Groundwater levels show significant rise
VIJAYAWADA: Groundwater levels in the State as on date are far better than what they were last year on the same day. Compared to 13.31 meters below ground level (MBGL) on June 13 last year, it was 8.58 MBGL on the same day this year, an improvement of 4.72 MBGL.
What is more interesting is that Kadapa, Chittoor and Anantapur districts from the drought-prone Rayalaseema districts are the three top districts having better ground water-levels compared to last year. Further, improvement of groundwater levels in Rayalaseema is higher than that in coastal Andhra Pradesh.
According to the data available with the department of Water Resources, the average depth at which groundwater available in the Rayalaseema region today is 8.90 MBGL as against 16.99 MBGL on the same day last year. Whereas in Coastal Andhra region, it is 8.31 MBGL as against 10.60 MBGL on the same day last year.
Greatest improvement in groundwater table has happened in Kadapa district, an increase of 12.66 MBGL compared to last year. On June 13, 2020, Kadapa had groundwater levels at 19.28 MBGL, while today groundwater is available at the depth of just 6.62 MBGL. Chittoor district, which stands second, today has groundwater available at the depth of 9.22 MBGL as against 21.03 MBGL on the same day last year.
Anantapur district, which often hits the headlines for having the worst groundwater levels, has shown a tremendous improvement. Compared to groundwater at 18.90 MBGL last year on the same day, groundwater is available at the depth of 11.71 MBGL in the district at present.Groundwater table has significantly improved in Prakasam district, one of the drought-prone districts in coastal AP. As against groundwater available at 15.90 MBGL on June 13 last year, today it is available at 8.74 MBGL.
Another coastal district, Nellore, also showed an improvement in groundwater table compared to last year. It was 9.32 MBGL last June while today, it is 4.01 MBGL only. The district also tops the chart of having groundwater available at the lowest depth in the state while in West Godavari one needs to go as deep as 17.32 meters below ground level to get groundwater.
However, three north coastal districts — Srikakulam, Viziangaram and Visakhapatnam— have witnessed depletion in groundwater table. Compared to last year, the groundwater table has shrunk in the three districts with Srikakulam district suffering a loss of 1.70 MBGL compared to last year. The reason for the ground-water levels improvement in Rayalaseema can be attributed to the good rains the region received in the last one year. It also received good rains in the first week since the onset of the Southwest Monsoon in the state. At the same time, Srikakulam district, which received deficit rains last monsoon, saw depletion in groundwater table.
Reservoir levels too have improved this year.
As against the gross capacity (major+medium+others) of 982.35 TMC, the water-storage levels as on today stand at 426.25 TMC, that is 43.39 percent of the gross capacity. Comparatively, it was only 336.56 TMC, that is 34.26 percent of the gross capacity, last year.
