Mission Blue, working in Jharkhand for water conservation, inked a pact with Plant Group on Wednesday under which the latter would come down to Jharkhand and conduct a widespread survey in the fields of water availability, preservation and conservation in the State. The pact signed in presence of Mission Blue president Pankaj Soni and Plant Group Co-Founder Austin Erington in New York has paved way for visit of American company delegation led by Erington and Bill Waner to Jharkhand in May this year to conduct the survey across the State.
Soni said after meeting that Plant Group, known for pioneering technological advancements in agriculture, expressed keen interest in understanding the campaigns run so far by Mission Blue in Jharkhand for water preservation and conservation. He added that co-founder of the Group which has also been working on the scientific methods of water conservation in the United States proposed to send a team to Jharkhand in May, which would study all aspects of water availability and conservation in the State.
Though the schedule of Group team led by Erington visiting to the State has not been divulged in detail, it has been said that the team would stay in the State for around 20 days. “The group which has drafted extensive report on how to conserve millions of gallons of water everyday using scientific technologies in farming in the USA will also carry on soil testing in the State and submit a report also to the Water Resources Department of the State. This will help the State save much water,” said a note released by Soni on Wednesday.
It is ironical for a State which receives above average rainfall every year during monsoon of not having concrete roadmap of water conservation for years to come. Data from Mission Blue suggest that the State possesses only 4292 MCM (Million Cubic Meters) of ground water reserve every year and additional 25,876 MCM surface water. The situation appears worse when data suggest that the State has an availability of merely 73.6 MCM drinking water against demand of 161.6 MCM water for drinking, bathing, cleaning and other domestic uses, creating a huge gap between demand and supply.