State Planning Board member G. Vijayaraghavan has called for water auditing at the level of households and individuals to tide over the worsening issue of water shortage.
Delivering the inaugural address at the launch of a survey in connection with a water audit for Kochi Corporation’s city water policy at the council hall here on Saturday, he said water was set to become a bone of contention between States, local bodies and even among individual households unless water conservation measures including rain water harvesting were undertaken.
He said the corporation’s initiative to bring out city water policy with the assistance of the SCMS Water Institute was a good example of private-public participation. He hailed the civic body for preparing a scientific basis for policy formulation unlike most government policy initiatives.
“The proposed policy should not be for one or two years but set long term goals,” Mr. Vijayaraghavan said.
In his presidential address, Mayor Tony Chammany said the proposed water policy would be a guiding document in the proper utilisation of available water resources within the corporation considering the acute water shortage.
The corporation decided to go for the first-of-its-kind water policy by a local body notwithstanding national and State-level policies on realising that a policy based on regional factors such as geography and population was equally relevant.
G.P.C. Nayar, chairman, SCMS Group, was the chief guest. Corporation Secretary V.R. Raju explained the project. Welfare Standing Committee chairperson Essy Joseph and Education Standing Committee chairman R. Thyagarajan were also present.
Deputy Mayor B. Bhadra welcomed the gathering and Corporation Town Planning Standing Committee Chairman K.J. Sohan proposed vote of thanks.
‘The proposed water policy should not be for one or two years but set long term goals’.
