Take steps on water conservation next monsoon: Govt to states

With a view to encourage rainwater harvesting in the country, the government today urged states to initiate steps for water conservation during monsoon season next year.
Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said water conservation and harvesting needs to be a mass movement and efficient and scientific water harvesting is the first step towards revolutionising water use in the country.
"The states need to take advance steps to prepare for the monsoon of 2015 so that maximum water can be stored in those few months for the benefit of all," he said after inaugurating a two-day workshop on 'Construction and Desilting of Checkdams/Water Harvesting Structures' here.

Noting that India has traditional wisdom in water harvesting which encompasses both maintenance and water management of tanks, he said that this rich traditional wisdom is slowly being lost.
"They have to be surveyed and rejuvenated. The traditional water storage structures are fast being destroyed either due to siltation and lack of upkeep or due to the pressures of development.
"In addition to loss of environmental services, we are also losing vital storage capacity of excess rain water. It is important that these structures are surveyed and rejuvenated. Only then the efforts of the watershed programs will bear true fruits," he said.

Terming it as "practical and doable", Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of advance preparation for the monsoon next year in order to significantly increase water storage capacity in checkdams, ponds and tanks in the country will help in improving storage and rejuvenating structures.

"This will result in two important things - improving the storage and thus rejuvenating these structures as well as reducing floods at the local level," he said.
The workshop is being organised to kick start the process of planning to increase water storage for monsoon 2015.
Noting that there were multiple organisations in states working in the field of water harvesting, he said that most of the time these departments work in isolation and lose the opportunity of creating synergies and increasing effectiveness.

"It is important that water harvesting and storage is done in a collaborative manner by drawing up plans at the landscape level to improve the outcomes of the finances employed in the process," Singh said.