President Droupadi Murmu has appealed to scientists, town planners and innovators to try to develop techniques that help conserve water resources, noting that technology can play a key role in ensuring India's water security.
Speaking at the seventh edition of India Water Week, Ms. Murmu said providing clean water is a big challenge which requires cooperation from all sections of the society.
"There will be a need to effectively conserve water to meet the demands of our future generation and technology will play an important role in it. Hence, it is my appeal to scientists, town planners and innovators that they try to develop techniques for conservation of water resources," she said.
She also appealed to the common people, farmers, industrialists and especially children to make water conservation a part of their ethics.
"Only then, we will be able to gift a better and safer tomorrow to the coming generations," she said.
Noting that the present situation on water security is worrying, Ms. Murmu said "due to the increasing population, the condition of our rivers and reservoirs is deteriorating" and village ponds are drying up and many local rivers have become extinct.
"Water is being overexploited in agriculture and industries. The environmental balance on the earth is getting disturbed, weather patterns are changing and unseasonal excessive rainfall has become common. In such a situation, discussing the management of water is a very commendable step," she said.
The President said the issue of water is relevant not only for India but for the entire world.
"This issue is linked to national security too as the vast amount of available freshwater is spread between two or more countries. Therefore, this combined water resource is an issue in which international cooperation is necessary," she said.
The President said water is a major resource for agriculture as well.
According to an estimate, about 80% of the water resource in our country is used for agricultural purposes.
"Therefore, proper use and management of water in irrigation is very important for water conservation," she said.
Calling the 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana' a major initiative in this area, Ms. Murmu said this nationwide scheme is being implemented to increase the irrigated area in the country.
"In line with water conservation goals, the scheme also envisages adoption of precision-irrigation and water saving technologies to ensure per drop more crop," she added.
The President said that providing clean drinking water to the growing population will be a big challenge in the coming years.
"The issue of water is multifaceted and complex, for which efforts should be made by all stakeholders. We all know that water is limited and only its proper use and recycling can sustain this resource for a long time. Therefore, all of us should try to consume this resource carefully," she said.
She urged people to be aware of its misuse and make others aware about water conservation.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat underlined the need to adopt a holistic approach to conserve water resources.
In this complex world, the issues related to water security have multi-sector challenges and to effectively tackle them, we need to adopt a holistic approach and keeping that in view, our government merged various divisions working on water resources and it has set an example in front of the world, he said.
Spelling out the challenges put forth by climate change, Mr. Shekhawat said erratic and scanty rainfall has further aggravated the challenges in the field.
Mr. Shekhawat said the government is following 5P principles in tackling the challenges of water conservation.
The principles, he said, are — political will, public spending, partnerships, people's participation and persuasion. "We are working on all these principles".
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present at the event, said the State has managed to rejuvenate 60 rivers.
"In one part of the State, there are many rivers from the Himalayas which carry silt with them. There were no previous attempts to channelise them and to rejuvenate them, but now with our attempts, 60 rivers have been rejuvenated," he said.
Talking about rejuvenation of the Ganga river, he said even dolphins have returned to the Ganga now.
"We can say now that NMCG [National Mission for Clean Ganga] is an ideal example of how to carry out river rejuvenation," he said.
The Chief Minister said by providing clean water, deaths due to Japanese encephalitis have dropped by 95% in the northern State between 2017 and 2021.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel said providing clean water will also play an important role in fighting malnutrition in the country and can help save many children's lives.
The India Water Week, a five-day event, has brought together experts, planners and stakeholders from across the globe to address the issues of sustainability of water resources development and management in line with sustainable development goals.
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