Water Management

A workshop on ‘Understanding and resolving water conflicts in the North East India', was organized by Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India (Forum), in collaboration with Aaranyak (Guwahati), Centre for the Environment, IIT (Guwahati), Arghyam (Bangalore), SaciWATERs-CapNet Network (SCaN) and Cap-Net to discuss emerging issues related to water conflicts and their resolution in the region. This workshop was held in Guwahati on January 23-26, 2012. It aimed at presenting concepts and theory related water conflicts as well as issues especially relevant to the North East Region.

Guest post by: Raju Mimi

The Hindu Kush-Himalayan region has had very few resources to develop a detail scientific understanding needed to assess climatological, environmental, and other data in the past and there is very little information upon which a baseline for comparison with the present can be formed and future impacts can be anticipated.

It includes the present and planned water utilisation across sectors and uses, within a framework of environment, conservation and sustainability. It also examined the present institutional arrangements for water resources management and assessed the requirements for institutional development, improvement in data collection and analysis, catchment and agriculture planning, and other reforms required to ensure sustainable water resources management.

Description:
The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) is revising the National Water Policy after almost ten years and has held public consultations with different stakeholders over 2010-2011. The new draft policy has been put up on the Ministry's website, attached below, comments are invited till 29 February 2012.

It also deals with the threat to the biodiversity in the area due to climate changes and argues for the need to devise adaptation strategies at an urgent level to preserve the unique genetic variability of the region and the indigenous knowledge of farming practices in the area.

This was done as a part of a project that aimed at compiling scientifically robust and impartial information on the physical impacts of climate change for more than 20 countries.

It aims to strengthen the capacities of rural communities in India to live with climate variability and change. The work includes supporting governments of four partner states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, local communities and other relevant stakeholders in identifying, developing and carrying out adaptation measures in pilot regions.

The impact of sewage pollution on these fish ponds and on the ecosystem is evaluated. Similarly, remedial measures to maintain water quality and to improve resource recovery efficiency are suggested.