CM Omar Abdullah urges awareness and action as J&K faces severe water scarcity due to poor rainfall and drying springs
Srinagar: As scores of natural springs and other water bodies across Jammu and Kashmir have completely dried up or their water levels have decreased considerably raising alarms about an impending water crisis, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday called for greater awareness and action to meet such an eventuality.
The environmentalists and other experts attribute the situation to poor precipitation in J&K and its neighbourhood in the past couple of years. The region has recorded a deficit rainfall of 79 percent as against the normal precipitation of 140 mm from January 1 to February 12 this year. During this period, just 29.9 mm rainfall was recorded in the Union Territory.
Though several parts of Kashmir including some hill stations witnessed fresh snowfall whereas the rest of the Valley and also the Jammu region were lashed with moderate to heavy rains on Thursday, the ecologists and hydrologist say that the precipitation levels continue to be below average and that if heavy snow and rainfalls do not occur in the coming weeks, a drought like situation cannot be ruled out in many parts of J&K in the coming summer.
The poor precipitation has already led to water scarcity and environmental impacts in certain areas and the drying up of some historic springs like Achabal in Anantnag and Aripal in neighbouring Pulwama which have served as the sources of drinking and irrigation water for dozens of villages for ages is a manifestation of looming crisis.
For the past week, special prayer meetings including 'Salat Al-Istisqa' (prayers of atonement) are being organised across the Valley to seek forgiveness from God and seek an end to the prolonged dry spell. 'Salat Al-Istisqa' is an Islamic prayer for requesting and seeking rainwater from God.
Chief Minister Mr. Abdullah while reiterating that J&K is facing a severe threat from climate change, particularly in the form of a water crisis said, “We are not doing enough to educate our people about what is happening with climate change and the dangers it poses”. He added, “A lot of that responsibility lies with us as political leaders.”
Mr. Abdullah who was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day workshop on 'Capacity Building in Innovation Pedagogy for the Implementation of NEP-2020' at Jammu University’s Brigadier Rajinder Singh Auditorium highlighted the alarming precipitation deficit in J&K.
He said, “Until this morning, when the rains finally came, we were facing an 80-85 percent precipitation deficit this winter, signalling a major water crisis. Our agricultural patterns rely on the assumption of sufficient water availability. But with current water levels, cultivating paddy, which is water-intensive, would be nearly impossible.”
