VIJAYAWADA: Even a month after the arrival of the Southwest Monsoon, the groundwater levels across the State have increased only marginally. While the groundwater levels still remain below 20 meters in the Rayalaseema region, Anantapur district records the lowest groundwater levels in the State — 26.34 meters below the ground level.
The average depth of the groundwater level in the State is 13.59 meters below ground level as on date, while it was 10.64 meters below ground level on the same day last year. As the summer was severe, the groundwater levels in the State decreased drastically in May. The average groundwater level in the State in May was 14.79 meters below ground level and it improved slightly to 14.22 meters during June and to 13.59 meters in July (till date).
Anantapur is the worst affected district with regard to groundwater levels. As against 17.71 meters below ground level in July last year, the average ground water level in the district stood at 26.34 meters below ground level now. In May, the groundwater levels in Anantapur district stood at 26.21 meters and in June, it further decreased to 26.46 member, but had slightly improved in the first 15 days of July.“Groundwater situation in Anantapur is rather alarming and if the dry spell of last three weeks continues further, it spells trouble for farmers,” said Y V Malla Reddy, groundwater expert working for Rural Development Trust in Anantapur.
Meanwhile, experts said that normal rains for one month do not mean that there will be an abnormal change in groundwater levels. “It takes time for the groundwater to get recharged. Be it vertical or horizontal, the flow of the rainwater for the first couple of months after intense summer will not be much,” said A Vara Prasad, deputy director of Ground Water department, Krishna and also OSD, Minister for Water Resources.
“First, the rain water gets evaporated as soon as it touches the parched land dried up during the Summer, just like a drops of water on a hot pan. Later, they get observed as moisture in the soil. Only after considerable time, the rainwater gets percolated and groundwater gets increased steadily,” he explained. Another official of the department said, on condition of anonymity, that the rainwater in June is more or less like an incentive received by an employee. “As soon as the incentive is received, it gets spent, for fees and other necessities. Similarly, rainfall and what little groundwater that get recharged will be used by the farmers, who go for sowing at the first sign of rain,” he said.