With Maharashtra facing severe water scarcity, the state government is working on a comprehensive policy to check wastage and reckless use, topped by a plan to set up the country’s first water regulatory authority.‘‘The water policy is ready for clearance while the proposal for a water regulatory authority will be taken up later,’’ said a senior irrigation official.The water regulatory authority will be constituted on the lines of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Authority and will have the powers to determine tariffs and to issue directives for effective water management, the official said.The government will not be able to offer free water or unviable subsidies to any sector once the regulatory authority takes over. Like electricity, it will have to bear the cost of subsidies on water.The government’s initiative has evoked a positive response from experts. Suresh Prabhu, chairman of the National River Interlinking Programme, said: ‘‘I don’t know what provisions the state is making, but it’s high time we acted on water management and conservation.’’‘‘There’s an urgent need for demand side management, water harvesting and judicious distribution of water used for irrigation,’’ he added.Under the new policy, it has been proposed that the state be divided into five river basin drainages and agencies such as the Water Resources Development Corporation be established for each river basin.Each corporation will have the responsibility and authority for integrated planning, development and management of water resources and watersheds of their respective river basins, flood management, drought management and maintenance of water storage and delivery infrastructure.Based on the plans submitted by the river basin agencies, the government would then prepare a state water resources plan for water management and equal distribution.The policy also proposes stringent measures such as water audits and benchmarking of projects to check reckless use or wastage. Both concepts are being introduced for the first time in the country.Audits will be compulsory for all water resources projects. Service providers (Irrigation Department or local bodies) will be accountable for providing devices to measure volumetric supply to account for water use in various sectors.‘‘Like line losses in electricity supply, we also suffer from loss of water due to theft and misuse. This can be checked with the regular water audits,’’ an official pointed out.Benchmarking or seasonal review of water supply projects will be conducted every season to check whether targets were achieved and if modifications were needed in the project.
