TODAY several parts of the country are facing acute water crisis. Not only the traditional dry areas like Rajasthan, but areas, which receive high rainfall like Meghalaya and states of Eastern and North Eastern India, are also facing water shortage due to poor water management. According to Meghalaya Governor M. M. Jacob, water management is one of the greatest challenges before India and people particularly in Meghalaya seem to suffer from the “Cherrapunjee syndrome”.

“Today, we seem to suffer from Cherapunjee syndrome where despite an annual rainfall of 10,000 mm, water is not available for about eight months in an year in Meghalaya,” Mr. Jacob said recently, stressing the need of proper water management policy. The Meghalaya Governor further said that the ground water potential was being tapped in many parts of the country as its level was coming down every year and reiterated the importance of proper water conservation methods for water development and management.

The Governor opined that unplanned extraction of ground water without quality monitoring, results in arsenic and flurine pollution and added that the concerned ministry must take steps to tap water resources scientifically. The World Development Report has ranked India 133 among 180 nations in terms of availability of water and 120th among 122 in terms of quality of water.

Mr. Jacob said there were only two possible management options for maintaining the groundwater balance of the local aquifers — first to control and regulate the boring of new wells and second to augment the ground water recharge through artificial recharge methods. “People should be discouraged from misusing and wasting ground water. They should be encouraged to avail alternative sources of water,” the Governor said. He said rainwater harvesting techniques were more suitable to sub-mountainous and hilly terrain like Meghalaya and could improve the ground water balance of the area during dry season by augmenting ground water recharge in unconfined aquifers and also to provide the water at the time and place of need. The best suited are urban areas where due to anthropogenic activities the ground water balance has been adversely affected, he observed. It may be mentioned here that rain water harvesting method adopted by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has yielded good results in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President also on various occasions has stressed the need of proper water management.

As per an estimate in 1990, drinking table water per person was calculated at 40 liters and 30 liters for cattle in the desert village with no source. Following the UN water conference in 1977, water decade programme was launched in 1981, to provide drinking water for all. In the surveys that followed, it was found that in several villages’ available water sources had dried up.

The Governor said the adverse effect was clearly visible in the form of decrease in discharges, deterioration of water quality and deepening of wells to tap deep-seated aquifers. He urged the state authorities to pay attention to the absence of fresh water in Meghalaya though the State is blessed with plenty of rainfall.

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