A springshed (Source: Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India)
Imphal, Dec. 8: A day-long conclave on 'Climate Resilient Springshed: Research, Practice and Policy' held under the aegis of the Directorate of Environment and Climate Change held in Imphal on Friday mooted the idea of initiating a common platform to address the issues of springshed management in the North Eastern Himalayan States.
The idea of forming the common platform in the North East region was shared by experts in diverse fields who gave their closing remarks and recommendations at the end of the conclave which had three panel discussions on case studies, and research and practices on springshed in the region which witnessed drastic declining trend of spring discharge.
Stating that Manipur started to map springs at more than 500 sites in collaboration with ACWADAM (Advanced Centre for Water Resources Development and Management), Director of Environment and Climate Change T Brajakumar said, "The impact of climate change and other factors have led to the drying up of around 52 per cent of the springs in the State."
ACWADAM is a Pune-based not- for-profit knowledge institution and think-tank working on groundwater.
Brajakumar added, "Efforts are on to rejuvenate springs at 10 more sites in five hill districts - Chandel, Kamjong, Noney, Senapati and Tamenglong." The step is being taken after the success of a spring rejuvenation project at Lunghar village in Ukhrul district.
On the other hand, in his presentation on springshed management, Project Officer of the Department of Land Resources Acato Chishi said around 4,600 springs have declining discharge, while 2,394 springs are inventorised, covering 1,024 villages in the last 10 years in the State.
"So far 185 springs are rejuvenated," he said, adding that mobilisation of stakeholders and no human activities around the project sites are some of the unique approaches in springshed management in Nagaland.
Technical specialist of Meghalaya Basin Development Authority Dr Gaurav Singh stated that 80 per cent of Meghalaya villages depend on springs, while 50 per cent of the springs dried up in the last decade. So far 55,000 springs have been mapped, he added.