As part of the Sujalam Bharat Summit anchored by the Ministry of Jal Shakti and coordinated by NITI Aayog, the Central Water Commission (DoWR, RD & GR) has recently organised a virtual workshop on “Technology for Efficient Water Management” to gather grassroots inputs for policy. The session brought together state water departments from Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana, NRSC Hyderabad, and gram panchayat and Water User Association members from geographies spanning Leh to Tamil Nadu and remote parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha.

Chaired by Sh. Atul Jain, Chairman, CWC, and addressed by Smt Archana Varma, AS & Mission Director, National Water Mission, and Shri Yogesh Paithankar, Member (WP&P), CWC, the workshop framed a demand-management agenda to reduce stress on freshwater sources.

Key themes included:

• Agricultural efficiency: Scaling micro-irrigation in canal- and groundwater-irrigated tracts; driving precision agriculture for climate resilience; and encouraging crop diversification towards drought-resistant, low-water crops.
•  Modernisation and automation: Upgrading tertiary canal distribution; applying remote sensing and AI to planning, conveyance and distribution optimisation; and deploying sensors for leak detection and for monitoring quantity and quality across agricultural, domestic and industrial use.
• Water conservation and accounting: Promoting water-efficient appliances in homes and industry; monitoring bulk water supplies and non-beneficial losses; and strengthening water accounting to inform allocation and improve soil-moisture (green water) conservation.

State presentations showcased innovative, community-led approaches and replicable pilots, with CWC underscoring collaborative adoption and scaling to translate technology into measurable savings and service improvements.