The sign of decreasing groundwater table has opened up a new vista and the focus now is on the possible ways of recharging the ground water. This has led to the construction of soak pits.
Recently the panchayat of Pothireddypally dug a bore well in Bank Colony located near the by-pass road to meet the water needs of the residents. This resulted in drying up of some bores in the colony. Some of them are yielding water for 10 to 15 minutes whereas earlier they used to give water for more than two hours. Moreover after being put into use for one time, then the residents are being forced to wait for six to eight hours to get the bore recharged to yield water again. It was learnt that about half a dozen bores have partly or completely dried up when the idea of constructing soak pits emerged. This idea was backed by a report by the Groundwater Department.
“The groundwater department had conducted an impact study for the months of October, November and December 2015 selecting three locations in the village and seven locations outside the village. During October the ground water availability was at 12.07 metres level followed by 11.30 metres in November and 11 metres in the month of December. It was expected that the water availability levels in the month of January was expected to increase further.” This was the gist of a report published in these columns in the month of January explaining the advantages of constructing soak pits. Similar reports published in the media made the people to think about it.
Impressed with the reports appeared in the media, some of the residents came forward to construct soak pits and this activity commenced in the last one or two days. Each resident is coming forward to invest about Rs. 10,000 to get the soak pits constructed.
“As the reports indicated that ground water is being charged at places like Ibrahimpur in Siddipet mandal where the construction of soak pits commenced, we hope that the same miracle will take place here as well. We are more concerned about water as Manjeera has also dried up completely for the first time,” said Vydyanath, a resident of Bank Colony.
