BHUBANESWAR: Realising the fact that a conflict between usage of water for irrigation and industry was on the cards, the government has now made it mandatory for companies setting up water consuming industries to submit water management plans before going ahead with the implementation of their projects.

A technical committee is on the job to assess the water requirement of each and every industry coming up in the sectors such as steel, alumina and thermal power, Principal Secretary in the State Water Resources Department Arabinda Behera said on Wednesday.

Addressing presspersons at the end of a two-day national workshop on Participatory Irrigation Management & Integrated Water Resources Management here, Mr. Behera said with a number of high water-consuming industries coming up in the State, there was every possibility of a conflict between usage of water for the purposes of irrigation and consumption by the industries.

Cautious approach

"We have to be very careful about utilisation of water for both irrigation and industry. Allocation of water to different industries should not affect irrigation," Mr. Behera said. Observing that the new water policy of the State gives primacy to drinking water, agriculture and ecology over industry, Mr. Behera said there was no question of shortage of water for the purposes of irrigation or industry during rainy reason. However, the industries were to be ready to cope with water shortage during the non-monsoon months, he added.

"Therefore, the new industries that are coming up in different parts of the State have to prepare proper water management plans to ensure storage of water during the monsoon and also put in place a mechanism to recycle used water to keep their utilities running throughout the year," Mr. Behera observed.

"The government is not giving any guarantee to any company for ensuring uninterrupted water supply to their industries," he clarified.

He, however, admitted that a host of memoranda of understanding had been signed between the government and different private companies without any mention about allotment and usage of water.

The two-day workshop discussed about the improving the functioning of the Pani Panchayats (water users' associations) across the State as well as strengthening of various types of existing irrigation projects. Plans necessary for integrated water resources management to meet the requirement of irrigation in the years to come was also discussed threadbare in the meeting.

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