Groundwater crisis by 2020

A recent NITI Aayog report on India’s water crisis, along with the performance of states in addressing the issue, presents a grim picture of the country’s hydrological scene.

Uttar Pradesh

The groundwater crisis in UP is progressively worsening, owing to unplanned urbanisation, unbridled boring, rampant exploitation of groundwater and surface water by government and private bodies, failure to replenish it through rainwater harvesting, lack of awareness among people, etc.

The state has a gross withdrawal of about 5.28 million hectares, among the highest in India.

Studies show about 660 blocks in UP are facing depleting water levels. Of those, 180 blocks in 45 districts have been clubbed as stressed (over-exploited/critical).

Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Agra, Noida, and Varanasi have all been severely affected. Besides, contamination in high concentration of fluoride, iron, arsenic, chromium, manganese and salinity is another area of concern, the report stated.

“Groundwater is like a bank account. If you keep on withdrawing without refilling, it would get exhausted forever,” V K Joshi, former Geological Survey of India director, told Business Standard.

Records show, there were about 320 ponds in Lucknow in 1912, but most of them have disappeared.

Odisha

Despite having a network of rivers, just 32 per cent of the agricultural land in Odisha has access to irrigation.

According to a latest assessment, the state has net dynamic groundwater resources of 1.669 million cubic metres.

With a Water Index score of 42 (same as Kerala), Odisha, replete with water reserves, is positioned at the bottom among the five worst performers in water resource management.

In the NITI Aayog ranking, which has 2015-16 as the base year, Odisha has slipped four notches to 13 (among non-Himalayan states), the study has found.

Bihar

In June 2009, then Public Health Engineering Minister Ashwini Choubey, after returning from Singapore, had said, “I have conceived some plans for water management. We will soon formulate our water policy and seek cooperation from Singapore for this.”

He claimed that a team of water experts would soon visit Bihar and suggest a water policy.

Choubey went on to become a Union minister, but a water policy remained elusive for Bihar.

Of Bihar’s 38 districts, 13 are arsenic- and 11 are fluoride-affected. That apart, every summer, the southern districts of Gaya, Aurangabad, Kaimur, Nawada, Jamui, Bhagalpur, and Rohtas face acute drinking water crisis.

According to government records, more than 98 per cent of construction in Patna, including government buildings, did not follow rules. Independent surveys found that the groundwater table went down by 10 metres in several parts of Patna last year.

- shared from internet resources.