With the rapidly declining water table threatening to push many regions into drought, the Union government on Tuesday launched a mobile application – Jaldoot – jointly developed by the Union Ministry of Rural Development and the Panchayati Raj Ministry to monitor the underground water levels across the country.
The application was launched by Minister of State for Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste in the presence of Ministers Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Kapil Moreshwar Patil.
The app will be used to capture the water level of selected two-three wells in every village. The water levels in these open wells will be measured twice a year, from May 1 to May 31 during the pre-monsoon time, and from October 1 to October 31 for post-monsoon levels. To ensure transparency, the officers assigned to measure have been told to upload the geotagged photographs through the app each time the measurement is done. The mobile app, the ministry in a statement said, will work both in online and offline mode to ensure that lack of internet connectivity does not come in the way of the exercise. The regular data to be input by the ‘Jaldoots’ would be integrated with the database of the National Water Informatics Centre, which can be utilised for analysis and help in conservation efforts.
“The State governments and gram panchayats should involve themselves towards systematically collecting groundwater level data and assimilation of the same in the central digital database for analysis. We believe that data generated by this exercise will help us in better planning and give us the right assessment of the problem at hand,” Mr. Kulaste said.
