Our Correspondent
Kohima | June 27
The North East Initiative Development Agency (NEIDA), Nagaland, has shared the springshed development experiences from Nagaland at the national workshop on ‘Role of Civil Society Organizations in water security for sustainable development- Learning & Development.’
The national workshop was organized by National Water Mission (NWM), Ministry of Jal Shakti from June 23-24 at Kanha Shanti Vanam, Nandigama Mandal, Hyderabad, Telangana.
NWM is the implementing agency of Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain-2022 Campaign which was launched on 29th March, 2022 by President of India.
The campaign is implemented in all the districts of the country under the theme ‘Catch the Rain, where it falls, when it falls’.
During the workshop, Khrolhiwe-u Tsuhah, Project Associate from North East Initiative Development Agency (NEIDA), Nagaland, made a presentation on ‘Emerging Challenges and Opportunities in water sector for Indian Himalayan Region (Hilly States): Springshed Development Experiences from Nagaland.’
She informed the workshop that the implementation of Participatory Springshed Development in Nagaland is a successful model of an innovative public, private partnership (PPP) where resources are leveraged from existing government contributions with NGOs and communities for spring rejuvenation.
In 2018, a consortium comprising of Government of Nagaland, Department of Land Resources, Rural Development Department, NEIDA, Tata Trusts with technical support from People’s Science Institute and ACWADAM, Pune partnered to address the issue of drying springs in Nagaland.
It also aimed to build up expertise in the state in a scalable, scientific and participatory approach to spring rejuvenation.
Tsuhah said that 106 springs were rejuvenated in 11 districts covering 96 villages which have benefitted around 12,000 households.
More than 70 lakhs litres water storage capacity has been constructed to recharge groundwater in 130 hectares thereby ‘Catching the rain where it falls when it falls’.
This model is mentioned in the ‘Resource book on springshed management in the Himalayan Region’ published by NITI Aayog, IWMI and SDC.
She stressed on the need to improve the quality of implementation and coverage (scalability), more trained and competent people are required as para-hydrogeologists. A stronger focus should be given on behavioral changes towards springshed management and strengthening communities through capacity building, she added.
She also stressed on the need to bring the communities on board through the formation and capacity building of Water User Groups (WUGs) and the Village Council (VC).
Tsuhah opined that empowering women in understanding the concepts and benefits of springshed work is important, and also that landowner conflicts need to be looked as many of the catchment areas is privately owned by individuals and land prices are also going up due to commercialization.
Highlighting the importance of water quality, she said amount of water used for non-drinking requirements such a bathing and ablution has decreased as a consequence of the strong water usage protocols.
RECOMMENDATIONS
* Development of National/State policy for groundwater in mountain areas/states
* Mountain state specific national level scheme for groundwater management focusing on springs- Schemes to clearly outline the role of CSOs in implementation of such schemes
* At the state level, constitution of inter-departmental State Level Steering committee as water resources cuts across many departments and to include Universities and CSO
* More action research projects on springs
* Investment in technology and tools like online database portal for spring inventory and knowledge sharing; automated rain gauge, automated spring discharge measurement, software applications for collecting and analyzing data.
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