Government plans to prioritise projects for conservation of water resources

NEW DELHI: With the year 2015 drawing to a close, the Centre has proposed to give a new push to managing the country's water resources by prioritizing its activities for 2016 when it will look beyond Ganga to initiate new projects and complete the ongoing ones.

Setting up of the National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency, modernization\expansion of flood forecasting network of the Central Water Commission (CWC), completion of the contentious Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh and launching Yamuna rejuvenation plan are some of the key proposals which are to be taken up by the water resources ministry in a big way in 2016.

Enlisting under proposed initiatives, the ministry, in its year-end review note, mentions rejuvenation of Yamuna among other things.

Though cleaning of the river has been going on since 1993 when the Center had started the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), it has so far not produced a desired result due to a huge gap between demand and availability of sewage treatment capacity and lack of fresh water in the river.


Idea of the Yamuna rejuvenation on the lines of the ongoing 'Namami Gange' (Ganga rejuvenation plan) will be to come out with desired results in 2019.

It is, however, not yet clear how the Yamuna rejuvenation plan would be different from its existing action plan which has already spent Rs 1514 crore and has been in the process of implementing various projects worth over Rs 3230 crore in Delhi and Haryana.

"Yamuna under the rejuvenation plan will get more focused attention," said an official while referring to the Ganga rejuvenation schemes which - despite the existence of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in the past - have got special impetus and taken a shape of people's movement to clean the river under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government.

The ministry has also listed a proposal to set up an autonomous body to devise ways for optimum utilization of water by various sectors including public utilities. The body - National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency - will be set up on the line of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to control and regulate efficient use of water. It will work to stop leakages through propagating best practices of water use.

It was first proposed under the UPA government in 2013. But, it could not take off despite the urgency to have such body for water conservation. The proposed move to set up this body in 2016 assumes significance when most of the options of harnessing available water in the country have already been utilized.

The average annual potential of 'utilizable' water in the country remains constant at 1,121 Billion Cubic Meter - 690 BCM surface water and 431 BCM ground water - whereas the demand for water is rising rapidly with an estimated requirement of 1,180 BCM by the year 2050.

The proposed body, comprising members from different central ministries, water experts and representatives from industries and civil societies, will also oversee labeling and certification for public utilities, local bodies and industries that manufacture household water fixtures and appliances.

Efforts to complete the Polavaram Project will also be stepped up next year. The multi-purpose irrigation project, having dam across the Godavari River, is under construction in West Godavari and East Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh. Reservoir of the project - which has been accorded national project status by the center - spreads in parts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Odisha government and many environmental groups have, however, been opposed to the project, claiming that it would adversely affect the tribals of Malkangiri district.