Hyderabad, Oct 12 BJP leader Marri Shashidhar Reddy on Monday said the Four Waters Concept, developed by late irrigation expert T Hanumantha Rao, would help in “drought proofing.”
Reddy, a former Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said the concept assumes significance in view of the severe rainfall deficit this year due to the impact of El Nino.
In the Four Waters concept, the focus is on using rain water, surface water and groundwater, and maintenance of soil moisture at a high level to improve water availability and agricultural productivity.
Observing that El Nino is not a one-off event, Reddy said the weather pattern has been observed for several centuries and will continue to impact people, in future, in many ways.
The problem can also be compounded and amplified by climate change, he said.
“Therefore, it is imperative to evolve a strategy to look beyond temporarily countering drought but to accord top priority, in a definitive way, to achieve Drought Proofing (treatment to keep out droughts). This will be a major building block to fulfil the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Viksit Bharat by 2047,” he told reporters here.
He said, in 2000, a Water Conservation Mission (WCM), was set up in undivided Andhra Pradesh under the chairmanship of then Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu with the participation of several experts.
Rao, who had served as a consultant to the World Bank, was made the chairman of the technical committee of WCM.
Rao had, in the 1990s, innovated the Four Waters Concept. It was first implemented in watersheds in several villages in Telangana and Rayalaseema in 2001 at a cost of Rs 5,000 per acre, Reddy said.
For instance, Gottigaripalli village in Sangareddy district of Telangana remained unaffected by consecutive droughts in 2014 and 2015. It has been consistently securing water for three crops in a year with minimal maintenance, he said.
Later, it was successfully implemented in Rajasthan between 2014 and 2018, where Vasundhara Raje was Chief Minister, he said.
The major prerequisite to implement the Four Waters Concept is a minimum average annual rainfall of about 500 mm. All states which are now reeling under the impact of El Nino have an average rainfall ranging from 650 mm to 1200 mm, he said.
The Four Waters Concept delivers “exceptional advantages”, including water availability for three crops and semi-perennial mainstreams, he added.
(PTI News)
