Jammu and Kashmir to introduce water conservation law

JAMMU - The Kashmir valley needs 110 million gallons of water a day but gets only 40 million now. Alarmed by the disastrous effects of climate change such as receding glaciers and drying streams, the Jammu and Kashmir government will bring a law to force water conservation.

A bill will be introduced in the January-February session of the legislative assembly, a state government minister said in this winter capital of the state.

It will oblige people — especially the urban population — to make judicious use of water. Officials say the new law will also end friction between those who have water in their taps all the time and those who face hour-long queues outside public taps.

“This has become a necessity in view of the distress situation that we are facing with regard to shortage of water all over the state,” Public Health Engineering Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din told IANS in an interview.

The bill is being drafted, he added.

One of its important components would be higher water tariff and discontinuation of 24-hour water supply to some areas.

In the Kashmir valley alone, the drying up of streams and springs has resulted in a shortfall of 70 million gallons of water per day against the requirement of 110 million gallons.

Major streams have either dried up or the water flow has been reduced to a trickle.

In the Jammu region, too, the water shortage is hitting people hard. The region’s requirement is estimated at 100 million gallons a day. There is a huge shortfall due to the poor monsoon this year.

“It has shattered the public health engineering department’s plans to go in for rainwater harvesting,” Taj said.

In this city, the department has plans to divert the waters of the river Chenab to meet the demand. But the water level in the river is also very low because the glaciers feeding it have receded to a great extent.

(Binoo Joshi can be contacted at binoo.j@ians.in)