Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 01, 2002 |
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Industry & Economy
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Water Management `Groundwater hit by bad practices' Latha Venkatraman
MUMBAI, Sept. 30 HEAVY fertiliser use and cultivation of perennial crops have affected the quality of groundwater, apart from lowering the water table in some of the areas in Maharashtra, according to officials. Maharashtra's four groundwater zones are faced with varying challenges such as salinity, low-recharge, varying depths and large rock structures, according to Mr B.C. Khatua, Secretary, Department of Water Supply, Maharashtra. Mr Khatua said that there were plans to modify the legislation pertaining to groundwater management. ``Groundwater belongs to the community and not to a single owner,'' he said adding that there was a need to regulate the existing use of groundwater. The Maharashtra Government has indicated that the first priority is for drinking water, followed by agriculture and industry. ``The community should be given rights to apportion water to the rightful user,'' Mr Khatua said. The Sate Government is currently in the midst of a water supply project involving peoples' participation in terms of devising localised schemes and contributing 10 per cent of the cost. The remaining 90 per cent cost is to be borne by the Sate Government. In terms of topography, the Konkan zone, which runs from Thane to Sindhudurg, according to Mr Khatua, has a peculiar problem is that the run off of water is very fast. ``There are very narrow rivulets, therefore, the groundwater recharge is very low,'' he said. Although, this zone receives the highest rainfall, the deforestation is equally high. Therefore, the groundwater level is not very deep as in the Deccan plateau. According to Mr Khatua, there are 3,30,000 bore wells in the State. Overdrawing of water has, therefore, resulted in salinity, officials said. The Deccan plateau, which falls in the central part of the State, has some of the oldest rock structures. The impermeable rock structures do not allow drawing of water beyond 90 metre because of the possible presence of fluoride nitrite. The Deccan zone receives much less rainfall, thereby, limiting groundwater exploitation. Besides, crops such as sugarcane, banana and grapes and other perennial crop have also impacted the quality of groundwater on account of constant overdrawing, Mr. Khatua said. The third zone around Amravati is quite rich in water and the top soil quality is very good, according to Mr Khatua. A portion of this zone does have salinity because of the tectonic movements. ``Although, 4,500 km of groundwater area's water quality is brackish, agricultural productivity has remain unimpacted'' Mr Khatua said adding that with constant drawing of groundwater, the brackishness has been diluted. The fourth zone, which falls beneath Chandrapur, Gondhia and Bhandara is somewhat akin to the Deccan plateau. Among these four zones, the Deccan zone has a serious drinking water problem.
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