Indiscriminate sinking of borewells, disappearance of traditional kattas (temporary bund across rivulets) that stored water for summer, conversion of paddy fields into arecanut gardens and residential layouts, and deforestation appear to be the primary reasons for the coast running dry over the years.
Joseph N.M., a rainwater harvester and a strong advocate for kattas said the bunds held water like sponges. Mr. Joseph, also an Associate Professor of Economics at Sacred Heart College in Madantyar who wrote his Ph.D thesis on ‘A critical analysis of water resource management in Dakshina Kannada with special reference to Belthangady taluk’, said kattas constantly held surface water during the summer. They should be built ahead of summer every year to store water.
Mr. Joseph, with the help of college students and people from nearby villages, has been reviving the practice of building kattas across Artila Halla, a rivulet that passes through villages in Belthangady taluk, for the past two years. He notes that paddy fields, which are shrinking every day, acted as natural rainwater harvesters to hold surface water. Rampant sinking of borewells to water arecanut gardens and drinking water projects too have depleted the groundwater.
N.J. Devaraja Reddy, a hydrogeologist and borewell recharge expert from Chitradurga, said groundwater was not being lifted but being ‘mined’ in the coastal belt and the levels had depleted beyond 400 ft in some places.
Visiting the coast for a decade for borewell recharge, Mr. Reddy said constructing geo-membrane tanks to hold rainwater was the immediate solution to address summer water scarcity as an alternative to borewells. Their construction cost is cheaper than sinking borewells, he said.
Mr. Reddy was in Deralakatte, off Mangaluru on May 3 to recharge three borewells on a 2.5 acre plot of one Kiran Shetty. Each borewell could provide only for 10 minutes, he said.
