Jaldoot- Govt. app to capture data on groundwater levels

Jaldoot- Govt. app to capture data on groundwater levels

Subject : Geography

Context-

• With the rapidly declining water table threatening to push many regions into drought, the Union government launched a mobile application — Jaldoot— jointly developed by the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Ministries to monitor the groundwater levels across the country.
• The application was launched by Minister of State for Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste in the presence of Ministers Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Kapil Moreshwar Patil.

How will the application work?

• The app will be used to capture the water levels of two or three open wells in every village twice a year, from May 1 to 31 during the pre-monsoon time and from October 1 to 31.
• To ensure transparency, the officers assigned to the task have been told to upload the geotagged photographs through the app each time the measurement is done.
• The mobile app will work in online and offline modes to ensure that lack of Internet connectivity does not come in the way of the exercise.
• The regular data from the ‘Jaldoots’ would be integrated with the database of the National Water Informatics Centre, which can be utilised for analysis and help in conservation efforts.
• The State governments and gram panchayats should involve themselves in systematically collecting groundwater level data and assimilation the same into the central digital database for analysis.

Groundwater in India:

India is the largest user of groundwater in the world. It uses an estimated 230 cubic kilometers of groundwater per year – over a quarter of the global total. More than 60% of irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies are dependent on groundwater.