Infrastructure

Public hard infrastructure: Handpumps, storage tanks, sprong water-heads, and other rainwater harvesting infrastructure 

Private hard infrastructure: Boundary walls created to fence off locals from accessing water sources of land owned by non-locals

Relationship 1

Locals (usually farmers) and non-locals (tourism operators) rely on water from the watershed or domestic and irrigation purposes. 

Relationship 2

The locals elect the members of the self-government or the Panchayat, which is tasked with ensuring equitable distribution of water within the village

Relationship 3

PIP => hard public infrastructure:

  • PIP build and maintain spring water heads, handpumps, irrigation pipes,  water storage systems, and roads. 

 

Relationship 4

Handpumps, irrigation pipes to draw water from rivulets and spring water heads facilitate appropriation of water. 

Relationship 5

Appointed members of the Panchayat are tasked with ensuring equitable appropriation and distribution of water within the village, however, they do not have any sanctioning power. 

The conflict can be taken to a court of law. 

Relationship 6

RU (non-locals)--> PI and PI --> RU (locals):

With the influx of tourism operators fencing off land, the ability of the locals to appropriate water when needed from the resource system is restricted. 

Exogenous Drivers 7 (Resource System)

Exogenous drivers that influence the resource system:

  • Water scarcity is acute in the region
  • Increase in urbanization and subsequent tourism infrastructure puts pressure on the resource and the fragile mountain ecosystem. 
  • Climate change (unprecedented rainfall, landslides, increased temperatures)
Exogenous Drivers 7 (Public Infrastructure)

Exogenous drivers that influence the hard public and private infrastructure:

  • Climate change (unprecedented rainfall, landslides, increased temperatures)

Exogenous drivers that influence the soft infrastructure:

  • Shift in social norms of collective ownership of a scarce resource to individual ownership, a practice introduced and perpetuated by non-locals buying land in these villages. 
Exogenous Drivers 8 (Resource Users)

Exogenous social drivers:

  • Lack of awareness and agency within locals about water governance by-laws

Exogenous economic drivers:

  • Lack of alternative employment opportunities for locals that do not require the appropriation of groundwater
  • Meeting the demand for an increased number of tourists every year, for both the tourism operators and the locals. 
Exogenous Drivers 8 (Public Infrastructure Providers)

Exogenous drivers that influence PIP:

  • Conflict between locals and non-locals over appropriation; brides offered by non-locals to ensure a steady supply of water for tourism operations
Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Resource Users)
(none specified)
Human Infrastructure, Private and Human-Made (Public Infrastructure Providers)
(none specified)