At a time when the state is debating the introduction of a company for the supply of potable water, the government is also mooting a project to set up water management committees at the village level across the state. This is based on the model already in place in some parts of Thrissur, where committees formed by River Research Centre, an NGO dedicated for the protection of rivers, operate in six panchayats. The organisation has submitted a proposal to the government to replicate the same across the state. Minister for Water Resources P J Joseph told Express that “the project will be studied and will be considered for implementation across the state”.
Mala, Kadukutty, Pariyaram, Mattathur, Meloor and Koratty panchayats had formed village-level water management committees to evaluate the availability and usage of water in these areas. These panchayats are also planning water budgeting and auditing. Water budgeting is an estimate of the harvest of water resources and its utilisation for a set period of time. It is a process to understand how much water is available to a specific region in various forms and from various sources and what the actual water requirement is, based on the present scenario. Lauding the initiative, Environmentalist C R Neelakandan said that water resource management has to be done by local bodies not by charitable organisations or NGOs.
“Water management committees initiated by local bodies are operational in many other states. In Kerala, this can be implemented easily as local self government bodies are powerful here. Only 30 per cent of the people in the state have drinking water supply. Considering the predicted water scarcity, it has to be made mandatory that the water resources should be managed by local bodies by forming committees with the active involvement of the residents”, he added.
Terming the project as sustainable, Latha Anantha, Director, River Research Centre said that village-level water management committees in the six panchayats of Thrissur district have proved very effective for water preservation. “The water table is depleting in the state. Local level action is the immediate remedy for the problem. By creating awareness among residents regarding river protection and water conservation, the issue of drinking water scarcity can be solved easily”, she said.
