HYDERABAD: The year 2017 might prove to be a better than 2016 for Telangana, at least when it comes to the situation of underground water. A report released by Telangana groundwater department on Wednesday has showed that groundwater level at most places in the state was much better compared to December 2015 and May 2016, which is prior to start of water year, June 2016 and May 2017.
The average groundwater level of Telangana was 8.50 metre below ground level(mbgl) as compared to 12.72 mbgl in December 2015 and 15.62 mbgl in May 2016. The key reason behind this is good rainfall that the state received as against the normal rainfall of 843 mm till December 2016, which is 19 per cent more than than normal.
Deep water levels(DWL) of groundwater deeper than 20mbgl were recorded only in 35 of the 584 mandals in the state. These 35 mandals are located in Siddipet, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy and Nagar Kurnool districts. In 34 mandals, the groundwater was recorded between 15-20 mbgl.
Deputy director of Telangana groundwater department, K Dhananjaiah, said, “Most of the mandals in the state have experienced an increase in groundwater levels and it is expected that the stress on groundwater will be less this year. However, there are some mandals mainly located in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak and Ranga Reddy districts where there was not enough rainfall last year and even exploitation of groundwater is high.
As a combined effect, 69 mandals continue to have groundwater levels more than 15-20 meters below ground level.” Moderate depth to groundwater levels in the range of 10 to 20m below ground level is observed in 130 mandals located in RangaReddy, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Vikarabad, Sangareddy and Nizamabad districts.