Groundwater overexploited in Haryana in 60% blocks

Parveen Arora

The water table in Haryana is falling at an alarming rate year after year. As per a report of the Ground Water Cell, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Department, Haryana, it is declining, on an average, by 0.5-1 metre every year in paddy-growing districts. The situation remains grim in the overexploited blocks, where the water table has been seeing a continuous slide in the past around two decades.

The report reveals that 78 blocks (over 60 per cent) in the state are in the overexploited category, where the groundwater recharging is far less compared to withdrawal. Three blocks are in the critical category, where the withdrawal of groundwater ranges between 90 and 100 per cent. Twenty-one blocks are in the semi-critical category (withdrawal is 70-90 per cent against recharge). Only 26 blocks are in the safe category, but in most of these blocks, water is salt-affected and not fit for farming and drinking.

The declining groundwater is mainly attributed to paddy. As per experts, 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water is needed to produce 1kg of rice. The state government has imposed a ban on the transplantation of paddy before June 15. The government is also encouraging farmers to replace paddy with maize and pulses and has offered subsidy to them.

The report states that Haryana’s water table fell from 10.44 metres in 1974 to 20.71 metres in 2019. The worst-affected districts are Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Kaithal and Fatehabad, followed by Rewari, Karnal, Panipat, Gurugram, Faridabad and Sirsa. Pankaj Mehla, Water Development Specialist, Ground Water Cell, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Department, says, “Canal water supply is limited and around 90 per cent of the groundwater is used for irrigation. I appeal to farmers to shift to less water-consuming crops, besides using micro-irrigation methods being adopted on the smart agriculture village pattern.”

He says average or below-average rainfall is also a key factor. The average rainfall of Haryana is 400 metres, even as around 75 per cent agriculture is dependent on groundwater, leading to a decline in the water table. With the aim of improving the water table, the Centre has come with Atal Bhujal Yojana, a World Bank-funded scheme with an estimated cost of Rs 6,000 crore. It is being implemented in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, UP and MP.

In Haryana, it is being implemented by the Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Department with a budgetary provision of Rs 786.20 crore. As many as 36 blocks in 13 districts which fall in the overexploited and critical category, have been selected under this project. These blocks are: Badra, Behal, Kairu, Loharu and Tosham (Bhiwani), Tohana (Fatehabad), Karnal block (Karnal), Farukhnagar, Pataudi, Gurugram and Sohana (Gurugram), Gulha and Rajound (Kaithal), Ladwa, Pehowa and Shahbad (Kurukshetra), Bapoli and Samalkha (Panipat), Rania and Ellenabad (Sirsa), Nangal Chaudhary, Narnaul, Kanina, Mahendragarh and Ateli (Mahendragarh), Khol (Rewari), Palwal, Hassanpur, Hathin and Hodal (Palwal), Jagadhari, Mustafabad, Radaur and Sadhaura (Yamunanagar).

Recharge initiatives

• The Central Soil Salinity and Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, has been working on groundwater recharging  since 2008. It worked between 2008 and 2012 on the Farmers’ Participatory Action Research Programme (FPARP) and later it initiated work on the Farmers’ First Programme, which is still going on. Under both projects, the CSSRI got installed water recharge systems in the farmers’ fields to conserve rainwater.
• Dr Satinder Kumar, Principal Scientist, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering Division, CSSRI, says the Farmers’ First project is funded by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), New Delhi. The CSSRI got installed around 70 water recharging systems in Haryana, Punjab, UP and Gujarat. Around 35 were installed in the fields of the farmers in districts like Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Yamunanagar. “I appeal to farmers to conserve rainwater in the fields,” he says.
• Dr PC Sharma, Director, CSSRI, says the situation of declining water table is alarming, particularly in paddy-growing districts. In the salt-affected districts of Rohtak, Hisar, Jhajjar, Rewari and parts of Sonepat, the extraction of groundwater is very less, due to which the water table in these districts is rising.