India Water Week 2015 inaugurated

Uma Bharti Underlines the Importance of Dissemination of Data on Water Resources in Public Domain

Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti has said that dissemination of data in public domain constitutes the most important aspect of the water resources management for people’s participation and information sharing to increase transparency and public awareness. Inaugurating the India Water Week – 2015 here today she said, “to fulfill this objective the Central Water Commission in collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO has launched the project Generation of database”. The Minister said India has more than 18% of the world’s population, but has only 4% of world’s renewable water resources. There are further limits on utilizable quantities of water owing to uneven distribution of water over time and space. She said “with a growing population and rising needs of a fast developing nation as well as the given indication of the impact of climate change, availability of utilizable water will be under further strain in future with the possibility of deepening water conflicts among different user groups”. Sushri Bharti said our country has wide variation in water availability across various river basins. While Ganga and Brahmaputra river basins are well endowed with water, the basins in peninsular India are relatively water scarce and most of the them have already reached the stage of full development. She said it is in this context that the inter basin water transfer programme known as inter linking of river has been conceived for transfer of water from surplus basins to deficit basins. Sushri Bharti said “The program is based on creating relatively large storage to build resilience in the system and also provide an aggregate storage capacity needed for the country in an area where the topography and geology provide favourable condition. We will adopt a win-win strategy for implementation of the programme”. The Union Minister state for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Sanwar Lal Jat in his address said that increasing population is putting more pressure on the availability of water. He said we will have to adopt new techniques of irrigation based on less usage of water. The Minister said inter-linking of rivers will help in diverting the surplus water of rivers to drought prone areas. Union Agriculture Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Urban Development Minister Shri M Venkaiah Naidu and Union Environment and Forest Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar also addressed the gathering. The theme of five day water week is “Water Management for Sustainable Development". India Water Week-2015 will address the issues of sustainability of water resources development and management in line with Sustainable Development Goals 2015 being finalized by UN. Australia is the partner country for this event and 30 Australian companies are participating in the exhibition to showcase the technological advancement in the area of water resources. Maharashtra is associated as partner State. The event is targeted at international and national audience comprising policy planners and technologists involved with water resources management in all key sectors of economy like agriculture, irrigation, energy, industry and drinking water supply. The event is being organized in co-ordination with nodal Ministries of Agriculture, Environment & Forests and Climate Change, Rural Development, Urban Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Power and NITI Ayog along with their associated expert organizations and Public Sector Units, key international bodies and private and public business houses. The IWW-2015 will also have running exhibition enriching the theme and showcasing the technologies and solutions available for the areas under deliberation of the meet. During the week, Hamara Jal – Hamara Jeewan initiative will be observed in every district of the country. This will be an initiative to engage scientists, engineers, water communities, PRIs, other stakeholders and NGOs to address the issues of water resources planning at the local level and to generate awareness regarding need for water conservation. Participation from school students will be an integral part of the programme for sensitizing the next generation for water conservation. This will also spread awareness regarding need to conserve water in the light of growing water scarcity. One day workshop will be organized in every district during the week to find indigenous solution for meeting the water related demands and suggest future road map to manage water for growth. During the workshop it is planned to prepare a profile of each district covering its source of water, utilization for various uses and constraint, possible local solutions for meeting the unsatisfied demands and future roadmap to manage water for growth. The States have been asked to submit a report in this regard after the workshop is over. The recommendations received during the deliberations of the workshop will also be used for preparation of an overview of State level recommendations. Such recommendations would enable Ministry to utilize the same for policy making. Conceptualised and organised for the first time in 2012, the India Water Week is an annual forum where the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India discusses, talks, strategizes with eminent stakeholders through seminars, exhibitions and sessions to build public awareness to get support to implement key strategies for conservation, preservation and optimum use of available water. This is the third event in line with the theme “Water management for sustainable development”. The second event namely India Water Week-2013 with the theme “Efficient Water Management: Challenges and Opportunities” was organised during 8-12 April, 2013 at New Delhi. Courtesy: pib.nic.in