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| Sham for effective water conservation measures, mass awareness | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Apr 16: The National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) Regional Centre, Jammu organized one-day brain storming session on “Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Project on Tawi Catchment”, here today.
Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Mr. Sham Lal Sharma was chief guest and Commissioner/Secretary, PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Dr. Pawan Kotwal was guest of honour on the occasion.
The objective of the workshop was to interact with various stakeholders and to seek their view points before undertaking the detailed study of Tawi river basin. The NIH has been entrusted the job of conducting detailed studies/research across the country under Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) concept. The IWRM is a process that promotes coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources, in order to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital eco-systems. The proper instrumentation to collect research grade data of hydrological variable and in-depth analysis of the data is the thrust of these programmes.
The study will help the Government in future planning of Jammu city, impact of the Tawi River on the day-to-day life of people, environment and measures required for its proper conservation. This will also help generation of comprehensive
hydro-meteorological data base of Tawi basin, rainfall-run off model for Tawi basin and its sub-basins under changing land use and climate change scenario, real time flood forecasting model for the Tawi River, environment flows for critical reaches and proper water resource management plan of the river.
In his opening remarks, the Minister appreciated the initiative and said that the agency will undertake the extensive study on the behaviour of River Tawi which will go a long way in helping the government to take further steps for its proper conservation. He stressed the need for involvement of various stakeholders, credible NGOs and State Government’s Water Regulatory Authority in the process for achieving tangible results. He said Government was also focusing on rain harvesting and revival of traditional water resources under sustainable water management to save maximum water and to raise the water table. He laid stress on launching a massive awareness campaign about the judicious use of water through various mediums.
As a long term measure to conserve water and to maintain the ground water table, the Minister said that the instructions have been issued to the Department to develop 10 check dams in each division. Similarly, all traditional water resources, like ponds, bowlies will be revived for domestic uses. All other existing water resources will be made sustainable for which the PRIs will be actively involved in this social cause.
Assuring all necessary support to the NIH for smooth functioning, the Minister urged the Commissioner/Secretary to keep close liaison with its functionaries and extend necessary assistance. He asked the officers of the State Government to take full benefits of the expertise of the NIH.
Dr. Kotwal appreciated the objective of the NIH and said that the study will help the State Government to draw an effective plan for conservation and management of water for Jammu city. He said the credible data generated will be utilized for future planning. He assured all kind of support to the organization. He said the Government will appoint an exclusive nodal officer who will remain in touch with the NIH and render necessary assistance.
Several experts gave their valuable suggestions on the subject and stressed the need for undertaking similar studies at other areas, especially in the dry and rain fed areas for harvesting the rain water which get wasted unutilized.
In his welcome address, Director, NIH, Er. R. D. Singh said that NIH, Jammu is operational since 1990. The main focus of the centre was to carry out field-oriented hydrological studies through close interaction with various State and Central Government departments. He said thrust areas of studies & research are assessment of climate change and its impact on hydrological variables, study of glaciers and cryospheric systems, monitoring and modelling, changing estimation of glaciers in different climatologically regimes of the western Himalayas, long term hydrological data generation in selected climatic regimes, lake hydrology studies, floods and flash floods, water quality studies, water resources management aspects in kandi belt, environmental flow assessment and technology transfer and mass awareness.
Among those present on the occasion included, Maj. General (Rtd) Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, Chief Engineers, PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Mr. Ashwani Sharma, Mr. K.K. Gupta, several environmentalists, scientists of NIH, SKUAST, PCB and Members of various NGOs. |
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