Times of India: New Delhi: Thursday, March 14, 2013.
Amid growing
concerns over the quality and availability of water, the government is giving
final shape to a policy that will allow citizens and other stakeholders to
access hydrological information at the click of a mouse and also participate in
informed decision-making.
The draft
Hydro-meteorological Data Dissemination Policy 2013 formulated by the water
resources ministry is expected to be given final shape next month and implemented
by June.
The policy
deals with ground water and surface water data obtained by the Central Water
Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). It also deals with
classified data relating to cross-boundary rivers such as the Indus, the Ganga
and the Brahmaputra and delineates the procedure for obtaining such
information.
A senior
official of the water resources ministry said the comprehensive availability of
data will aid researchers in hydrological analysis, assist project developers
in their design and planning tasks and enable citizens to know about the
quality and quantity of ground water.
"Putting
out hydrological information in an easy-to-access format will serve an
important public purpose. It will create awareness about water, which is
getting increasingly scarce," a senior official, who could not be named as
per government rules, told IANS.
He said
students and researchers have to struggle for information as it is scattered
and is sometimes beyond their reach. "Once the policy comes into force,
they will get comprehensive information on the click of a button. Citizens can
click on their district in the map and know about the ground water situation
and water quality. The policy will also facilitate rational debate and allow
for better decision making," the official pointed out.
He said the
information will be available on IndiaWRIS (Water Resources Information System)
website in a standardized national GIS ( Geographic Information System)
framework.
"With
several states locked in disputes over water, the policy will allow
stakeholders to get information on the ground water situation and reservoir
storage and enable them to form informed opinion on whether a state is in a
position to release surface water or not," said the official, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity.
The draft
policy has classified the hydro-meteorological data into three regions, given
the sensitivities attached to information relating to cross-boundary rivers.
Region-I
includes the Indus basin and other rivers and their tributaries discharging
into Pakistan. Region-II includes the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin and other
rivers and their tributaries discharging into Bangladesh. Region-III includes
the remaining Indian rivers and their tributaries.
The policy
states that data of Region-I and II is classified, while that of Region-III is
unclassified.
It also classifies
users into three categories: Indian commercial users, Indian non-commercial
users and foreign users.
The draft
policy states that classified data will be released for specific purposes only
and will be non-transferable. The request for classified data needs to be
accompanied by a secrecy undertaking.
It also notes
that a representative of the external affairs ministry will be invited to
meetings of the Classified Data Committee if requests for such data are
received from foreign agencies.
Indian
non-commercial users will be supplied classified data free of cost, except the
cost of printing and photocopying, as in the case of RTI (Right To Information)
queries.
Indian
commercial and foreign users will be supplied classified data on payment of Rs
75,000 per site per annum.
The policy
states that unclassified data not on the website can be obtained free from the
CWC without any secrecy undertaking.
The CWC and
the CGWB will be the implementing agencies for the new policy.
The CWC
compiles data on parameters such as river water level, river discharge,
sediment flow and water quality. It also observers selected meteorological
parameters including rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, maximum-minimum
temperature and wind velocity.
The CGWB has
around 15,600 observation wells in the country that collect data about water
level and water quality. The board categorises blocks as safe, semi-critical,
critical, over-exploited and saline.
The
hydro-meteorological data dissemination policy flows from the National Water
Policy 2012, which states that all hydrological data, other than those
classified on national security considerations, should be in the public domain.
The official
said it was vital to create awareness as India is "water-stressed"
with per capita availability estimated at 1,545 cubic metres. According to a
global benchmark, sub-1,700 cubic metres per capita availability makes a
country "water stressed".
"Several
parts of the country also face a problem of depletion of ground water and its
contamination through fluoride, arsenic, iron, nitrate and heavy metals, apart
from salinity. High concentration of pollutants in ground water can cause
severe health problems," the official said.
The official
said that 85 percent of of rural water supply in the country depends on ground
water as the source.
The water
resources ministry has invited suggestions from all stakeholders, as also from
states, on the draft policy by the end of March.
"The
policy will be given final shape by April. Another month or so will be required
to place the data on the web in the required format. We will be able to
implement the policy from June," the official said.
.JPG)
.JPG)
