The government has decided to set up water kiosks in each ward of those local bodies which are experiencing acute drinking water scarcity, according to an affidavit filed by the government in the Kerala High Court.
The government submitted that its policy was to provide drinking water to the public during the entire drought period . Drought conditions would be the severest faced by the State in the past 115 years.
In fact, there had been an acute shortage of monsoon rainfall, an unparalleled in the history of the State. The drought consequent to the lack of rainfall is alarming. A memorandum prepared by the State Relief Commission had mentioned that there was an overall negative 62% departure from the normal rainfall.
Justifying its order banning digging of borewells in the State till May-end, the government said the order was issued in view of the severe drought and high depletion of groundwater sources. The affidavit was filed in response to two writ petitions challenging the ban on digging of borewells.
As the scarcity of water had reached a new high, the Disaster Management Department had directed the Ground Water Department to ensure that drawing of groundwater by water extracting companies was reduced by 75%.
The government had already issued guidelines for water conservation activities. Officials of the Water Resources Department had been directed to reduce the extraction of groundwater by at least 50% to ensure supply of drinking water to the public during the peak summer months.
