NIZAMABAD: Nizamabad, one of the agriculturally developed districts in the state is facing the worst drought for the second consecutive year and geologists opine that if the situation prevails, the district will face drinking water crisis.
The Ground Water department advised the collector to intiate steps to utilise the existing ground water sources in a judicious way. If monsoon fails to deliver next time also the situation will be grave, officials warned.
Nizamabad has 36 mandals and 718 villages in three revenue divisions. The district normally receives 850 mm rainfall by end of September but this year it is only 458 mm, a deficit of 46.11 per cent. The district encountered a similar situation in 2014 also.
The Ground Water department monitors all the 36 mandals in 48 micro water basins. According to its latest report, ground water level has gone down to 16.12 meters compared to the last year’s 9.56 meters in September. The last year’s situation was stable as the district received good rainfall in 2013-14.
The water table has gone down to 20.38 meters in Kamareddy division as it is an upland area. Nizamabad division is in second place with water table at 14.80 meters. Bodhan has a number of water sources and river bed areas and the water table is slowly decreasing. All over the district nearly 15 villages are facing serious ground water crisis where water table went down to more than 20 meters and 127 villages in 18 mandals have fully utilised ground water sources.
The district has 2.25 lakh agricultural bore wells and another 50,000, which draws water for drinking and domestic usage.
“All the bore wells will be dried up before March. The DGW is not allowing farmers dig any new bore wells in their lands,” said DGW field officer V Praveen Kumar.
He observed that Mission Kakatiya did not help the district increase ground water since the district did not receive expected rainfall for two years.
“A peculiar situation is prevailing in the district and all the departments should study to protect natural resources,” he said.
Revenue officials should not permit any new bore wells on farms. Gram panchayats and municipalities have to reduce water pumping hours and can use all the schemes for only six hours a day.