TS mulls water Audit in 10 dists

Water Bodies Act also on the cards

Hyderabad: The Telangana government is contemplating to carry out a ‘Water Audit’- a systematic and scientific examination of water accounts of all projects in the State. This will give a clear picture about the amount of water present in major, medium and minor irrigation projects and the extent of ayacut and utilisation of water in each season.

The Centre had taken the initiative in this regard in December 2005 and issued guidelines for water audit of projects. Every State was directed to prepare its own guidelines considering the peculiarities and necessities of each State. According to government sources, the Congress government led by Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy did the ground work to implement the audit in undivided Andhra Pradesh but dropped the idea later for reasons unknown.

A senior official from the irrigation department said that neighbouring States of Maharashtra and Karnataka have been carrying out a water audit for quite some time now and are reaping benefits out of it. Rajendra Singh, popularly known as Waterman of India, suggested the Telangana government to go for water auditing to achieve positive results. Senior officials of the irrigation department had also put up the proposal previously to the government.

Elaborating the details, an irrigation expert pointed out that water auditing will give an exact picture of its utilisation from every water body. “There is also a chance to audit tanks and lakes under Mission Kakatiya, mandal or district wise. It will not only enable better management of water but will also help other departments related to agriculture,” he said.

A water audit determines the amount of water used in different sectors, lost from a distribution system due to leakage and the cost of this lost utility. A comprehensive water audit can give a detailed profile of distribution system and water users, thereby facilitating easier and effective management criteria for resources and improved reliability in its availability and uses.

It may also prove as an effective tool for realistic understanding and assessment of present performance level of the service for future expansion purposes. Water auditing process involves checking of sector-wise water use against project planning, preliminary irrigation programme and assessment of Irrigation System Performance (ISP) and losses actually realised on the projects. This will provide information about loss of water in the system.

Water Bodies Act

Meanwhile, the State government is understood to be seriously exploring introduction of Water Bodies Act to safeguard tanks and lakes, especially in urban areas where there is a huge setback due to encroachments. “Such legislation is already in place in Karnataka.

Hence, no problem was encountered in the recent removal of illegal encroachments that came up under the FTL limits of various lakes in Bengaluru,” a senior official reminded. This Act will be of big help in Telangana since Hyderabad is plagued by the problem of encroachments of hundreds of water bodies.

By Mahesh Avadhutha