Nagaland yet to enact legislation for conservation of water bodies: CWMI

A girl seen returning from a well (not seen) after fetching water in Kenjung village under Noklak district. The Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) 2.0 which was released by NITI Aayog on Friday said only 50% of rural inhabitants in Nagaland have been fully covered with rural drinking water. (Morung Photo)

Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23

Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have topped the Composite Water Management Index 2.0 for 2017-18 among non-Himalayan states. Among Himalayan states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Tripura are on top of the index. 

The Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) 2.0 was released by NITI Aayog on Friday in the presence of Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar. Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said the objective of index is to involve all key stakeholders to understand how states can better manage water resources. 

The states are ranked across nine themes and cover 25 states and two union territories. 

Nagaland state figured in the last third of the index among Himalayan states with a score of 29.7. The lowest is Arunachal Pradesh which is followed by Meghalaya. 

Giving an overview of Nagaland’s CWMI performance, the report stated that in the context of watershed development, Nagaland has done well, with the state having constructed 55% of its targeted water harvesting structures and has geo tagged 74% of IWMP assets. 

It also stated that while access remains low, Nagaland has achieved complete reduction in proportion of habitants facing water quality issues. 

On things than need improvement, the report pointed out that only 50% of rural inhabitants have been fully covered with rural drinking water. In the urban sector, only 22% is covered with drinking water supply and the state has not installed any capacity to treat its waste water. 

The report also stated that Nagaland is yet to enact legislation for the conservation of water bodies and is yet to set up an integrated data centre. 

According to state index scores, the score of Nagaland state in terms of Composite Water Management for the Financial Year of 15-16 was 26.5, 28 for FY 16-17 and 29.7 for the FY 17-18.

The CWMI is an important tool to assess and improve the performance of states and union territories in efficient management of water resources. This has been done through a first of its kind water data collection exercise in partnership with ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry Of Rural Development and all the states/ union territories. 

The index provides useful information for the states and also for the concerned central ministries/departments enabling them to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources. 

CWMI 2.0 ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17. NITI Aayog first launched and conceptualized the Composite Water Management Index in 2018 as a tool to instill the sense of cooperative and competitive federalism among the states. 

This was a first ever attempt at creating a pan-India set of metrics that measured different dimensions of water management and use across the lifecycle of water.