Soon, a roadmap to boost groundwater levels in Haryana

By Sumit Blogs -

GURUGRAM: The Haryana Water Research Authority (HWRA) will prepare a comprehensive roadmap to improve the groundwater levels across the state in the next three months, the HWRA chairperson informed on Tuesday, March 22, which is World Water Day.
The HWRA has already divided the entire area of the state into seven categories based on groundwater conditions, marking 1,948 villages as ‘severely groundwater stressed’ and 1,093 villages as ‘low groundwater stressed’. Groundwater stress is the ratio of groundwater withdrawal to its recharge rate.

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In severely-stressed areas, unsustainable groundwater consumption affects groundwater availability and groundwater-dependent ecosystems. Meanwhile, the HWRA labelled 333 villages as ‘potential waterlogged’ and 88 as ‘severely waterlogged’, meaning the groundwater has almost reached the surface. This condition is detrimental to the structural integrity of buildings and root growth.
The plan now is to study the groundwater surplus or deficiency in the villages so that the authority can improve the conditions. “We are preparing a water plan for Haryana. It will be a village-wise plan to ensure water balance in areas that are either depleted of water or flooded,” said Keshni Anand, the HWRA chairperson.
Piezometers would be installed in the villages to collect live data. Keshni said, “We will prioritise areas that are ‘severely groundwater stressed’ and ‘low groundwater stressed’ and the potential waterlogged and severely waterlogged villages. We are working on installing piezometers in the villages to collect live data. That will help us in making effective water management plans.”
Haryana already has 2,200 piezometers, said Keshni, but added that more of them are needed to get accurate data. “We are working on getting live data now; it will likely get active in five months. Live data will make it easier to sensitise people about groundwater issues. After studying the surface water and groundwater gaps, we will take steps to fill the gaps,” she said.
Speaking on the classification of areas, she said, “We have categorised areas in Haryana based on the depth from the surface to the groundwater table. It is the first-of-its-kind data in India and different from the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) data. In 1,948 villages in Haryana, the groundwater table is below 30 metres from the surface; in 1,093 villages, it is between 30-20 metres. On the other hand, waterlogging is also a severe problem. A total of 333 villages have water table between 1.5-3 metres from the surface; 88 have water table between 0-1.5 metres.”
According to experts, Haryana is a water-deficit state. More than 60% of the land gets irrigated with groundwater sources due to the limited availability of surface water. But now, the groundwater table is under stress. “Groundwater extraction in Haryana is mainly to support the paddy-wheat cropping pattern. Private control over groundwater and highly-subsidised power supply led to excessive and inefficient use of groundwater. To encourage its sustainable use, and thereby improve the groundwater levels, a system of individual groundwater rights (quota) and consumption-based electricity pricing is needed,” said Nitin Bassi, programme lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
Credit Source – https://ift.tt/u8kaoeM

The post Soon, a roadmap to boost groundwater levels in Haryana appeared first on Stay in Gurgaon.

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