Current Affairs Date: 20 April 2023

⇒ Union Minister for Jal Shakti Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on 15th December 2022 inaugurated the 7th Edition of the India Water Impact Summit (IWIS 2022) at New Delhi.

• • The summit was organized from 15th to 17th December, 2022 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and Center for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga).
  • Heads of several institutions working in the field of water management, water conservation and water preservation participated in the three-day event.

Theme:

The theme of 7th India Water Impact Summit was ‘Restoration and Conservation of Small Rivers in a Large Basin’ with emphasis on the select aspects of ‘Mapping and Convergence of 5Ps’ – People, Policy, Plan, Programme and Project.

Objective:

• • The aim of the Summit was to give an insight into the potential causes for divergence and formulate strategy to achieve convergence.
  • The objective of the summit was to impart impetus towards developing water and environmental infrastructure to protect rivers and water bodies in India.

In the three-day Summit, experts from the country and abroad discussed ways in which small rivers in large river basins can be protected.

» The five key elements — People, Policy, Plan, Programme and Project— and their convergence is a significant challenge towards river basin management.

• • This is why the 7th Edition of the India Water Impact Summit aimed to understand, elaborate, delineate potential causes of divergence, and formulate strategy for convergence.

Sessions:

• • The plenary sessions of the 7th IWIS included Restoration and Conservation of Small Rivers in a Large Basin ‘Mapping and Convergence of 5P’s, ‘Lessons from Various River Related Programmes’, ‘Bottlenecks and Course Correction in River Related Programmes’.
  • The thematic sessions included ‘Setting the Goal to Determine Healthy Status of the Rivers’, ‘Establishing Present Condition and Norms for Bio-physical Status of Healthy Rivers in Different Stretches and Setting the Milestone’, Formulation and Execution of River Monitoring Programmes’, ‘Information/Data Collation, Utilization and Dissemination Strategy’ etc.
  • The Summit was divided into five broad Tracks including ‘Science and Policy’, ‘Finance and Economics’, ‘Technology and Innovation’, ‘International’ and ‘Implementation Challenges’.

Day 1:

During the inaugural event, PTB, an online learning course of quality control for Monitoring Water Quality Analysis was also launched by the Union Minister. It is created by one of NMCG’s international partners, the German National Metrology Institute PTB. This online learning platform aims to strengthen quality infrastructure for water monitoring of the river Ganga. This will be done through the data collected in the river basin of Ganga to monitor water quality based on recognized quality-assurance measures.

• • The Minister also released River Atlas Journey: Reports including Uttarakhand River Atlas, Alakananda and Bhagirathi: River Basins Atlas, Yamuna River Basin Atlas, Atlas of Rivers in Delhi: Version 1, Atlas of Rivers in Uttar Pradesh: Version 1, Hindon River Basin Atlas, Kali East River Basin Atlas: Version 1, Ramganga River Basin Atlas: Version 1, Gomti River Basin Atlas: Version 1, Ghanghra River Basin Atlas: Version 1, and Novel Sensor-based Water Quality Data of Rivers, Drains and Industrial Discharges: How Reliable Are They For Public Purposes?
  • Day 1 also marked sessions on ‘Setting the Goal to Determine Healthy Status of the River’, Hybrid Model for International Companies’ and ‘International Collaboration’.

Day 2:

On the 2nd day of IWIS, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), Shri G. Asok Kumar presided over a session on ‘Lessons from Various River Related Programmes’.

• • It was proposed in the Session that there should be a National Framework for River Systems (river, water bodies and catchment), so that all the relevant programmes and projects working towards river and water conservation can benefit from the informed decision-making.
  • Detailed discussions held on Economic and Financing of Water Recycling and Sludge among other issues.
  • Deliberations show that for evaluation of the actual state and measuring the changes in the rivers and streams, the periodic assessment of their health is essential.

The IWIS 2022 concluded on 17th December 2022 after 3 days of fruitful deliberations on important aspects of water conservation and river rejuvenation, with special emphasis on revival of small rivers for the protection of large basins.

• • On the concluding day of the Summit, Session A3 was centred on the ‘Formulation and Execution of River Monitoring Programmes’. The objective of the session was to determine challenges in river restoration and conservation programmes.
  • Session E2 was on the ‘Impact of Land use on Rejuvenation of Small Rivers’. The session highlighted how the health of the smallest stream has a ripple effect on the next order stream, and is responsible for bringing a rich variety of aquatic biodiversity. The deliberations showed the significance of drafting policies, interventions, and strategies to safeguard the small rivers from adverse effects of poor land-use planning and development.
  • Session A4 was themed on the Information/Data Collation, Utilization and Dissemination Strategy, while Session C5 was on Physical / Hybrid Model.