Faced with the grim situation of receding water table, the district panchayat will take the lead in safeguarding all sources of water in Ernakulam, Asha Sanil, president of the district panchayat, has said.
Ms. Sanil, while inaugurating the Janathipathya Jalasabha that was mooted for the conservation of waterbodies and other sources of water in the district, said the financial estimate for protecting 17 ponds would be completed soon. The representatives of people in village panchayats should take it upon themselves to protect waterbodies in their locality and the panchayat secretaries must oversee the implementation of plans thus devised.
District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla exuded the confidence that projects of such magnitude would reaffirm the people’s faith in effectively utilising them. Ernakulam, he said, had a total of 2,000 ponds under public, private and religious ownership.
Support extended
Mr. Safirulla pointed to the need to conserve each of these as a permanent asset and extended the district administration’s support to the programme.
Janathipathya Jalasabhas are meant to restore waterbodies and sources of water in the district by including them in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) spearheaded by village panchayats.
The Jalasabhas would have a water conservation supervision committee comprising nine people from the locality. It would also have people’s representatives, social workers, environment activities, women’s welfare workers, and technical experts on board.
The Jalasabha would meet monthly on last Sundays, which would be reviewed by the overseeing committee at the district level.
Sunny George, director of the SCMS Water Institute, who took part in the event, placed the need for protection of waterbodies in perspective by emphasising that Kerala, which lacked in soil depth, only received about 100 hours of rain in a year. Water scarcity would be the biggest challenge to be faced by the State after its formation, he warned while handling a class on the issue.
Mr. George said all regions of Kerala — the hills, plains and coastal belt — faced the threat of water shortage alike.
“The most beautiful substance on earth is water, which exists in different forms. The rising atmospheric temperature is indicative of an impending peril. It is scarcity of water that has led to the issues in West Asia. Unscientific approach to water sources was what resulted in the Chennai floods. The gravity of the issue in the city is evident from the fact that Kochi consumes 28 lakh litres of bottled water daily. Edappally consumes 6.5 lakh litres of water,” he said.
EVERY DROP COUNTS
Jalasabhas to restore waterbodies and sources by including them in MGNREGS
Each unit to have water conservation supervision committee comprising nine members
