National Hydrology Project (NHP) is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% central share under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR, Govt. of India where 50 % is a loan from World Bank and 50 % is Govt. of India share where the state of Meghalaya is one of the Implementing Agencies. The main objective of this project is to improve the extent, quality and accessibility of water resources information and to strengthen the capacity of targeted Water Resources Management Institutions in India.
One of the main components under NHP is the implementation of Water Resources Information Systems. Thus, the Govt. of India has created the National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) on the 28th March 2018 under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, RD & GR to act as a central repository of data on water resources and allied themes by maintaining nationwide digital water database and associated spatial data for the country and disseminates it through a digital platform called India-Water Resources Information System (India-WRIS). However, there are state specific micro level & demand side data which can be better collected and maintained by the states themselves, thus the State Water Informatics Centre (SWIC) has been recently established in the state on the 13th October, 2023 vide Govt. Notification No.WR(SCH)142/2017/Pt.I/454, with the Water Resources Department being notified as the Lead Department for its functioning.
The State Water Informatics Centre (SWIC) is intended to empower the states with digital validated, on-line water resources information system (State-WRIS) required for better planning and management of its water resources and also to feed the central system for basin and regional level policy planning and data-based analytics. The SWIC acts as water data repository of the state entrusted with collecting, collating and updating data on water and allied themes with respect to the state and to act on policy towards uniform data acquisition, standardization, analysis and dissemination. The SWIC is responsible for collection of water data from different data generating departments/organisations of the state, its validation (primary & secondary), customisation of applications developed by NWIC to state requirement and developing of state specific tools & applications.
