Normal rains not enough to bring up groundwater

News of the monsoon being normal this year may have gladdened the hearts of many, but groundwater department officials are hardly impressed. The reason: they feel above-normal rainfall would be required to avert an impending water crisis facing the state owing to its fast depleting groundwater.

The signs of the looming calamity are in the air although the summer has just begun. Sample this: In Rayalaseema, the groundwater plummeted by two metres in March com- pared the corresponding period last year. The groundwater table though has gone up in coastal Andhra by one metre compared to March last year. But it hasn’t shown any increase Telengana.

Dr. K. Venugopal, joint director, AP groundwater department, attributed the plummeting groundwater table to the deficient rainfall last year.

“In Rayalaseema the situation could turn critical and the same goes for Telangana,” he said. “The water crisis may acquire more serious dimensions, if the groundwater doesn’t rise this year towing to below normal or deficient monsoon”, Dr Venugopal said.

According to him, groundwater has plummeted in the state despite average rainfall in the past two decades. It plummeted by more than 11 metres in 2012 from a mere five metres in 1988 before witnessing seven-metre decline in 1998. In fact, groundwater had started drying up in some places.

“The situation will continue to remain critical if normal monsoon reappears this year,”said Dr Venugopal adding, on average groundwater had plummeted at an alarming rate in all districts in the state.