Water
“Generation of Database & Implementation of Web Enabled Water Resources Information System in the Country” popularly known as India-WRIS is a project initiated through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on December 3, 2008 between the Central Water Commission (CWC), Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India, New Delhi and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Space, Govt. of India, Bangalore. The project is funded by Central Water Commission.
India-WRIS is to provide a ‘Single Window Solution’ for all water resources data and information in a standardized national GIS framework. It will allow users to Search, Access, Visualize, Understand and Analyze comprehensive and contextual water resources data for assessment, monitoring, planning, development and finally Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
Why India-WRIS was conceived? India is a developing country with 16% of the World’s population, 2.45% of the World’s land resources and 4% of the World’s fresh water. On an average, every year India gets 4,000 billion cubic meters (BCM, 1 BCM = 1 cu. km) of water by way of mostly rainfall and some snowfall. However, there are considerable spatial and temporal variations in the distribution of rainfall and hence in availability of water in time and space in the country. It is estimated that out of the 4000 BCM water, 1869 BCM is available water resource. Out of this the quantity that can be put to use (Utilizable) is only 1123 BCM (690 BCM from surface water resources and 433 BCM from ground water resources). The water demand in the year 2000 was 634 BCM and it is going to be 1093 BCM by the year 2025. Efforts therefore, need to be made to increase the utilizable quantity by conservation, improving efficiencies and increasing supply sources. We are facing many challenges in water sector and to address these, it is realized to have a nationwide water resources information system, incorporating all aspects of water resources and related data, hence this project “Generation of Database & Implementation of Web enabled Water resources Information System (India-WRIS) in the Country” has been initiated.
The National Water Policy (2002)& (2012) recognizes that development and management of water resources need to be governed by national perspectives and aims to develop and conserve the scarce water resources in an integrated and environmentally sound basis. The policy emphasizes the need for effective and economical management of our water resources by intensifying research efforts in use of remote sensing technology and developing an information system. The National Water Policy 2002 Para 2.0 on Information System reads as:
A well-developed information system, for water related data in its entirety, at the national/ state level, is a prime requisite for resource planning. A standardized national information system should be established with a network of data banks and databases, integrating and strengthening the existing central and state agencies and improving the quality of data and the processing capabilities.
Standards for coding, classification, processing of data and methods / procedures for its collection should be adopted. Advances in information technology must be introduced to create a modern information system promoting free exchange of data among various agencies. Special efforts should be made to develop and continuously upgrade technological capability to collect process and disseminate reliable data in the desired time frame.
Apart from the data regarding water availability and actual water use, the system should also include comprehensive and reliable projections of future demands of water for diverse purposes.
The national water policy 2012 section 14 reads as:
All hydrological data, other than those classified on national security consideration, should be in public domain. However, a periodic review for further declassification of data may be carried out. A National Water Informatics Center should be established to collect, collate and process hydrologic data regularly from all over the country, conduct the preliminary processing, and maintain in open and transparent manner on a GIS platform.
In view of the likely climate change, much more data about snow and glaciers, evaporation, tidal hydrology and hydraulics, river geometry changes, erosion, sedimentation, etc. needs to be collected. A programme of such data collection needs to be developed and implemented.
All water related data, like rainfall, snowfall, geo-morphological, climatic, geological, surface water, ground water, water quality, ecological, water extraction and use, irrigated area, glaciers, etc., should be integrated with well-defined procedures and formats to ensure online updation and transfer of data to facilitate development of database for informed decision making in the management of water.
Vision of India-WRIS is to provide a ‘Single Window Solution’ for all water resources data and information in a standardized national GIS framework. It will allow users to Search, Access, Visualize, Understand and Analyze comprehensive and contextual water resources data for assessment, monitoring, planning, development and finally Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Read More....