Resource detail

Amid growing decline of per capital annual availability of water in India, different central ministries have resolved to chalk out a joint strategy to ensure efficient use of the natural resource and devise a mechanism of "water audit" for various users, including industries and civic bodies across the country. Such an audit may be done by an autonomous body — Bureau of Water Use Efficiency — that will ensure best practices of water use in industries, agriculture and municipal bodies. Bureau of Water Use Efficiency will be set up on the line of BEE (Bureau of Energy Efficiency), and it work to stop leakages through propagating best practices of water use. "The audit may be linked to a strict water regulation and pricing mechanism where the non-efficient users will face disincentive for wastage," said an official of the water resources ministry. The urgency in this direction was shown at the second India Water Forum, where experts from various organizations appealed to the government during a convention, to explore and evolve new concept related to water regulation and pricing mechanism. Referring to the figures showing how the country is gradually staring at a water crisis, participants at the Forum — organized by TERI in association with water resources and other central ministries — pitched for adopting new technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation at a wider scale to conserve water in agriculture.