Groundwater level in Jalandhar district depleting at alarming rate
JALANDHAR: Even as the groundwater level is depleting at an alarming rate at all 10 blocks of the district and the situation only worsening with each passing year, the government agencies concerned are apparently least bothered about this.
All the blocks — Bhogpur, Go r aya , Jalandhar East, Jalandhar West , Lohian , Nakodar, Nurmahal, Phillaur, Adampur and Shahkot — have been declared as an “overexploited zone”, a situation when annual extraction of water exceeds the replenishment capacity.
However, it has been found that the situation in Adampur block has somewhat improved in the recent past.
The central ground water board conducts a survey every year. The groundwater level has further gone down in 2015 as compared with the last year.
Manohar Lal, executive engineer, Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), said soil dries up, becomes infertile and natural disasters like earthquakes get frequent if water level decreases.
“People waste water in large amount which must be stopped. We must know the value of resources,” said Lal. “Except Adampur, where a nominal rise of 12-15 cm has been noted, water table in all other blocks has gone down,” said Arvinder Singh, assistant engineer, Central Groundwater Board.
According to the latest report, in Phillaur block, the water level went down by 18-20cm. In 2014, the water level of the block was 16.5m below ground level.
As why water was not being conserved, Avtar singh, divisional soil and water conservation officer, said due lack of funds plans such as rainwater harvest- ing cannot be implemented to arrest the further depletion.
The situation is alarming but the Punjab government has not formulated any groundwater policy despite serious depletion of groundwater level.
Sutantra Kumar Aeri, chief agriculture officer, said, “It is true that the situation is not good in the district but we are running programmes to improve the groundwater level. A sub-soil water preservation programme is being run under which farmers are not allowed to sow paddy saplings before May 15 and transplant saplings before June 15. The programme has helped to some extent. We are hopeful that the situation will improve.”
ALL 10 BLOCKS OF THE DISTRICT HAVE BEEN DECLARED AS ‘OVEREXPLOITED ZONE’, AS ANNUAL EXTRACTION OF WATER EXCEEDS REPLENISHMENT