Mumbai: Maharashtra Centre for Innovation, Progressive Regulation and Awareness in Water (M-CIPRAW) has developed a road map to set up a real-time data collection centre to monitor water usage in the state. M-CIPRAW will submit the proposal within a week’s time.
Speaking to the Free Press Journal, KP Bakshi, Chairman of Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority (MWRRA) said, “All departments (directly or indirectly involved in water management) had a meeting and consultation round. Based on that outcome, a road map was designed for the data centre. In the next four to five months, we will start developing the data centre.”
The data will be categorised and there will a hierarchy in some of the information that will be shared. “About 65 per cent of the data will be made available to public. There will be some data that cannot be shared due to confidential reasons. So, that data will have limited access or will need special permission to access it," he said. M-CIPRAW will submit the proposal for the cloud-enabled data centre (and will not need servers) within a week. “Within 15 days, all requisite approvals will be in place,” he added.
Many departments, namely Water Resources Department, Water Conservation Department, Department of Agriculture, Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Urban Development Department, Rural Development Department Industries, Energy and Labour Department, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Revenue and Forest Department, Environment Department and other related agencies, will share the data with M-CIPRAW.
This digital dashboard and analytics tool will support MWRRA in decision-making and compliance check.
Other than the setting-up of data centre, MWRRA is closely monitoring groundwater levels in all wells in the state as well. “Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) has installed sensors in around 32,000 wells in the last two years. Today, every village is monitored, but we hope that every well is monitored too. This enables us to understand the ground water reserves in every region in detail. We are hoping to cover all wells in the state in the next three years.”
