Chennai: The two-day ‘All India Secretaries’ Conference on Water Vision @ 2047 – Way Ahead’ concluded in Mahabalipuram, Chennai. The conference aimed to strengthen the water security of the country and had participants from 32 states and Union Territories, with over 300 delegates sharing best practices and actions taken on the 22 recommendations from the 1st All India Annual State Ministers Conference on Water held in January 2023.
The 22 recommendations covered various aspects of water management, including prioritizing drinking water and its source sustainability, building climate resilience, enhancing water storage, promoting water use efficiency, and encouraging people’s participation, among others.
The conference included five thematic sessions on climate resilience & river health, water governance, water use efficiency, water storage & management, and people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari).
Key Takeaways:
Climate Resilience & River Health:
- Climate change will lead to frequent extreme events like floods and droughts.
- Need for climate-resilient infrastructure, including storages and interlinking of rivers.
- Non-structural measures such as floodplain zoning and early warning systems are crucial.
- Maintenance of environmental flow (eflow) and water quality is essential for river health.
- Use of state-of-the-art technology for short, medium, and long-term weather prediction.
Water Governance:
- States need to constitute Water Resources Regulatory Authority.
- Formulation of State Water Policy on the lines of the National Water Policy.
- Development of River Basin Plan for every river basin in the country.
- Establishment of State Water Informatics Centre aligned with NWIC.
- Rationalized water tariff mechanism development by states.
- Adoption of a framework for safe reuse of treated wastewater by states.
Water Use Efficiency:
- Efficient utilization of existing projects is as important as developing new projects.
- Encouraging the use of micro-irrigation and reducing the IPC-IPU gap.
- States expressing interest in water accounting and benchmarking initiatives.
- Convergence between minor and major irrigation through various initiatives.
- Emphasizing modernization along with Piped Irrigation Network.
Water Storage & Management:
- Enhancement of storage through large and small storage projects.
- Regular dredging and efficient implementation of other O&M measures.
- Promotion of interventions such as buffer storage tanks, snow harvesting, and land reclamation.
- Promotion of artificial recharge to groundwater on a large scale.
People’s Participation /Jan Bhagidari:
- Empowering farmers and involving them in water management through Water User Associations.
- Community mobilization efforts through PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions).
- Stakeholder involvement at every stage and capacity building.
- Involvement of young minds in Jan Andolan for fresh ideas and youthful energy.
- Adoption of a bottom-up planning approach.
The conference concluded with the proposal to create an action group of Secretaries to focus on taking the Water Vision@2047 agenda forward through continuous dialogue and deliberations. Appreciation was expressed to the Government of Tamil Nadu for its support in organizing the conference and bringing together all states, UTs, central departments, and ministries on a single platform.