'Chennai Statement' for sustainable drinking water system

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 17. A national meet on water resources and water quality management today adopted a `Chennai Statement' that emphasised the need to accord immediate attention to ensure sustainability of drinking water system and sources.

To ensure system sustainability, the Statement called for a demand-driven approach for installing schemes of the people's choice, with appropriate technology, at affordable cost, that ensures participation of the users and the people in water supply schemes from the stage of identification of projects, evaluation, implementation, construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of sources and systems.

It emphasised that the health and quality of life improvement for the country's human resources was possible only through provision of safe drinking water to all. It dwelt on community participation even in capital cost input and sharing of operation and maintenance costs, to finally increase per capita consumption.

To ensure drinking water source sustainability, the statement called for a mechanism to continuously monitor ground water level; legal regulation on groundwater exploitation and indiscriminate sand quarrying around water sources by States and use of remote sensing techniques for groundwater recharge (by using rainwater harvesting and similar techniques).

For management of water-quality in drinking water schemes too, a similar mechanism that was community-based, was needed to monitor the quality. Legislation must be enacted to prevent pollution of sources; and norms relaxed and funds given to areas afflicted with quality problems.

In the area of water legislation and water policy, the meet recommended that State regulation over the use of water was necessary, but it should not undermine the rights and responsibilities of civil society. All local bodies should be advised to increase water tariff on a yearly basis to meet maintenance and operation costs.

Dr. Ramesh Chandra Panda, Joint Secretary in the Union Rural Development Ministry, and Director, Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission, who received the recommendations and the Declaration from the State Secretary for Municipal Administration and Water supply department, Ms. Shanta Sheela Nair, said the Chennai declaration was an ``epoch-making'' effort that would radically change the mind-set of the country's political and bureaucratic leadership.

Mr. N. Govindan, State Rural Development Secretary, said the department would ask Collectors and panchayats to form local groups in villages for sensitization of people on wise use of water and its quality. A sensitization programme for the district panchayat heads was to be held at the State Institute of Rural Development, Maraimalaingar, near here on November 28 and later for Chairpersons of panchayat unions mainly for capacity building.

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Section  : Southern States
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