New Delhi: Highlighting the importance of water conservation in the wake of spreading water crisis across the country, President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said that water conservation is a big challenge before the country and we must conserve water for the future generations.
Kovind was speaking at the first joint seating of the Parliament as part of the Budget session that began on June 17.
"The government is aware of the climate change and water crisis. The formation of Jal Shakti ministry is a step in that direction. We should show the same awareness to water conservation that we have shown to the government's cleanliness drive," he added.
News18 had earlier reported that according to a document prepared by the Jal Shakti ministry, households in West Bengal, Meghalaya and Bihar have the least access to piped water supply. It elaborates that the states have just one per cent households with piped water supplies. A total of nine states have less than 5 per cent access and 13 states fall under the 10 per cent category. The document also lists seven states with more than 50 per cent supply.
Meghalaya has the highest supply of piped water to households with 99 per cent connections.
In order to deal with the impending crisis, the ministry has devised a new scheme named “Nal se Jal” (water from the tap) for each house in villages in the next five years as promised in BJP’s election manifesto.
Officials informed that the rollout of the scheme will involve recharging groundwater through point recharge sources, basic treatment and re-use of grey-water for agriculture, de-silting minor irrigation tanks and rejuvenation of water bodies.
“There will be a huge focus on the campaign for creating awareness and behaviour change for the conservation of water,” P Iyer, secretary drinking water and sanitation, said last week.
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