Public participation must be ensured for water conservation efforts, says Haryana CM Khattar

Manohar Lal Khattar. File Pic

Public participation has to be ensured for water conservation efforts, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday, and called for the adoption of the "3-R" concept of "Reduce, Recycle and Reuse".

Khattar, who was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day Water Conclave organised by the Haryana Water Resources Authority in Panchkula, added that there is a need to pay attention to conservation in today's time.

"For water conservation, public participation is to be ensured in the campaign to save water as it cannot be successful without their participation," he said.

One of the objectives of the conclave is to make people aware about water conservation.

Khattar, before addressing the gathering, remembered former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who died at 95 on Tuesday.

Khattar said Badal always talked about the peasants and described him as a "messiah of farmers", according to a statement.

Khattar also dedicated the conclave to the Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch.

The chief minister said Haryana is an agrarian state and the farmers are its most important stakeholders.

He said most of the water is consumed in industries and homes for purposes other than drinking. However, water is available in a very limited quantity and 85 blocks of the state are in the 'dark zone' today.

The 'dark zone' is an area where groundwater depletion exceeds the rate of recharge.

Haryana does not have any natural source of water, relying only on rainwater and naturally flowing water from the mountains, the chief minister added.

"In addition, water is supplied from the Yamuna river along with that of the Satluj, Ravi and Beas through the Bhakra Dam," he said.

"At present, the water availability in Haryana is 20 Million Acre Feet (MAF) while the demand is 34 MAF. The challenge for us is to bridge this 14-MAF gap," Khattar added.

To meet this gap between water demand and availability, rainwater harvesting systems will have to be set up. Apart from this, the capacities of reservoirs, ponds and lakes will need to be increased and groundwater recharging done, he said.

"In today's time, the soil layer has become solid with the use of pesticides, due to which there is a big problem in groundwater recharge," Khattar said and added that there is a need to pay attention to this.

The chief minister asserted the need to work for water conservation and its management.

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To meet the demand for water, there is a need to adopt the concept of "3-R, that is, Reduce, Recycle and Reuse", Khattar added.

The Haryana chief minister said 200 sewage treatment and wastewater treatment plants have been set up in the state to promote the use of treated water.

The chief minister said the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran has started a new experiment in the developed sectors by connecting homes with two pipelines -- one for drinking water and the second for other uses.

Citing the example of Singapore, Khattar said, "Treated water is being used for drinking purposes there while we are currently using treated water only for irrigation and other purposes.

"We also need to study new technologies and move forward in this direction. Not only this, along with regulating the demand and use of water, its infrastructure has to be strengthened. Only then we will be able to save water."

During the conclave, Haryana Water Resources Authority Chairperson Keshni Anand Arora gave a detailed presentation to the chief minister on several points, including assessment of groundwater depth across the state, availability of water, its use and methods to fill the gap between demand and supply.

Following the chief minister's instructions, an action plan has been prepared by the departments to save water. During the two-day conclave, various points, including the action plan, harvesting of water and its proper use will be discussed, she said.

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