Gandhinagar: An MOU was signed today in the state capital between the Gujarat Government’s Water Resources Department and SAC-ISRO in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, on the occasion of ‘Good Governance Day.’

The technical collaboration aims to improve water resource development and management using space technology, as well as to build the capacity of the department’s officers.

As part of the technical collaboration between the Water Resources Department and the Space Application Centre-ISRO, the use of Digital Elevation Models for water harvesting structures, mapping of water resources-irrigation networks using high-resolution satellite imagery, irrigation management, seasonal crop coverage, irrigation benchmarking, developing dashboards for monitoring, hydrological modeling, river morphology studies, flood management, validation with geo-spatial and in-situ data, reservoir sedimentation, monitoring of groundwater levels for groundwater conservation, salinity ingress monitoring, conducting research projects in water resources, and organizing training programs for the officers of the Water Resources Department to enhance their capacity will be undertaken.

The duration of this MOU for technical collaboration will be five years. During this period, regional-level geo-spatial cells will be established in the Water Resources Department, and various activities will be carried out in different regions.

It is worth mentioning that the Water Resources Department of Gujarat is involved in constructing new water conservation structures like dams, barrages, weirs, and check dams, as well as maintaining existing structures. Additionally, irrigation facilities are being provided to 3.2 million hectares through canal systems from dams and other sources. Moreover, the Space Application Centre-SAC of ISRO, located in Ahmedabad, is engaged in developing applications for various fields based on space technology.

Furthermore, suggested pilot studies include waterlogging issues in the Ghed area (Saurashtra), salinity ingress in Saurashtra and South Gujarat, and water conservation and aquifer recharge in North Gujarat.

The program held in Gandhinagar was attended by Forest and Environment Minister Mulubhai Bera, State Minister Mukeshbhai Patel, Cooperation Minister Jagdishbhai Vishwakarma, Chief Secretary Rajkumar, senior officials from the Water Resources Department, and scientists from SAC-ISRO. DeshGujarat