City draws 6K-yr-old water
Expert for tough measures to save water
Scientists at the National Geophysical Research Institute, as part of a study, have found that in some parts of Hyderabad, people are sucking up groundwater that has been in the deep pockets of the earth from 1,300 to even 6,000 years.
This should set alarm bells ringing as this is a result of people sinking borewells deeper and deeper in search of groundwater.
An example of it is a 1,400foot-deep borewell in Neredmet where the groundwater has been dated back to nearly 6,000 years.
As part of the study, groundwater dating back 1,400 years and beyond were found at eight places in the city including localities such as AS Rao Nagar, Toli Chowki, Banjara Hills, Dollar Hills, Uppal and Habsiguda.
Scientists at the NGRI have found that people in some parts of Hyderabad are drawing groundwater that has been in the deep pockets of the earth from 6,000 years.
Except for some lowlying areas in the city, NGRI scientists found that the top, weathered zone in Hyderabad was “practically dry” because of over-exploitation of groundwater necessitated by extensive and intensive domestic and industrial usage.
The weathered zone is the top layer of earth where groundwater can be found and its width depends on the topography of a place. In Hyderabad it ranges from 0.5-2 metre in elevated places like Filmnagar and Borabanda to 10-15 metres in low-lying areas like Gowliguda and Lower Tank Bund.
Hyderabad has already been categorised as one of the “dark blocks” in the country by the Central Groundwater Board as groundwater exploitation status in the city has been declared as “over-exploited”.
As per data presented by the Standing Committee on Water Resources to the Lok Sabha in December 2015, Telangana state is among the nine in India where the groundwater resource is “critical”. The state’s groundwater usage stands at 7.05 billion cubic metres and net annual ground water availability is around 13.684 billion cubic metres.
Dr D.V. Reddy, senior principal scientist and head of Isotope Hydrology and Paleoseismology, NGRI, said, “It is natural that as the city grows, deep-water aquifers will continue to be exploited as demand for water increases. In Rajasthan, 40,000-yearold water is being utilised from deep-water aquifers. It is necessary to take up measures to ensure that groundwater is efficiently getting recharged, like billing each flat in an apartment for water usage rather than plot wise. It is necessary to make people conscious of their water usage.”