Providing clean drinking water to the growing population will be a big challenge in the coming years, President Droupadi Murmu said today and appealed to the common people, farmers, industrialists, and especially children to make water conservation a part of their ethics.

”We all know that water is limited and only its proper use and recycling can sustain this resource for a long time. Therefore, all of us should try to consume this resource carefully,” she said inaugurating the seventh India Water Week at Greater Noida.

President Murmu urged the people to be aware of its misuse and make others aware of water conservation. Only by conversing water, the nation would be able to gift a better and safer tomorrow to the coming generations, she added.

She said it was impossible to imagine life without water. In Indian civilization, water was not only important in life but also in the journey after it. ”That is why all water sources are considered sacred. But at the present, if we look at the situation the condition seems worrying. Due to the increasing population, the condition of our rivers and reservoirs is deteriorating, village ponds are drying up and many local rivers have become extinct,” she added.

The President was of the view that water was being over-exploited in agriculture and industries. The environmental balance on the earth was getting disturbed, weather patterns were changing and unseasonal excessive rainfall has become common.

She said the issue of water was relevant not only for India but for the entire world. This issue was linked to national security too as the vast amount of available freshwater was spread between two or more countries. Therefore, this combined water resource was an issue for which international cooperation was necessary.

Water, she said, was a major resource for agriculture as well. According to an estimate, about 80 percent of the water resource in the country was used for agricultural. Therefore, proper use and management of water in irrigation was very important for water conservation.

The ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ was a major initiative in this area, she said, adding that this nationwide scheme was being implemented to increase the irrigated area in the country. In line with water conservation goals, the scheme also envisaged the adoption of precision irrigation and water-saving technologies to ensure “per drop more crop”.