UD ministry advisory to states, urban local bodies on water

The Urban Development ministry has advised states and urban local bodies to impose a ban on use of potable water from lakes in cities and towns for any purpose other than drinking.
In an advisory, the ministry has said that urban local bodies should identify lakes and ponds in cities and towns and notify them as municipal assets.
In the missive, which is not binding on states or local bodies, the ministry has suggested a number of measures to states and municipalities for lake conservation.
The ministry said each state should establish a lake conservation authority to devise a new mechanism to sustain lakes and rejuvenate them.

It also said that ownership of each lake should be decided as most lakes face indefinite sustenance due to multiplicity of administrative control or lack of specific action by singular authority.
Another suggestion by the ministry pertains to protecting shorelines of water bodies from encroachment. The ministry has also suggested that the water quality of the water body needs to be monitored in a weekly basis by the local body concerned.

The states have also been asked to consider presenting areas around lakes as future business propositions with specific caps on use of space, as PPP projects with distinct potential to transform the entire locale into new eco niche.

The ministry said its recommendations are suggestive in nature and states are free to choose them as per local conditions. It also issued another advisory on tariff structure for urban water supply and sewerage services.
In the advisory it said that tariff revision should be taken up at regular intervals in transparent manner and changes due to inflation should be passed through tariff on annual basis with regard to water supply as well as sewerage services.