Judicious use of available water resources is the need of the hour. Issues related to water resources should be given utmost importance, said Dr. J. Krishnamoorthy, Deputy Director, Indian Space Research Organisation here recently.
Inaugurating a two-day national-level seminar on “Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS on Water Resources Management” recently at the Jayam College of Engineering, Nallanur in Dharmapuri district, Dr. Krishnamoorthy said over exploitation of ground water should be regulated.
He also advocated the urgent need for augmenting methods such as inter-basin transfer, artificial recharge of ground water, desalination of brackish water, roof top rain water harvesting etc.
Authorities should take proper measures to maintain the catchments of river basin, increase the surface water storage in the reservoirs and reduce sedimentation problems.
Meticulous planning will help to strike a balance between economic development and conservation of resources. Systematic inventory of the natural resources on regular intervals is the first step. With the advent of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS), it has become possible to generate and regularly update the natural resources information.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy also said the Indian Space Research Programme was application-driven rather than being driven by technology.
The data from Remote Sensing Satellites are being put to use in several applications such as agriculture, land and water resources, forestry, environment, natural disasters, mineral prospecting and infrastructure development.
The GIS technology is being used to identify the prospective zones of ground water in the country, prioritisation of sub watersheds , Integrated watershed development planning, reservoir capacity estimation, sedimentation assessment of major reservoirs, Dr. Krishnamoorthy said.
