In Faridabad , water table down 10 m in 14 years

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, December 21

The groundwater table has receded by more than 10 metre in the district in the past 14 years, an audit of the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) revealed.

The report added that in 67 villages, out of the 69 villages where the survey was conducted, underground water was being extracted at a rate double than the recharge capacity. Officials, who undertook the audit, claimed that the water table in the majority of the localities in both, urban and rural areas, have depleted by 10 metres since 2008. The report revealed that the water table, which was around 13.48 metres in 2008, has receded to 23.65 metres in Faridabad block while it fell from 11.42 metre to 16.35 metre in Ballabgarh block since 2007.

Audit findings

• Water table declined from 13.48 metre in 2008 to 23.65 metre in Faridabad block
• It decreased from 11.42 metre to 16.35 metre in Ballabgarh block since 2007
• The extraction of underground water has been 22,151.60 HM against recharge capacity of 11,034.07 HM
• Around 60 per cent of water supply in Faridabad is met by the Ranney wells built on the Yamuna riverbed

An official of the ABY said majority the demand was being met from underground water as no canal water supply existed in the region. As result, the water level had been impacted in the past several years, he added.

Another senior official, who was part of the audit team, said the city get around 60 per cent of water supply from the Ranney wells built on the Yamuna riverbed. “As many as 22 Ranneywells are functional in the district,” he added.

The audit report said that due to over dependence of the Ranney wells, the extraction of underground water had been around 22,151.60 hectare metre (HM) against recharge capacity of 11,034.07 HM. The recharge capacity exceeds the the extraction of underground water only in two villages, Mangar and Kot, among the localities that were surveyed.

An official of the ABY, Atish Ekka, said, “The objective of the scheme is to improve the management of groundwater resources in water-stressed areas. Faridabad is among the 14 such districts in Haryana. The scheme has been designed with the principal objective of strengthening the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management aimed at bringing behavioral change at the community-level through awareness programmes and capacity-building for fostering sustainable resources.”