Drilling of new borewells has been prohibited in 230 villages in erstwhile Warangal district indicating the alarming rate of depletion of ground water levels.
The increased temperature has forced the farmers to dig more borewells to wet their standing crops. If the temperature continues to rise at the current pace the situation in mid May and June is likely to be worse.
The groundwater levels in Warangal Urban, Warangal Rural, Jangaon, Mahabubabad and Bhupalpally districts have declined sharply by March itself when compared to February this year. The officials of the Groundwater Department fear the situation might worsen.
The groundwater level in Warangal Urban which was 8.33 metres in February has declined to 9.89 metres. In 2017 March the groundwater level was 7.05 metre and now it had fallen to 8.33 metre.
In Bhupalpally district, the groundwater level fell from 11.75 metres in February to 12 metre by March-end and now it has fallen further to 12.36 metre. Compared to last year, the water level has fallen by 1.80 metre.
In Mahabubabad district, the groundwater level in February was recorded at 8.22 metre which is now 8.87 metre. Similarly in Warangal Rural district the ground water level has fallen to 10.29 metre in March from 8.60 metre in February. In Jangaon district, the ground water level that was at 11.17 metre in February has gone down to 12.30 metre.
The district officials have been urging farmers not to wet their crops by canal method and instead adopt sprinkler or drip irrigation systems to conserve water and to save the standing crops.
Environment activist V. Gurunatha Rao of Mahabubabad pointed out that the groundwater levels have been declining at an alarming rate and it was time the farmers individually worked for recharge of their wells and borewells by adopting rainwater harvesting structures on their farms.
“Government alone cannot do this. It has been giving free power but farmers are using it for exploiting groundwater which is not correct. First they should work towards recharging of groundwater levels,” he added.
