SHILLONG:
The Meghalaya Cabinet on September 12 approved the establishment of the State Water Informatics Centre, with the Department of Water Resources as the Nodal Department.
The State Water Informatics Centre will be the agency that will document information related to water bodies including watersheds, spring sheds and monitor them throughout the year, sharing the data with Public Health Engineering, Soil Conservation, Agriculture, Disaster Management departments.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that this is being done so that proper informative decisions can be made as mandated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
“This is a part of the larger picture which is coming from the state as well as the central governments. This agency will help us to be able to keep the data information with us to be utilised in the correct manner for the respective departments,” Sangma told reporters.
He said that the State Water Informatics Centre will be able to tell that every year there is a dip in the water supply in the catchment areas for the Shillong water supply scheme.
“This centre will collect the data using satellites, man power in the grass root level, using drone technologies to survey and keep data,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that this centre will have database of analysing and recording the water movement in the state from now on through the coming years to then allow to make decisions on how we need to adjust based on climate change, adjust for farming activities among others.