Southern States - Kerala   

Need for water conservation stressed

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR NOV. 16. The one-day workshop on `roof water harvesting and low cost technologies' organised here by the Kannur Water Conservation Society and the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) drove home the message that conservation of water resources, bio-resources and land was key to sustainable development.

The Executive Director of the CWRDM, E.J. James, in his key note address and later in his class on `Water scarcity in Kerala and methods for water conservation', underlined the need for urgent action to ensure that water resources were conserved for future generation as well. "There is no deficiency of water literacy in the State, but we have a feeling of abundance as far as availability of water is concerned," he said at the workshop held on November 15, adding that this feeling had created a sense of complacency with regard to issues concerning water conservation. The State was said to have 44 rivers, but only four of them could claim to be called medium rivers, he said.

Dr. James said that the State on an average got 75 per cent of rainwater during the two-and-half months of south-west monsoon, 10-15 per cent during the north-east monsoon and 10 per cent during the remaining six months. Although the State on an average recorded 3,000 ml annual rainfall, all areas in the State could not be expected to get that much rainfall, he said underlining the need for conserving and storing rain water for use during the summer months. Such conservation activities were important in northern districts where the north-eastern monsoon was weaker, he added.

Dr. James also said that the per capita water resource in the State was far less than the national average. The national average of per capita rainwater was 15,600 litres per head a day, while it was 12,500 litres in the State. Per capita surface water in the State was 1,652 litres as against the national average of 2,612 litres. The per capita ground water was just 780 litres per head a day, while the national average was 1280 litres, he said. Some places in Kerala had been experiencing hydrological drought and seasonal agricultural drought. The District Collector, K.S. Srinivas, inaugurated the workshopThe Kannur Municipal chairperson, M.C. Sreeja, the Agriculture Deputy Director, V.K. Muneera, the CWRDM scientist, Jayakumar, the Akikepadrika editor, Sree Padre, and the KWCS secretary, D. Krishnanadha Pai, spoke during the workshop

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