Minister for Minor Irrigation Shivaraj S. Tangadagi on Monday told the Legislative Assembly that 90 of the 176 taluks in the State had reported depletion in groundwater resources.
Replying to Bharatiya Janata Party member Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri during Question Hour, the Minister said the status of the groundwater in different taluks is assessed by a study conducted along with the Central Groundwater Board once in two years.
As per such a study, 35 taluks had overexploited groundwater resources while three taluks had been declared “critical” and 10 taluks “semi-critical” in terms of availability and exploitation of these resources. Similarly, 70 taluks had been categorised as “safe” while 58 taluks came under the category “mixed”, as they had a mix of areas with all the above characteristics, the Minister said.
He said the government had spent Rs. 2.14 crore in the last two years on building 92 check dams to help recharge groundwater. In the same period, 118 public awareness camps had been held to draw public attention to the impact of depletion of groundwater and methods to recharge it.
