Guntur grapples with plummeting ground water

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GUNTUR: Water crisis may hit hard Guntur district soon as its ground water level is plummeting alarmingly with 59 per cent deficit..

GUNTUR: Water crisis may hit hard Guntur district soon as its ground water level is plummeting alarmingly with 59 per cent deficit in rainfall this monsoon and overdrawing of water for the farm purpose. The data available with the ground water department says, the water table has gone down to 2.686 m this November from the 4. 535 m in the corresponding period. Similarly, the ground water level stood at 4. 285 m this October as against the 2.921 m last year.
Officials blame the truant monsoon this year and overuse of ground water for agricultural purposes for the drastic fall in the ground water level. A Rama Krishna Reddy, deputy director of ground water department said the water table is recharged after the summer season, ideally between May and October, provided there is a good monsoon. With the district receiving only 663 mm rainfall this monsoon as against the average of 1126 mm, the water level has hardly replenished. " The district recorded a sharp decline in average ground water level this year that has gone down to 1.63 m from usual 7. 26 m," said Rama Krishna Reddy.

Ground water officials say, there has been a drastic fall in the water table in the six droughtaffected mandals in the district. Many seasonal wells in upland areas have been dried up and the water level in the bore wells has gone down too.

Farmers are pumping up more water than required through bore pumps. They are also installing bore wells within a distance less than 175 m, flouting the Walta norms. And the electricity department record says, there are 63,455 agriculture motor connections (pump sets) in the district. The use of agricultural motors in Palnadu area is very high where commercial crops are grown .