Jal Shakti ministry launches MAHA Water programme

• The Ministry of Jal Shakti and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed an MoU to strengthen the use of satellite technology and space-based applications for water resource management in the country.

• Under the MoU, the department of water resources and the ISRO will jointly work in 24 key research areas, including reservoir monitoring, water-spread assessment, river-flow analysis, satellite-based water quality assessment and studies on macroplastic distribution in water bodies.

• The partnership will support work in areas such as groundwater assessment, water resource monitoring and flood forecasting.

What is MAHA Water programme?

• MAHA (Mission for Advancement in High-Impact Areas) Water programme was launched as a collaborative platform to foster convergence among government agencies, academic institutions, research organisations, industry and startups for addressing emerging water challenges through mission-driven research and innovation.

• The mission will foster high-impact research in priority areas such as water resources management, drinking water security, climate resilience and emerging technologies, while promoting collaboration among academia, research institutions, industry, startups and government agencies.

• Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), a statutory body of the government of India, has been established to provide high level strategic direction for research, innovation and entrepreneurship in fields of natural sciences and scientific and technological interfaces of humanities & social sciences to promote, monitor and provide support as required as per recommendations of the National Education Policy.

• Mission for Advancement in High-impact Areas (MAHA) is a programme under ANRF to support priority-centric, solution-based research in mission-mode focusing on some key areas in alignment with nation’s prime requirements. 

• It is envisaged to be multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional and multi-investigator projects with industrial partnerships in the best sorted areas of immediate concern.

• MAHA Water programme has the potential to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative, scalable solutions for achieving a water-secure and sustainable future.

• The programme will support multi-institutional consortium projects involving universities, laboratories, startups and industry partners. 

Five major themes of the programme are:

i) Water Resource Assessment and Sustainable Management: Hydrogeological mapping, aquifer recharge and forecasting of aquifer response, and precision modelling, integrated surface-groundwater systems and forecasting of their interdependency, snow and glacier monitoring for groundwater recharge zones, submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), sea water intrusion and its solutions.

ii) Drinking Water: Low-cost solutions for potable water to households through piped water supply systems across the country.

iii) Water Quality, Human and Ecological Health: Water-food-energy nexus, treatment technologies for water, social hydrology, gender equity, and community-led innovation.

iv) Water Use Efficiency and Circular Economy: Water reuse & circularity, new technologies for grey water management (industrial waste, fecal waste), agriculture & evapotranspiration (ET)-based water management, potential usage of water in allied sectors of agriculture, mining, industry, etc.

v) Climate Resilience & Adaptation: Climate change impact on water resources, AI/ML-enabled decision support system, digitisation of information and environmental surveillance.