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Uttarakhand News: A big scientific initiative has started towards saving the natural water sources of the country and giving new life to the rivers. A two-day national training workshop on sustainable management of water resources was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. This workshop is being organized with the aim of finding a permanent solution to the water crisis through modern computer modeling and scientific techniques. More than four hundred scientists, researchers and students from across the country have participated in this program organized under the special project of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. This event makes it clear that to deal with the challenges of falling water level and climate change in India, it has now become very important to take the help of modern software along with traditional methods.

New outline of water management will be decided with modern software

The most important aspect of this national training program is to teach practical use of MICE Hydro Basin software. Experts are explaining to the participants how an accurate model of any river basin can be prepared using Geographic Information System i.e. GIS data and hydrological simulation. Through this, accurate analysis of rain water, flow of rivers and status of ground water is possible on computer. In the era of climate change, when weather patterns are changing rapidly, this technology helps scientists to predict what the availability of water will be like in the coming decades. By making policies based on this, adverse situations like drought and flood can be dealt with in time.

Scientists shared strategy for revival of Himalayan rivers

On the first day of the workshop, renowned water experts of the country shared their research and ground experiences. Former senior scientist of National Hydrology Institute, Roorkee, Dr. R.P. Pandey stressed on adopting an integrated approach to save the rivers of the Himalayan regions. He clarified that the ecology of the mountains is extremely sensitive, hence work should be done based on scientific data to revive the water sources and small rivers there. After this, the technical experts made the participants aware of the intricacies of the software tools and made them practice preparing models on the computer using real data. This hands-on training is directly helping the youth to understand the complex calculations of water management.

Discussion on groundwater augmentation and creating water positive areas

During the event, there was a deep discussion on the conservation of not only surface water but also underground water. Dr. S.K., former director of Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal. Kamra presented a blueprint for developing a water positive landscape. This simply means that we should bring more water back into the ground through scientific methods than we extract from the ground. For this, technical guidance is being given on selecting the right places and constructing suitable structures. Scientists believe that if groundwater recharge is implemented in a mandatory and planned manner at every basin level, many areas can be brought out of the severe water crisis.

Future water policies will get a strong scientific basis

Due to increasing population, industrialization and uncertain monsoon, the pressure on the country's water resources is continuously increasing. At such a time, this joint effort of institutions like ICAR and SARA will prove to give a new direction to the policy making process of the country. This workshop has become a powerful platform for exchange of knowledge between various research institutes, policy makers and young scientists. Experts believe that the experts prepared from this training will be able to make better plans for various river basins of the country in the future, which will provide long-term water security to the society.