VIJAYAWADA: Horticulture farmers of Anantapur, Kadapa and Chittoor districts are now more worried about saving their sweet lime orchards rather than quenching their parched throats. Most of them are getting water from a distance of 10 to 15 km to wet their crop. They are also purchasing tanker water to prevent their orchards from withering.
With groundwater levels hitting the rock bottom and almost all the borewells in most parts of Rayalaseema region drying up, horticulturists are more alarmed about their beloved trees as they invested a lot and nurtured them for long.
“For a farmer, the sweet lime crop is of utmost importance and to save it, he will go to any extent. This summer, groundwater situation has become worse. One-third of villages in Anantapur district are reeling under acute water shortage. With depleted groundwater levels, they are totally dependent on the what little water is being supplied through tankers,” said Malla Reddy, a groundwater expert working for the Rural Development Trust, summing up the situation.
In Anantapur, the average groundwater level at 5 pm on May 7 was recorded at 23.69 metres below ground level (MBGL), 3.35 metres deeper than the level on the same day last year. Though water is being supplied through tankers in some panchayats and municipalities like Hindupur, it is proving to be highly inadequate.
“We are getting water once in a week and to meet our daily needs, we have to pay `500 to `800 per tanker operated by private parties once in three days. Even drinking water has to be purchased at a cost of `10 to `20 everyday,” said B Anjaneyulu, a teacher in Hindupur.
The situation is no different in other districts of Rayalaseema, particularly Chittoor and Kadapa. In fact, the groundwater situation in Chittoor is more worse than any other district in the State.
It has recorded the lowest level of groundwater at 28.33 MBGL, while it was 17.28 MBGL last year. The huge difference of 11.05 metres is even worrying the district officials. “The situation has turned from bad to worse this summer. There are no rains. The borewells have also dried up,” said Venkataramana Reddy, a farmer of Vadamalapeta. Though he owns 30 acres of land, he has decided to leave a part of it fallow due to lack of irrigation water.
After Chittoor, Kadapa witnessed a big drop in the groundwater table followed by Anantapur and Kurnool. In Kadapa, the average groundwater level stood at 26.8 MBGL compared to 21.26 MBGL last year.
Among the coastal districts, Prakasam with 22.94 MBGL and West Godavari with 20.71 MBGL were worst off in groundwater table. Nellore which had 9.78 MBGL last year, saw a decline by 2.17 MBGL. Kadapa recorded the highest deficit rainfall of 55.9 per cent followed by Prakasam with 55.8 per cent and Nellore with 53.5 per cent. “Our efforts to harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater by constructing check dams and rain harvesting pits, have yielded no results due to deficit rainfall,” say officials.