Principal Correspondent
Kohima, January 30
The problem of shortage of potable water during lean period faced by the people of Nagaland would be over once the project report of the Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC), Department of Science & Technology on ‘Ground water prospects of Nagaland’ is implemented. NASTEC had conducted the survey and prepared the Hydro Geo-morphological (HGM) Map, Atlas and report under Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission Project since April 2011 with the supervision of National Remote Sensing Centre, ISRO and sponsorship of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India.
Chief Secretary C. J. Ponraj officially handed it over to premier water suppliers Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department during the inaugural function of a one-day workshop on Ground Water Projects Map of Nagaland jointly organized by the two departments at PHED Conference Hall Kohima.
In his address as chief guest Ponraj said water which is the source of life has become the source of strive. Nonetheless, the Chief Secretary expressed concern over the prospects of using ground water while fearing the quality of water and drying up of the wells.
He said that in order to sustain and preserve the natural endowments like the water sources through gravitation, the PHE and other allied departments should conduct survey and also take administrative protections.
He also maintained that such sources should be properly identified and if needed legislation should be passed in order to make it state property and settle disputes between villages.
The Chief Secretary expressed that the state has four months of abundant rain but due to lack of natural storages it goes wastage and the people of the state have to suffer during the lean period.
He therefore suggested that the water sources should be augmented while community water sources in villages should also be strengthened.
Delivering the keynote address, Advisor Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, GoI, New Delhi, Shanmugan Sundaram said the HGM Map so far prepared there are 19 layers and as a 20th layer now ground water quality layer is also being overlaid.
It is essential for preparing water quality layer data, he said adding that this data has to be collected from sources of uniformly distributed in ground and have to pertain to pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season.
He said that all the Engineers of State PHED have to be imparted knowledge on HGM Map and how to use the maps in the field for planning and designing their rural water supply schemes. Hope this workshop will serve this purpose.
Presenting the background of the project, Senior Scientific Officer and Member Secretary NASTEC, Dr. Zavie Hiesie said the objective of the project is to provide the drinking water by means of identifying the ground water sources through scientific means especially for non-covered and partially covered habitations and make them sustainable by way of augmenting the recharge conditions of the aquifer i.e. the source of ground water.
He said that in order to fulfill the objective, the ground water prospects maps are prepared for the whole state corresponding to survey of India toposheet on 1:50,000 scaled covering all the habitations.
He said that the objective of the district wise atlas preparation is to bring out all the concerned district ground water information coverage of the maps for the selection of sites for drilling and construction of recharge structures as and when required.
“In the lean period this will be advantages for planning and development of the ground water judiciously considering all the terrain features,” he said.
The atlas will also familiarise about the ground water information to all the officials involved in ground water development. It will also be useful guide to understand the success or failure of the source, he said.
Hiesie expressed the hope that the Atlas would be of reference among planners, policy makers, field level functions and also NGOs concerned with ground water resources development and management.
Accepting the maps and projects reports on ground water prospects in the State, Chief Engineer PHED, Kevisekho Kruse stated that water is the prime natural source for life, but it is scarce and needs to be preserved.
He said that providing sustainable drinking water to the citizens have been one of the top most priority of the government as out of the 1530 habitations barely 503 are above 40 litres per capita per day (LPCD).
He revealed that 38 habitations are of quality affected category (2.4%), 989 (64%) of “Partially Covered” category i.e. with water supply level less than 40 LPCD and 503 falls under the “Fully Covered” category i.e. with water supply level at 40 LPCD.
The department, since the last two years have started installing deep tube wells in several villages with fair degree of success and will continue to install tube wells (or bore wells) in larger number, he said.
One of the problems encountered with bore wells is that in most wells water is contaminated with excess iron, but today all the bore wells being installed are also incorporated with Mini Iron Removal Plant to remove excess iron from the water and it is giving very good results
“Our main concern is to provide sustainable water supply to villages,” he said adding that initially the Department had provided all the villages with water but many have slid back because water sources a depleting or drying up.
Therefore, he said that department is now compelled to look for alternative such as rain water harvesting and ground water. He said that presently the State is using barely 10% of ground water while 90% is being supplied through gravitational sources.
Expressing that ground water prospects have to be explored in a big way, he hoped that the maps and reports provided by NASTEC will be of major contribution for PHED and all allied departments to provide sustainable drinking water to the people of the State.
