It is a Rs 200 crore programme launched by Anusandhan National Research Foundation and Ministry of Jal Shakti.
Key Highlights of MAHA (Mission for Advancement in High-Impact Areas) Water Mission
- Purpose: Provide up to Rs 20 crore to selected multidisciplinary consortia (universities, Startups, MSMEs, industries, etc.) for technology development, field assessment, validation and deployment of high‑impact innovative and scalable water solutions.
- Five priority themes: Water resource assessment and sustainable management; drinking water; water quality and ecological health; water use efficiency and circular economy; climate resilience and adaptation.
Key Initiatives incorporating Modern Technology in Water Management
- Scientific Data-Driven Conservation: Enumeration, geo-tagging and incentivization of water bodies under Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain (JSA: CTR) Campaign.
- Use of remote sensing data from National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Geographic Information System (GIS), etc.
- Real-time groundwater level monitoring: Nationwide network of Digital Water Level Recorders (DWLRs) equipped with telemetry systems conducted by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).
- Use of Satellite: From platforms like GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) for large-scale groundwater storage assessment, NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission for detection of groundwater changes at macro level.
- Smart elements in sustainable Urban development: AMRUT guidelines provides for smart elements like Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) as part of water supply and sewerage projects.
