Sii Lake

Itanagar, Nov 01: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has shared a video of amazing work by the Water Resources Department for the conservation of water at Sii Lake in Ziro Valley.

The project aligned with the ‘Catch The Rain’ scheme under Jal Shakti Abhiyan, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a delight for nature lovers.

National Water Mission’s (NWM) campaign “Catch The Rain” with the tagline “Catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” is to nudge the states and stakeholders to create appropriate Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata before monsoon.

Under this campaign, drives to make check dams, water harvesting pits, rooftop RWHS, etc; removal of encroachments and de-silting of tanks to increase their storage capacity; removal of obstructions in the channels which bring water to them from the catchment areas, etc; repairs to step-wells and using defunct bore-wells and unused wells to put water back to aquifers, etc are to be taken up with the active participation of people.


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To facilitate these activities, states have been requested to open “Rain Centers” in each district– in Collectorates/Municipalities or GP offices.

During this period, these Rain Centres will have a dedicated mobile phone number and will be manned by an engineer or a person well-trained in RWHS. This centre act as a technical guidance centre to all in the district as to how to catch the rain, as it falls, and where it falls.

Efforts should be made so that all buildings in the district should have rooftop RWHS and that the maximum quantity of rainwater falling in any compound should be impounded within the compound itself.

The basic aim should be that No or only limited will water flows out of the compound. This will help in improving soil moisture and raising the groundwater table.

In urban areas it will reduce water gushing onto roads, damaging them, and will prevent urban flooding.

Under the “Catch The Rain” initiative, all water bodies in the districts are to be enumerated, (checked with revenue records) and encroachments are to be removed.