VIJAYAWADA: The State government has declared 188 villages spread across seven districts of the State as ‘over-exploited’. With this, no well can be sunk in these areas except for public drinking purposes. Similarly, a hand pump can not be sunk for public or private drinking water purposes and sand mining is also prohibited in these villages.
The AP Water, Land and Trees Authority notified these villages as per the powers conferred under the AP Water, Land and Trees Act, 2002. The panchayat raj and rural development department issued orders notifying these villages as over-exploited, till further orders. These villages have been identified by the Groundwater Department, and digging of borewells and pumps, and sand mining has been banned to regulate the usage of groundwater. Ground water department officials said a particular village can be notified as over-exploited if the ground water levels fall below 20 metres.
The seven districts where the 188 villages are notified as over-exploited are from Rayalaseema, north coastal Andhra and coastal Andhra regions, with majority of the notified villages are from drought-prone Rayalaseema. Prakasam district has the highest of 57 over-exploited villages followed by 53 in Srikakulam, 42 in Sri Sathya Sai, 16 in Palnadu, 13 in Kadapa, six in Anantapur and one in Chittoor.
Of the seven districts in which these 188 villages fall, six have received ‘normal’ rainfall during the recent rainfall season. Only Anantapur district received a deficit rainfall of (-) 22.6 cm, officials said. Though Srikakulam district received normal rainfall, 53 villages in Ranasthalam, Laveru, Ponduru and G Sigadam mandals have been notified as over-exploited. These mandals fall in the tail end of various irrigation projects and face water shortage this year.