Telangana being in semi arid zone has been experiencing a severe water stress and hence, there is an urgent need to formulate a water policy and study the climatic changes on the rainfall as it affects agricultural activities and livelihoods, said Environment, Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI) Director General Kalyan Chakravarthy.
“Ours is a water-starved region and prone to droughts and the demand is about to increase by 40% in next two decades. We need to come up with a plan to meet this challenges in a sustainable manner covering various water resources, their management, gaps between supply and demand etc.,” he said, at a workshop held to deliberate on State specific action plan on climate change on Monday.
Organised in association with the British Deputy High Commission here and SaciWaters - South Asia consortium for interdisciplinary water resources studies, workshop was attended by officials and scientists from various State and Central Government departments.
The EPTRI is the nodal agency for TS to prepare the climate change plan and the DG called for joint consultation between departments for successful adoption of climate change strategy and water resilience to effectively manage climate extremities.
British Deputy High Commissioner Andrew McAllister pointed out that the TS had prioritised water management with initiatives like Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha. The next step should be to strengthen convergence across government in policy-making and delivery.
The need for proper planning to make use of every drop of rainfall through water harvesting and water sheds, besides making effective use of weather forecasting to help the farmers was emphasised by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Hyderabad Director Y.K. Reddy.
The EPTRI’s senior scientist J. Sesha Srinivas presented the draft report, ex-chairman, environmental appraisal committee for river valley projects, P.G. Sastry, SaciWATERs ED Sucharita Sen and others also spoke.
