The groundwater level has been going down at an alarming rate in Maharashtra and Karnataka in the past three decades, and a government study has revealed that more than 50 per cent of the villages in Maharashtra were facing drinking water shortage, said senior geologist Suresh Khanapur from Maharashtra.
Speaking at the farmers’ rally at the end of the four-day padayatra seeking a comprehensive water policy and conservation of the available water in Kalaburagi city on Wednesday, Mr. Khanapur said in Maharashtra, as per a study, of the 44,000 odd villages, 24,000 were facing shortage of drinking water.
Climatic changes and failure of timely rainfall are the major reasons for the situation, which has affected farmers in the rainfed areas. Mr. Khanapur said deforestation was another reason for the decreasing groundwater levels. Farmers should take up water conservation measures to increase the groundwater and also use the water for three seasons in a year by adopting water harvesting system.
Explaining the success story of Surpur village in Dhule district, Maharashtra, where the water harvesting system was successfully practised, Mr. Khanapur said each village should calculate the amount of water required for irrigation every year, and accordingly construct tanks across slopes to collect and store rainwater.
