Rooftop rainwater harvesting has been made mandatory for all the government buildings: Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday appealed to people to install rainwater harvesting system on their buildings as a long-term solution to problems related to groundwater, according to a statement.
"In the last 3-4 decades, owing to excessive exploitation of groundwater, there have been abnormalities in rural and urban areas. Of the 823 development blocks, groundwater level in 287 development blocks have shown a decline of 20 cm per year," he said.
The availability of groundwater in the state has been continuously decreasing, and pressure on water resources is worrisome, he said.
"Public partnership is very essential for conservation of groundwater. And, it is also essential that the common public be made aware about the importance of groundwater," he said.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of ''groundwater week'' on Wednesday, he said his government has carried out some serious works in the groundwater sector in the past three years and they have yielded positive results.
"Ponds have been constructed or repaired, check-dams built, and water saving techniques in irrigation such as drip and sprinkler irrigation have been encouraged. And, the results have been positive," he said, according to a statement issued by the UP government.
He added that river basins will be identified in the state for testing of quality of groundwater in a phased manner.
The statement said the chief minister urged the public to install rainwater harvesting mechanism on their buildings so that a long-term solution can be evolved to tackle the ground water crisis.
Rooftop rainwater harvesting has been made mandatory for all the government buildings, he said.
He said urban local bodies have been directed to mandatorily link all houses exceeding an area of 300 square feet with rainwater harvesting system.
"Water is a priceless entity provided by nature. We have enough groundwater, and there is no shortage of surface water. But, we have to also think about its conservation as well. When we talk in the context of groundwater in the world, UP is a prosperous state," he said.
Yogi Adityanath said awareness campaigns pertaining to conservation of groundwater under the groundwater week has been praiseworthy.