AUG 18: Water management and conservation remain primarily the responsibility of State Governments, as water is a State subject under the Indian Constitution. However, the Central Government continues to supplement State efforts through technical support, financial assistance and policy-level guidance, especially by leveraging the use of modern technology.
Under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR) campaign, authorities are using tools such as GIS mapping, remote sensing and geo-tagging for the enumeration and inventorisation of water bodies. As a result, 639 districts have prepared scientific District Water Conservation Plans based on data obtained from old revenue records and digital platforms including the National Water Informatics Centre.
To standardise groundwater resource assessment, the Central Ground Water Board has developed the India-Groundwater Resource Estimation System (IN-GRES), while also installing over 5,260 Digital Water Level Recorders equipped with telemetry systems for real-time monitoring. Satellite-based data from GRACE and projects like NISAR are also being used to assess large-scale groundwater changes.
The Government has further launched the GIS-based “Jal Dharohar” sub-portal under the India-WRIS platform, consolidating geo-tagged data of water bodies from several national datasets and programmes. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Jal Shakti is documenting traditional and conventional water harvesting systems across the country to support long-term sustainable practices.
Other initiatives include the use of SCADA/IoT systems under the Modernization of Command Area Development and Water Management (MCAD) scheme for performance assessment and water auditing. Under the National Hydrology Project, over 23,500 real-time data acquisition systems have been installed to monitor both surface and ground water levels.
Under AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0, 230 water supply and 146 sewerage projects have adopted smart technologies to improve service delivery. Furthermore, the Jal Jeevan Mission is encouraging the adoption of IoT sensor-based solutions in rural areas, with pilot deployments already integrated into its digital dashboard.
