A resource is something that can be used for support or assistance.Meghalaya has recently created a water resources department. This has initiated some thinking and discussion within the government on different aspects of water. For decades water has been compartmentalised by different departments. It was not seen as a holistic resource to be equitably used for the larger purpose of sustaining life. While Meghalaya has produced engineers they have remained merely implementing technocrats. The bureaucracy who is to implement projects has also not taken a more inclusive view on this matter. Water is the prime mover of many departments, ranging from the Agriculture, PHED, Soil and water Conservation, MeECL, PWD, Mines, Forest and Environment amongst others. Each of the above departments has looked at water in isolation and has never come up with a common strategy. The creation of the water resources department will hopefully bring convergence among the departments. Convergence is the new mantra for good governance. It results in the pooling of resources, ideas and money. It creates better synergy. But having operated with relative departmental autonomy there is an inherent fear that somebody somewhere might lose his/her importance if indeed departments did converge. This insecurity is misplaced. People in government should give convergence a chance to work. Coming back to water as a resource, what has also not been recognised is the role of communities as stakeholders of water bodies and catchments. In Meghalaya land is a largely a community asset and water a community wealth. Because of the lack of a long term strategy for conservation, large swathes of catchment and water sources have been privatised. It appears that the community itself does not realise the implications of allowing common property resources to be converted into private wealth creation venture. This short-sightedness is bound to create water conflicts in the long run. In Meghalaya the largest use of water is for agriculture which takes up 69% of available water. Next come the hydro-electric projects. Only 8% of water is used for household purposes. The state has plenty of rivers but these have over the years been polluted through reckless mining and other human activities. Up to this point very little thinking has gone into the technology required for reclaiming the polluted rivers which used to provide agricultural support to farmers.
The issues are plenty, the thinking unfortunately not wide enough to encompass these emerging problems that the water sector will be facing soon as a result of climate change and other factors. The time to think is now!