Fear of water crisis looms large over Chamarajanagar district

Groundwater-level in Chamarajanagar district has depleted further due to the failure of the authorities concerned to implement projects meant to rejuvenate groundwater, and it has raised fears of severe water crisis.

With the onset of summer, the zilla panchayat has shortlisted 325 villages facing acute shortage of drinking water. It has decided to dig borewells despite the alarming depletion in groundwater sources.

Of the 100 borewells dug in the district, 23 do not have water.

The average groundwater level has been noticed in the range between 700 to 900 feet in Kollegal and Hanur areas.

The statistics of the rural water supply and sanitation division reveals that of the 6,948 borewells in the district in 2014-15, 1,507 have become defunct. Of the 2,250 mini-water supply units, only 2,004 are functioning and 246 are defunct. Of the 1,127 tap water supply units, 987 are functioning and 140 are defunct.

But many villages of Yelandur taluk have satisfactory groundwater levels, while the groundwater depletion is severe in Kollegal and Gundlupet taluks. Even though the situation is alarming in Chamarajanagar taluk too, the project to fill lakes with Kabini river water has raised some hopes of rejuvenation of groundwater levels. Besides, failure to implement projects meant to rejuvenate groundwater has also been blamed for the depletion.

According to geologists, the project to fill lakes with river water from reservoirs was a step towards rejuvenating groundwater levels.

According to executive engineer of rural water supply and sanitation division of ZP, the failure rate among the newly dug borewells is between 15 to 23 per cent in summer. In some areas, the average depth of groundwater have depleted alarmingly, he said. The borewells dug under the Ganga Kalyana scheme have no satisfactory results. Of the 22 borewells dug, 4 borewells have no water traces and one-and-a-half inch of water is available in the remaining borewells.

More attention should be given to rejuvenate the groundwater in the district. Steps should be taken to fill all the lakes of Chamarajanagar district with river water, say rain-water harvesting experts.