Water Resources and River Development in 2105

Geography Water - Issues, Challenges and Solutions

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Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation has taken a number of initiatives especially related to policy change in water pollution abatement, getting approval for “Namami Gange”. The ministry has also initiated action for Inter-linking of Rivers, Flood Forecasting, Ground Water management & regulation, water conservation etc. Important initiatives and priority programmes initiated during last one year are as follows:

WATER POLLUTION ABATEMENT (Namami Gange)

“Namami Gange” – Integrated Ganga Conservation Programme has been approved by the Cabinet at the cost of Rs. 20,000 crore and will be implemented by 2020.
Approval given for purchase of Boat for Namami Gange awareness activities to ITBP at an estimated cost of Rs 1.25 crore.
A team of 13 Gram Panchayat Chairpersons of Sahibganj District, Jharkhand was identified by SPMG Ranchi to visit a model Seenchewal village for their training and awareness programme.
1,649 Gram Panchayats alongside Ganga has been identified for comprehensive sanitation coverage and making them free from open defecation through Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Model projects on pilot basis as Ganga Grams by MoWR, RD & GR in 66 GPs (one in each district) in minimum time. Letter of Authority issued to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation worth Rs. 263 crore.
4 battalions of Ganga Task Force under Territorial Army with Ex-Servicemen have been approved in principle by Ministry of Defence.
Government of Germany has committed assistance of € 3 million for Ganga Rejuvenation during Indo-German Annual Negotiations 2014.'
For afforestation along the Ganga River covering the five range states, Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun is preparing a DPR to be implemented soon.
93 Projects has been approved at the cost of Rs.7350.38 crores for creating treatment capacity of 858 MLD and Sewer network of 3623.10 Kms.
The list of villages in the districts along the bank of Ganga in five states was uploaded on the MIS Web in Liaising with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
NMCG organized an exposure visit to seven Gram Pradhans of Bulandshehar, Bijnaur and Kanpur Gram Panchayat on the banks of river Ganga to Seenchewal village, district Jalandhar, Punjab to replicate good practices in their villages.

RIVER DEVELOPMENT

Hon’ble Minister visited NIH, Roorkee on 26.10.2015 and inaugurated laboratory as centre of excellence for advanced Ground Water research.
Ministry has identified Inter-linking of Rivers as a priority. ‘Ken-Betwa Link Project’ declared as National Project. Work on Forest; Wild life and Environment clearance for the project is under process.
Intra - State link Projects: DPR of BurhiGandak – Noon – Baya -Ganga Link Project (Bihar) and Kosi - Mechi Link Project (Bihar) completed.
Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers set up for time bound implementation of ILR projects.
High level task force constituted for addressing the technical issues in interlinking of rivers has met regularly and is finalizing their recommendations.
Rs. 3680 crore approved by EFC for River Development and Water Information Management.
A meeting of the Principal Committee Constituted by Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT) to discuss the issue of required environmental flow in Yamuna River was held on 22.6.2015 in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Secretary (WR, RD & GR).

WATER RESOURCES

The Hon’ble Minister Polavaram Project being implemented as a National Project on river Godavari, to create an annual irrigation potential of 4.36 lakh ha in East Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari and Krishna districts in Andhra Pradeshand Rs 250 crore released.
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) taken up with World Bank assistance at an estimated cost of Rs. 2100 crore, 233 dams in five states identified for rehabilitation. Work sanctions are being done in collaboration with states.
National Aquifer Management (NAQUIM) project undertaken for optimal utilisation of groundwater with community participation. 5.89 lakh sq. km areas will be mapped by September, 2017 – partly through innovative heliborne surveys.
Regional office of Ganga Flood Control Commission opened at Lucknow in March, 2015, for greater focus on North Western region of Ganga Basin.
4772 flood/inflow forecasts were issued during the flood season 2014 out of which 4667 forecasts were found to be within permissible limit of accuracy. The overall percentage of accuracy is 97.80%
Grant of Rs. 2610 crore released to 26 Major & Medium Irrigation Projects under AIBP - Creation of irrigation potential 5 lakh hectares. Rs. 200 crore released for 50 projects under CADWM for creation of irrigation potential of 1.5 lakh hectare. Rs. 131 crore released to 1092 projects under RRR of water bodies. Rs. 320.23 crore released to States for 78 flood protection works.
PMKSY scheme launched. It will cover Command Area Development & Water Management(CAD&WM), Repair, Renovation & Restoration( RRR), Minor Irrigation Schemes and Ground Water, use of treated affluent from sewage treatment plant for Irrigation and any other scheme proposed for providing ‘HarKhetKoPani’ will be implemented from PMKSY. It will be based on District Irrigation Plan and State Irrigation Plan to be prepared by respective State Governments for providing water to each irrigation field and More Crop Per Drop. Under PMKSY, Rs 838 crore has been released for completing the ongoing works
Rs.320 crore released to NCT of Delhi for water sector reforms including Rs.50 crore for Renuka Dam Project.
Based on the data shared by this Ministry on the Open Govt. Data Platform, and its usage, the Ministry of Water Resources, RD & Ganga Rejuvenation was selected as one of the awardees under the category “Open Data Champion”.
A web based Water Resources Information System on GIS platform has been set up by Central Water Commission in association with Indian Space Research Organisation. All unclassified data of CWC and CGWB has been uploaded and placed in public domain. The web portal has already been used for developing alternative project proposals for developing consensus amongst the implementing agencies.
Central Water Commission has undertaken expansion and modernization of its data collection network comprising of 878 hydrological observation stations. 155 new Hydrological Observation Stations were added to this network and 100 existing stations were upgraded to include observation of additional river flow parameter.
23 on-going AIBP (major & medium) projects prioritized for completion.
For the first time, integrated scheme for Ground Water development & management has been prepared at the cost of Rs. 6000 crore with the World Bank’s assistance. Rs. 60 crore has been earmarked for Ground Water development.

WATER CONSERVATION

“Hamara Jal- Hamara Jeevan” organized in 485 districts to engage scientists, engineers, water communities, Panchayati Raj Institution, NGO’s and other stake holders to address issues of water resources planning at village level to generate awareness for water conservation.
Web based application system for issuing NOC for ground water extraction launched.
Master Plan on Water harvesting and conservation prepared and circulated to all states. \
Existing old ponds to be revived and new ones to be taken up on the banks of river Ganga and Yamuna for augmenting river flow in lean season.
A National Convention of Water User Associations (WUA) on Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) was organised on 7th- 8th November, 2014 at New Delhi to discuss and identify the problems being faced by WUAs, with the overall objective of increasing water use efficiency in irrigation sector
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj has been signed in Dec. 2014 for training & capacity building of multiple Stakeholders and Panchayat Raj Institution in the area of water conservation.
Pollution control measures treated affluent water for irrigation.
A one day seminar – Bhujal Manthan was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister (WR, RD & GR) on 21.8.2015 at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana. More than 2000 people participated in the seminar.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

A workshop on Indo-European water forum was held on 23-24 November, 2015 at Shangri-La Hotel, New Delhi. The workshop was organized by National Water Mission in partnership with European Union and was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister (WR, RD & GR).
Memorandum of Understanding between India and Israel for cooperation in water management is under consideration.
58th and 59thmeetings of Joint Committee for implementation of Treaty on sharing of Ganga Waters at Farakka were held in June 2014 in Bangladesh and January, 2015 in India respectively.
As a part of the technology transfer initiatives under the programme, basin level assessment and water management strategies were demonstrated with a joint analysis of a midsized basin in Eastern India (Brahmani- Baitarni). The skill development has opened way for taking up studies of other basins as well.
Loan assistance agreement for 33,959 million Japanese Yen from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for Rengal Irrigation Sub-project, Left Bank Canal (LBC)–II, Phase-II of Odisha was signed in Ministry of Finance (Deptt. of Economic Affairs) on 27.3.2015 at New Delhi between Government of Japan and Government of India.

NEW INITIATIVES PROPOSED FOR 2015-16

Strengthening of Participatory Irrigation Management & involving public participation in Ground Water management and rain water harvesting
Rejuvenation of Yamuna River being contemplated.
Expeditious implementation of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project& middle Siang project.
Launching of 'JAL KRANTI ABHIYAAN' 2015-16. The workshop on “Water Conservation, Water Security and Water Quality” was organized on 16.10.2015 at Nagpur as a part of Jal Kranti Abhiyan. The issue on climate change was also incorporated in the workshop.
National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency is proposed to be set up to control and regulate efficient use of water.
All efforts for timely completion of Polavaram Project.
Efforts are underway to upgrade all the three Research Stations namely Central Soil and Material Research Station, Central Water and Power Research Station and National Institute of Hydrology into “Centres of Excellence”.
National Water Informatics Centre to be set up for institutionalizing India Water Resources Information System.
Modernization and expansion of Flood Forecasting Network of Central Water Commission.
Development of inundation based flood forecast system.
Installation of telemetry system for dissemination of hydro-meteorological data on real time basis.
Setting up of North East Brahmaputra River Rejuvenation Authority by restructuring Brahmaputra Board.