News from the "3rd International Ground Water Conference" at Coimbatore
Groundwater advisory council for artificial recharge
Coimbatore : The UPA government has decided to constitute an 'Artificial Recharge of Groundwater Advisory Council,' for working with water experts and NGOs and take steps on conserving rainwater and recharging groundwater, Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said today.
"The government has also initiated programme for action research in about 5000 villages and training one water man and one water woman in each village with the objective of ensuring more crop and income per drop of water, Soz said, after inaugurating a four-day '3rd International Ground Water Conference' at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,Coimbatore, here.
Water availability was bound to improve sanitation, safe hygiene practices and better health standards, he said.
Groundwater was a most important resource for drinking water particularly in rural areas, the minister said adding about 45 per cent of the irrigation potential created in India was through development of groundwater resources.
There have been instances of over-exploitation of groundwater resources in certain areas leading to decline in the groundwater table.Such over exploitation was definitely not desirable as it affected the sustainability of the resources and also caused deterioration of the quality of groundwater.
Degradation of the quality of water also resulted from excessive and indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in agriculture,he said.
Soure:newkerala
