Thiruvananthapuram:  In a bid to address the state's water shortage, The Kerala government has decided to adopt water budget to find a solution to the water scarcity in the state

 Notably, the  state is adopting a water budget for the first time ever in India. The budget for water was announced here on Monday by the chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan. 15 block panchayats and 94 grama panchayats would be covered in the first phase. The chief minister stated at the ceremony that the state was experiencing a decrease in the amount of water available, and that a water budget would be useful in effectively utilising the resource and minimising waste.

Water experts applauded the idea and said it would assist the state in determining supply and demand of the priceless liquid resource and allocating it properly. They added that the issue wasn't one of availability but rather of management.

The Director of the SCMS Water Institute and a renowned limnologist named Dr. Sunny George said, "It is not a matter of scarcity; it is a managerial issue.  "Quantifying a resource is the first step in managing it. The fundamental tenet of managing any resource is that, he continued.

Without quantifying a resource, managing it would be like battling our own shadow. It would be challenging. We will have a clear picture if we have statistics on supply and demand. We'll be able to make the right plans. Budgeting is therefore quite beneficial. The Water Budget concept is unquestionably an excellent one, he said.

In addition to the state's abundant rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams as well as the significant amounts of rain the state receives beginning in May during the monsoon season, he claimed that Kerala had about 46 lakh open wells.

The wells that were excavated at private expense and serve as a source of water, however, have been forgotten since piped water connections arrived. So these wells must be considered as a source of water supply in the Water Budget data, he said.

T N Seema, the coordinator of "Navakeralam Karma Padhathi," agreed that although the state has an abundance of water, there is a summertime scarcity.

The water budget exercise that was conducted in the 94 grama panchayats of the 15 block panchayats, she said. All of the water sources in each panchayat, including rainfall, wetlands, canals, and other water bodies, have been taken into account by the volunteers, resource persons, and technical committee members. They have also calculated the demand from people and animals, agriculture, and industries. "So, specific recommendations have been provided to each panchayat as part of the Water Budget," she said.

In his speech following the inauguration of the Public Water Budget and the third phase of the project "Ini Njan Ozhukatte" (Let me flow now) for rehabilitation of irrigation networks in the Western Ghats, Pinarayi Vijayan noted that many areas of the southern state had been experiencing water scarcity during the summers despite having 44 rivers, numerous backwaters, lakes, ponds, streams, and good rains.

"As a result, water use needs to be controlled in accordance with local availability. The water budget enters into this situation. It would raise public awareness of needless water waste, and by doing so, we may achieve water conservation.

The CM stated that the project was unique to the nation and will serve as an example for other states to follow. His views take on weight given that Kerala has recently experienced extremely high temperatures along with water scarcity in many areas of the state.

The Chief Minister also mentioned a decline in water availability despite the state receiving significant rainfall each year. In spite of this, he asserted, Kerala has three times the amount of water availability as the rest of the country. He stated that "our actions and usage" was one of the many factors contributing to the decrease in water availability.

Local self-government institutions (LSGIs), which are now charged with carrying out the water budget, are actively working to build new ponds, safeguard our streams, and revitalise other water bodies, according to Pinarayi Vijayan.

The CM announced that a committee made up of representatives from the State Water Resources Department and the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management as well as diverse specialists will be responsible for creating the water budget

The Chief Minister said, the project's first and second phases resulted in the rehabilitation of approximately 7,290 kilometres of irrigation networks in the Western Ghats.  

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