The State Groundwater Department has kicked off a ‘well census’ for listing all groundwater structures, including wells, in the State.
The survey is being carried out with the support of the Kudumbashree Mission. Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine released Neerarivu, a handbook prepared for Kudumbashree workers tasked with collecting the data, by handing over a copy to Kudumbashree Mission Director Asha Varghese.
The well census, which will cover groundwater structures, including wells, ponds (excluding naturally formed ponds) and tube wells, has been included in the World Bank-assisted National Hydrology Project (NHP), the Water Resources department said.
The survey will be carried out in 243 panchayats in the first phase. The government has earmarked ₹6 crore for the exercise. The Kudumbashree workers will collect the data using a mobile app which has been named 'Neerarivu.' They will be trained by officials of the Groundwater department.
Mr. Augustine also inaugurated the shift from manual to automatic system for collecting water level data from observation wells. Of the 756 wells, 150 wells have been brought under automatic monitoring. The data will be updated every six hours, four times a day, on the 'Drishti' portal of the department.
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