GURGAON: The government plans to save 5.48 trillion litres of water over the next two years with a series of interventions such as reusing treated wastewater, and encouraging efficient cultivation methods, crop diversification, micro-irrigation and groundwater recharge.
In urban areas too, the plan is to rope in large municipalities that will have to conserve and reuse water.
These measures are part of the Haryana Water Resources Authority's (HWRA) integrated action plan, launched on April 26, to plug the state's water gap.
According to the authority's data for 2020 to 2022, Haryana has 20.9 trillion litres of water available, including surface water, groundwater and treated wastewater. The state's demand for this period stood at nearly 35 trillion litres, leaving a gap of 14 trillion litres to be filled.
If everything goes according to the roadmap, the state will be able to fulfill almost 40% of its requirements.
"In the next two years, we aim to save 5,48,200 crore litres of water to decrease the water gap in the state. We have also proposed a few strategies in urban water planning that include comprehensive and integrated plans for municipalities with more than 1 lakh population, piezometers for monitoring groundwater levels, water cess at block-level, preventing misuse of water, storing stormwater and aquifer recharge structures," Keshni Anand Arora, chairperson of HWRA, said on Thursday.
"We will be focusing on tackling waterlogging and salinity in affected areas by introducing crops that can thrive in such areas. Similarly, we will recharge groundwater by protecting and saving the water bodies. We are focusing on realistic estimation of groundwater use and recharges ," Anand said.
Conserving water is critical for Haryana as 60% of the state's geographical area was marked in the 'red category' for excess groundwater exploitation by the Central Groundwater Authority in its 2020 report.
These measures will be implemented by district administrations and other departments across the state.
"We have data of demand and supply of every village and city, and also water sources. We have mapped the water gap and framed how to reuse wastewater and store rainwater effectively," the HWRA chief said.
Experts say immediate action was a must as overexploitation of groundwater could lead to creation of vadose zones (shallow zones), making the area underneath the surface unstable. For a city like Gurgaon, which is already located in the earthquake prone seismic zone IV, this could prove hazardous.
"Both agriculture and industries are heavily dependent on groundwater and this is why the depletion rate increases every year. Changing crop patterns, getting industries to use treated wastewater and installing rainwater harvesting pits should be the immediate move," said Dr Fawzia Tarannum, national coordinator (water) at The Climate Reality Project India and South Asia.
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