Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Depleting groundwater table becomes a cause for concern

Coimbatore: Depleting groundwater table in many areas of the country is an indication of an impending water scarcity and there is a pertinent need to harvest water and manage our water resources better, Ram Mohan Mishra, Joint Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources said on Wednesday.

He was addressing a conference on Water Resource Management and Conservation organised by the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation, District Administration and WAPCOS Limited, New Delhi.

As part of the water management, the Ministry was promoting a scheme to dig water harvesting pits closer to wells so that the water could be filtered through the natural aquifer and could recharge the wells so that the wells could remain a perennial resource even during summer and drought.

A sum of Rs 4,000 was being given to the farmers. Water Resources Ministry was promoting the scheme across the country.

Mr.Mishra also warned of an impending water scarcity due to overexploitation of groundwater resources through bore wells in an indiscriminate manner more in urban areas.

This would lead to an absolute water scarcity.

Mr.Mishra said that farmers should be trusted and entrusted with water recharge programmes. Eight per cent of the project cost is being spent towards to awareness creation towards achieving core competence.

In the presentation, the officials pointed out that the Ministry and Ground Water Board have been closely monitoring the situation by having block level monitoring mechanism.

In the sample study of the 5,723 blocks, 839 were over exploited, 226 were critical, 550 were semi critical and 4,078 were found to be safe. But the levels differ from State to State.

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