National water mission :
Launched on:
- The National Water Mission (NWM), under the aegis of the Ministry of Water Resources, is one of the eight missions being constituted under the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC).
- The NAPCC was launched by the Prime Minister in 2009 as a nation-wide effort to tackle climate change.
Ministry involved:
- The mission is regulated by Ministry of Jal Shakti
- Jalshakti minister – Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Constituency – Jodhpur, Rajasthan)
Objectives :
The main objective of the National Water Mission (NWM) is “conservation of water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within States through integrated water resources development and management”.
The five identified goals of the Mission are:
(a) comprehensive water data base in public domain and assessment of impact of climate change on water resource
(b) promotion of citizen and state action for water conservation, augmentation and preservation
(c) focused attention to vulnerable areas including over-exploited areas
(d) increasing water use efficiency by 20%
(e) promotion of basin level integrated water resources management.
About national water policy:
- National Water Policyis formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources of the Government of India to govern the planning and development of water resources and their optimum utilization. The first National Water Policy was adopted in September, 1987.
- It was reviewed and updated in 2002 and later in 2012.
- India accounts for 18% of the world population and about 4% of the world’s water resources.
- One of the solutions to solve the country’s water woes is to create Indian Rivers Inter-link.
- India has been successful in creating live water storage capacity of about 253 billion cubic meter(BCM) so far.
- In a first, the ecological needs of river have also been taken into consideration.
Monitoring Mechanism
About Mission
- India is faced with the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth while dealing with the global threat of climate change.
- This threat emanates from accumulated greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, anthropogenically generated through long term and intensive industrial growth and high consumption lifestyles in developed countries.
- While engaged with the international community to collectively and cooperatively deal with this threat, India needs a national strategy to firstly, adapt to climate change and secondly, to further enhance the ecological sustainability of India’s development path.
- Climate change may alter the distribution and quality of India’s natural resources and adversely affect the livelihood of its people. With an economy closely tied to its natural resource base and climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water and forestry, India may face a major threat because of the projected changes in climate.
- Climate change is likely to affect ground water due to changes in precipitation and evapo-transpiration. Rising sea levels may lead to increased saline intrusion into coastal and island aquifers, while increased frequency and severity of floods may affect groundwater quality in alluvial aquifers. Increased rainfall intensity may lead to higher runoff and possibly reduced recharge.”
- Some of the possible identified implications of climate change on water resources are listed below:
- Decline in the glaciers and the snowfields in the Himalayas;
- Increased drought like situations due to overall decrease in the number of rainy days over a major part of the country;
- Increased flood events due to overall increase in the rainy day intensity;
- Effect on groundwater quality in alluvial aquifers due to increased flood and drought events;
- Influence on groundwater recharge due to changes in precipitation and evapo-transpiration; and
- Increased saline intrusion of coastal and island aquifers due to rising sea levels.
With a view to address the related issues, the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) has been prepared by the Government of India, which has been released by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 30th June 2008. The NAPCC has laid down the principles and has identified the approach to be adopted to meet the challenges of impact of climate change through eight National Missions namely,
(a) National Solar Mission,
(b) National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency,
(c) National Mission on Sustainable Habitat,
(d) National Water Mission,
(e) National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system,
(f) National Mission for a Green India,
(g) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, and
(h) National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.
