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Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, the Union Minister for Water Resources has said that the indiscriminate withdrawal of ground water for meeting the increasing water demands for various uses in some parts of the country had led to over-exploitation of ground water resources, which in turn has resulted in drying up of existing wells, sea water ingress in coastal aquifers and deterioration in ground water quality. Chairing the “4th Meeting of Advisory Council on Artificial Recharge to Groundwater” here today, he has emphasized that the rain water harvesting and artificial recharge measures need to be adopted as a National Mission involving people from all walks of life. Awareness needs to be created amongst beneficiaries-women & children, farmers, industry for increasing water use efficiency and implementing artificial recharge measures. All stakeholders including NGOs and PRIs should also come forward and supplement Government efforts in ensuring artificial recharge of ground water.

The Minister has said that there are some areas where practices adopted on artificial recharge and water use efficiency by the farmers in coordination with NGOs have reversed the trend of depletion of ground water levels.

Shri U.N. Panjiar, Secretary,Ministry of Water Resources in his welcome address enumerated the importance of Ground Water conservation and Artificial Recharge considering the varied hydro geological and climatic conditions in the country .

The Members of the Advisory Council actively deliberated on issues related to artificial recharge to ground water and water management. The Council deliberated upon people’s participation in Artificial Recharge programmes and awareness for replication of successful programmes implemented by peoples participation like Andhra Pradesh Farmer Managed Ground Water System Project, Andhra Pradesh (APFAGS), Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation Scheme, Gujarat (SPPWCP) and Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajasthan. The Council also deliberated on integration of ground water data collected by different agencies on a common platform, which should be easily accessible on public domain.

One of the points for discussion was using flood water for recharge through traditional structure and natural depressions during the events as it is being witnessed this year. The success stories of water conservation to be highlighted and capacity building of grass root level people is a special issue. A nation wide painting competition to be launched on water related issues to create awareness on water conservation and artificial recharge.

The council also deliberated to encourage Industries and urban areas for practicing water use efficiency, replication of low cost artificial recharge. Categorization of water intensive industries for effective regulation of ground water withdrawal and ensuring implementation of Rain water harvesting was also discussed.

Advisory Council on Artificial Recharge to Ground Water was constituted on 17th April, 2006 with the objectives to identify priority areas and area- specific technologies for artificial recharge in coordination with various Central /State organizations, NGOs, Industries / Stakeholders etc., along with creation of awareness, education, capacity building, funding strategies and periodic review of actions taken by Centre and States

SK/RS
(Release ID :65770)