Jammu: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Wednesday that Jammu and Kashmir was staring at a water crisis this year and all need to collectively act to address the crisis. The Chief Minister said in his post, “J&K is staring at a water crisis this year. It’s not a recent phenomenon, actually it’s been building up for a few years now.

While the government will have to adopt a more proactive approach for water management & conservation, it can’t just be a government centric approach. All of us residents of J&K will have to change the way we take water for granted. I’ll be reviewing the measures the Jal Shakti (PHE) Dept intends to take to deal with the developing crisis & I’ll also be talking to the people of J&K over the next few months about what we can do collectively.”

An unprecedented dry spell has hit Jammu and Kashmir this winter. Except for December 28 when the Valley and the higher reaches had a moderate snowfall, the season so far has been dry.

There was no rain or snowfall in the month of January, and February to date has also been dry. A large number of perennial springs, which support hundreds of villages across the Valley, have gone dry while those still running have the lowest ever seen water discharge. The historic Achabal spring that was decorated with a garden by Mughal Empress Noor Jahan in the 17th has dried up.