A tale of how a drought-prone district turned into water secure zone
Project Jaladhara transformed Annamayya district into water secure zone bolstering rural economy
image for illustrative purpose
Madanapalle: In a remarkable turnaround that is redefining water management in Rayalaseema, Annamayya district has emerged as a model for sustainable water security under the district administration’s initiative called - Project Jaladhara.
Taking a cue from the guidance of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu regarding water security for future development and economic growth, District Collector Nishant Kumar designed a project to harvest every drop of water in a severe water-deficit district and to leverage water availability for ensuring economic development through animal husbandry and horticulture expansion and also by ensuring energy conservation.
According to an official release, the concept behind the project Jaladhara is interlinking of surplus basins to deficit basins. When the Union and State Governments are planning to interlink rivers to divert the water from surplus region to water deficit regions, the district administration take initiative in that direction and started implementing the same process within the district by diverting water from surplus parts of the district to water deficit parts through inter-linking of smaller streams. As part of it, the district administration has brought Water Resources Dept, District Water Management Agency together for planning as well as execution using technology as well as traditional community knowledge about long lost water courses and feeder channels taking steps in this regard and the result is project Jaladhaara.
The success story of Annamayya district was recently explained to Chief Minister Naidu, highlighting how scientific planning, effective execution and optimal utilization of natural resources transformed a drought-prone region into a water-secure zone.
At the heart of this transformation lies the Sub Basin based water planning rejuvenating cascades and old water courses which became defunct over the years. District authorities mapped surplus and deficit water sources and designed sub basin-wise interlinking plans to balance availability.
