he ground water level in the district had fallen to alarmingly levels, raising a serious concern among people and officials.
According to sources, as many as 1,200 borewells dried up in Narayanaked area alone in the last one month. The Rural Water Supply (RWS) Department has hired about 350 borewells in this area to supply water to habitations, and out of them, more than 100 had already gone dry while water from others has slowed down. At some places, the operators have to wait for five to six hours – at some times for 12 hours - to switch on the bore again as they have to give ample time for recharge.
The groundwater level in the month of March was registered at 24.4 metres. Comparing with last year by the same time, the depth increased was 4.5 metres, which is very alarming.
Officials also attribute the decrease in groundwater levels to drying up of Manjeera as it forced people to depend on bore water. At many places, one has to dig to the depth of more than 400 feet to get water, and in some places, it goes up to move than 600 feet.
Even the cost of water cans weighing 20 litres has been increased from Rs.20 to Rs. 25. If one collects the can at the supply point, the cost is reduced from Rs. 5 to Rs. 10 depending on the distance. For some people, the drinking water bill is between Rs.450 and Rs.600.
“We are not sure whether we will be in a position to supply drinking water from the existing bore-wells for the next few months,” said an engineer from RWS.
