ADB to finance $50 million water supply, management project in Meghalaya
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $50 million loan in India to improve water resources management, access to water, and community resilience to the effects of climate change in Meghalaya.
The Climate-Adaptative Community-Based Water-Harvesting Project in Meghalaya will help develop a state-wide water-harvesting system (WHS) master plan which will be forward-looking, integrating gender and social inclusion, and taking into account weather patterns and disaster risk management. This will guide the creation of water security plans at the village level to be managed by the village employment councils (VEC), watershed management committees (WMC) and water users associations (WUA), an official statement said.
“The project supports the Meghalaya State Water Policy 2019 which aims to achieve sustainable development, management, and use of the state’s water resources through a participatory approach; reduce vulnerability; and promote integrated water resource management,” said ADB Senior Project Officer for Agriculture, Food, Nature, and Rural Development Vikas Goyal.
“The project will strengthen the capacity of districts in Meghalaya to manage water resources and introduce water storage structures that will ensure water security while building climate-resilience of communities.”
The project will support the construction of 532 water-storage facilities across 12 districts. These facilities, including small storage structures, will incorporate climate-resilient designs to capture and manage heavy rainfall and flash floods during monsoon season. The stored water will provide irrigation water during the winter dry season with co-benefits of flood management.
The project will develop at least 3,000 hectares of command area to provide reliable irrigation areas for farmers. It will help construct and upgrade small multipurpose reservoirs, establish 50 weather stations for data gathering and monitoring, and climate-smart micro-irrigation systems in Garo, Jaintia, and Khasi. The project will also pilot-test renewable energy micro-hydropower in three WHSs.
ADB will help strengthen the capacity of the Meghalaya State Watershed and Wasteland Development Agency and the Soil and Water Conservation Department in water resources planning, operation, and management.
The Manila-based multilateral lender will also train VECs, WMC, and WUA members on climate-resilient agriculture and non-agricultural livelihood practices. In addition, the project will train farmers, especially women, to increase livelihood productivity in irrigated agriculture such as horticulture and fishery techniques, the statement added.
