The Uttar Pradesh State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM) will soon be documenting the drinking water resources across six zones of the state. These zones are Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Varanasi and Moradabad. The documentation - to be done through Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping - will take note of ponds (manmade and natural), wells and handpumps. This exercise which is a part of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) will help the officials to create a proper database of these resources, which will be used for their management. Through the mapping, all the details of all the resources will be compiled, complete with their longitude and latitude dimensions. The department plans to start off the exercise by April 1, 2011 and should end by March 31, 2012. The focus will initially be on villages where the ...