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Groundwater depleting fast in State

BHUBANESWAR: At a time when the State is feeling the pinch of shortage of surface water for which hydropower generation came to a halt now, gradual depletion of groundwater resources could make the matter worse for people to source their drinking water.

“The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has clearly indicated that the groundwater level of 24 out of 30 districts in the State is depleting. The groundwater aquifers in many regions of our State have already gone dry,” says Bikash Kumar Pati, a researcher working with city-based Regional Centre for Development Cooperation (RCDC).

Falling of groundwater table in Bhubaneswar is an indicator to the grave situation for city in the coming days. At a monitoring station of Khandagiri in the capital city, groundwater level has gone down by almost a metre per year since 2002.

While water could be found at 8.53 metre below ground level (mbgl) at Khandagiri, it dropped to 14.54 mbgl in 2008. Between 2007 and 2008, the water level fell by 2.77 mbgl.

The situation is turning worse due to ‘lackadaisical’ approach of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to ensure that every household puts up rainwater harvesting structure in place.

In Bhubaneswar, more than 90 per cent residential houses don’t have the structure while the major government buildings which should have played role model for others have not thought to put up rainwater harvesting structure.

Similarly, use of groundwater continues to remain unrestricted and uncontrolled throughout the State. Mr. Pati says the matter needed urgent attention of policymakers as industries are guzzling more water ostensibly by sourcing groundwater.

The annual replenishable groundwater of the State is 23.09 billion cubic metre (BCM) and net groundwater availability has been estimated to be 21.01 BCM. Although scientists and bureaucracy still argue that the State has a healthy groundwater reserve, the situation is undergoing change due to change in weather conditions.

In five coastal districts such as Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Ganjam farmers are excessively depending upon dug-wells. According to a study by a city-based research organisation, four districts utilise more than 20,000 million hectare water while four districts use groundwater in the range of 10,000 to 20,000 mha and groundwater irrigation in rest 21 districts is less than 10000 mha. Experts and researchers demand that policymakers design the focused policy for the districts where pressure on groundwater is high.

According to department of water resources, projected demand for domestic and industrial use by 2025 will shoot up to 1,22,126 mha or 1.22 bcm against the present use of 83,866 mha or 0.84 bcm.

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