Keeping in view the water crisis that has gripped the country, the Meghalaya cabinet on Friday approved draft Water policy 2019 to ensure conservation of water.
The new policy includes measures like check dams to tap rainwater, rainwater harvesting systems, controlling inappropriate use of ground water, keeping a check on the quality of water.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who chaired the meeting, said the government wants to manage the water resources better.
The chief minister put emphasis on the importance of rainwater harvesting and said it would be soon made mandatory to have mechanism to have rainwater harvesting systems.
The government will have an updated information database on the number of flowing rivers, springs, underground water and other sources.
“Meghalaya is a hilly state and rainwater reaches Bangladesh within one hour. Thus, we need check dams near the International Border as well as interstate borders to make use of the rainwater. We will focus on making these check dams as multipurpose reservoirs,” deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said.
“Community participation will be honoured. We will have water sanitation village council,” Tynsong said, adding that the objective of the policy is to have sustainable development.
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