NGO imparts know-how in water resource mgmt.

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 26 (EMN): In order to educate people in water resource management, an experts-students interactive session was conducted at the North East Network (NEN) resource centre, on March 26 in Kohima. The slogan for the seminar was ‘Leaving no one behind: Water for all,’ organised by the NEN.

A scientist at the Nagaland Science & Technology Council (Nastec), Dr Nesatalu Hiese observed that water can be a “matter of life and death, depending on how it occurs and how it is managed.” Speaking of water resource management in Nagaland, she said that the ‘quality of drinking water, and accessibility to it, are a problem in the rural areas of of the state: Nearly 60 per cent of the rural population does not have pipe water supply.

According to the scientist, 195 villages have water supply while more than 508 villages do not have proper supply of water.

According to Niti Aayog, Nagaland comes under the worst water resource management group, standing at 28th out of 29 states in the country. She felt that the reason for the state ‘facing acute shortage of water’ is to do with improper management of water on its part.

The state capital Kohima faced with acute water shortage in during dry season, she pointed out. According to PHED report, 2014 Kohima faced with shortage to as much as 8.8 million litres per day. The current supply is 1.2 million litres, she added.

Some of the major issues concern of water management included the nature of erratic distribution of rainfall; inefficient water use; unregulated groundwater extraction and unsustainable management; water pollution; and population pressure. Poor water quality due to open defecation, poor waste management and Inter-village River disputes, poor management, have resulted in a severe water shortage and led to a growing number of conflicts between agricultural users and domestic, she said. On the other hand the situation is aggravated by climate change, the scientist said.

She suggested some ways that can help in solving water scarcity issue. These are the integrated catchment area treatment plant, rainwater harvesting, surface run-off check, spring rejuvenation, groundwater recharge through artificial structure, water recycle/reuse/reclaim and watershed management.

Further she advised that capacity building and awareness creation for the conscious use of water is the need of the hour. Although Water Policy is implemented in the state, she felt it did not incorporated policies based on local tradition. Therefore, it needs to incorporate traditions water policies as well as more research input is required.

“Technological advances for improving irrigation efficiency, use of lower quality water (including reclaimed wastewater), reduction of system losses from water systems and other developments indicate considerable potential for conserving existing water supplies and for making better use of what is available,” Heise said.
During the session, students, leaders and youth also raised queries in relating to water management in the state.