International Water Conclave 2024: Meghalaya CM emphasizes on the Importance of Technology in Water Management

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 9, 2024

Chief Minister Conrad Sangma highlighted the crucial role of technology, including information technology data, analytics, and predictive models, in enhancing overall water management strategies.

He was speaking at the International Water Conclave, organized by the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Meghalaya, convened on Friday at Marriot Hotel, Shillong.

“We are working very closely with NESAC (North Eastern Space Applications) which is the space agency here.And they are monitoring our different springs, reservoirs, forest cover, and agricultural activities, mining activities. We’ll be coming up with something called the Data Innovation Center in Meghalaya. And the idea of this data information center is to be able to collect these data and information departmentally superimpose them on different departmental information and be able to create a predictability model,” he said.  

He added that Meghalaya was one of the few states that came out with a water policy which he stated has a holistic approach to everything from drinking water to the reservoirs to catchment protection to the spring rejuvenation to overall proper management of water so on and so forth. 

“We have 6800 plus villages in our state and today we have a water committee in every village and therefore whenever the water issues are coming up, we ensure that these committees take up this issue, work with the state government, work with the district and the block officials, work with the departments and then come up with a holistic approach so that it’s sustainable also in nature, at the grassroot level, ” he added.

Speaking on the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission, Hon’ble CM highlighted Meghalaya’s significant progress, stating, “From less than 1% coverage in 2019, Meghalaya has made remarkable strides and currently boasts nearly 75% coverage. We aim to surpass 90% coverage by the end of this financial year.”

Addressing concerns regarding specific rivers in Shillong,  Sangma expressed his commitment to finding sustainable solutions in collaboration with the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

He noted, “Rivers like Umshyrpi and Wah Umkhrah require immediate attention, and we are actively engaged with the Ministry to address these challenges. We anticipate presenting revised proposals in the coming months to rejuvenate critical rivers and streams across Shillong City and other parts of the state.”

Pipes revamped

The CM expressed his concern on the water connections in the city that are in existence for the last 20-30 years, even as long as 40-45 years. He said, “The entire network, the pipes, the entire infrastructure needs to be revamped completely and hence a huge financial burden of course will be there and we know that we cannot do it in one go But it is a very very important issue.”

Smti. Debashree Mukherjee, IAS, Secretary – Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India said, “Meghalaya has done solid work. So this is the first state in the Northeast that has enacted its own water policy. I would urge that we consider looking also at regulatory structures. An integrated regulator will be really a good idea. In the participation of communities, there is enormous amounts to learn from what Meghalaya has done. But again, this forum is a very important event to be able to improve the issue of collaboration and mutual learning. The government of India is available to provide technical support. We exist to facilitate, to support the states and it is through the actions of the states that the water security of the country is ensured.”

She applauded the state government for doing well in the area pertaining to the mapping of springs.