The State has stood second in the latest rankings of the National Hydrology Project (NHP). The rankings for May 2020 were released by the Central government on Friday.
Only the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) is placed above Kerala in the 'surface water' category. Kerala had stood seventh when States/agencies implementing NHP were ranked last in March this year.
The DVC pipped Kerala in the rankings by just 0.67 points, Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty's office said. The department attributed Kerala's achievement to the steady work put in by the hydrology wing of the Irrigation Design and Research Board (IDRB).
Forty-four surface and ground water agencies in the States, Union Territories and river basin organisations were ranked on the basis of assessment of annual rainfall and water flow in rivers, real-time data collection, conduct of training programmes and data digitisation.
Meanwhile, in the ground water category, Kerala continued its poor performance though it improved its position compared to previous years. In the latest rankings, Kerala has stood 16th in the ground water category, which is considered 'below average.'
“After the 2018 floods, the Water Resources Department has been adopting an integrated approach is areas such as hydrology and reservoir management. Moreover, in 2019, the department had also started work on real-time data acquisition pertaining to water resources management,” said K.A. Joshy, former chief engineer (IDRB).
The NHP is a 100% Central sector scheme with a total allocation of ₹44 crore for Kerala. It aims at improving the extent, quality and accessibility of information on water resources; strengthening the capacity of water resources management institutions; and establishing an effective and sound hydrologic database.
