Conservation and management of water sources in Himachal Pradesh
Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal is being implemented by Government of India, in partnership with States since August, 2019, which aims at providing potable water in adequate quantity (55 litres per capita per day) of prescribed quality (BIS:10500) on regular and long-term basis to every rural household, including in Himalayan region, through tap water connection, by 2024
As informed by the Department of Water Resources, Jal Shakti Abhiyan was conducted in 2019 in 1592 blocks out of 2836 blocks in 256 water stressed districts of the country and was expanded as “Jal Shakti Abhiyan:Catch the Rain” (JSA:CTR) in 2021 with the theme “Catch the Rain – Where it Falls When it Falls” to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas), across the country. “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” (JSA: CTR) -2022 campaign, the third in the series of JSAs, has been launched on 29.3.2022 to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country including Himachal Pradesh.
The focused interventions of the campaign include (1) water conservation and rainwater harvesting (2) enumerating, geo-tagging & making inventory of all water bodies; preparation of scientific plans for water conservation based on it (3) Setting up of Jal Shakti Kendras in all districts (4) intensive afforestation and (5) awareness generation.
As per the information available on JSA:CTR portal (jsactr.mowr.gov.in20.), the following water related works/ afforestation works have been completed/ on-going in the country as a whole and in Himachal Pradesh since 29.03.2022 as on 08.02.2023:
| Intervention | Total in Country | In Himachal Pradesh |
| Water Conservation and RWH | 12,08,147 | 8,905 |
| Renovation of Traditional Water Bodies | 2,63,576 | 1,552 |
| Reuse and Recharge Structures | 8,66,419 | 736 |
| Watershed Development: | 16,08,099 | 28,674 |
| Total water related works | 39,46,241 | 39,867 |
| Intensive Afforestation | 78,38,14,609 | 55,046 |
| No. of districts where Jal Shakti Kendra has been established | 608 | 12 |
Furthermore, 15th Finance Commission in its report for 2021-22 to 2025-26, has earmarked 60 percent of the tied grants for water and sanitation related activities of which 50 percent is water component to be utilised by Rural Local Bodies/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI).
The Dynamic Ground Water Resources of the country including Himachal Pradesh are being periodically assessed jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Governments. Further, CGWB is monitoring the ground water levels throughout the Country including Himachal Pradesh on a regional scale, through a network of monitoring wells including springs. At present, CGWB is monitoring 170 wells and 24 springs in Himachal Pradesh. In addition, CGWB generates ground water quality data on a regional scale during various scientific studies and ground water quality monitoring including springs throughout the country including Himachal Pradesh.
CGWB is implementing Ground Water Management and Regulation Scheme which is a Central Sector Scheme. Under this Scheme, CGWB has constructed a Check dam cum groundwater dam across the NakerKhad Stream at Dehra, District Kangra.
As per Government of Himachal Pradesh, the following new technologies are planned for conservation and upgradation of conventional water sources: –
i.) Snow Harvesting
ii.) Formation of ice-stupa
iii.) IoT based system
iv.) Strengthening of source by construction of embankment. check dam etc.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Prahalad Singh Patel in Rajya Sabha .
