The Water Resources Department is preparing water budgets to ascertain the water availability and demand in the State. The budgets will be prepared at the local body, constituency, district and State levels, Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty said.
Led by the Haritha Keralam Mission, the preparation of the budget will be a combined effort by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), and the departments of Irrigation, Agriculture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Local Self-Government. Discussions will begin this month so that projects for water use can begin by December this year.
In the first phase, water budgets for individual local bodies will be prepared. The preliminary data collection is expected to be completed by August 20. The budget will also recommend measures to find alternate sources if a particular region lacks water sources to meet the demand. Besides, the budgets will also take into account future and projected water demands of a region, the Minister said.
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A part of the exercise will involve the calculation of seasonal availability of water in a given region, including the storage in reservoirs and water bodies such as ponds and wells. The Irrigation Department will draw up schemes to address shortages. The panchayat-level data will provide a solid foundation for preparing water budgets at the constituency and revenue district levels.
Additionally, they will provide a valuable aid for designing water supply projects in future such as new reservoirs and check dams and irrigation schemes, the department said.