BHUBANESWAR: The state government has identified five water stressed districts for source sustainability for drinking water under ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2023’ programme. Focused interventions of the campaign include consolidation of activities such as water conservation and rainwater harvesting; enumerating, geo-tagging and making inventory of all water bodies; preparation of scientific plans for water conservation based on setting up of Jal Shakti Kendras; intensive afforestation and awareness generation.
The five districts to be covered under Jal Shakti Abhiyan 2023 are Angul, Bargarh, Gajapati, Jharsuguda and Sundargarh. These districts were identified for undertaking source strengthening of rural drinking water supply schemes based on inputs from the state and Central Ground Water Board’s compilation on groundwater resources.
The water resources department, the nodal department for implementation of the programme, has proposed departments concerned for geo-tagging of all water sources of drinking water supply schemes. At least one recharge structure will be identified for implementation in each groundwater drinking supply source and geo-tagging of such recharge structures will also be done.
Sanitation survey and source protection works will also be undertaken in villages where piped water supply is based on groundwater or spring sources, the department said.The housing and urban development department has been asked to take up water conservation in urban areas and rejuvenation of urban water bodies and urban wetlands by involving urban local bodies.
The department has been advised to strictly enforce building bye-laws mandating rain water harvesting (RWH) and incentivise those who are implementing RWH.Similarly, the education department has been advised to take up roof-top rain water harvesting structures on the buildings of schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions.
The mandate for the Agriculture department is to promote bio-diverse crops which are not water guzzlers such as millets and horticulture crops. Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) will be given training on water saving crops and practices by water experts.