Falling watertable cause for worry

Kulwinder Sandhu

Moga, March 14

Excessive exploitation of groundwater in Moga district, the heartland of Malwa belt, is a cause for concern as all the five blocks have been categorised as over-exploited and fall under the “dark zone”.

As per the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), the rate of decline of groundwater varies from 50 cm per year to 80 cm annually in the district.

The recharge of groundwater through rain or other sources in Moga also known as ‘Rice bowl’ of Punjab has been quite less than the overall extraction.

The district has around 64,232 tubewells, which irrigate fields through unlined kutcha (99.84 per cent) open channel systems. In this process, a huge quantity of groundwater gets wasted.

The CGWB said 50 per cent of the over draft could be brought down by switching over to underground/surface pipeline-based distribution.

Ajay Sood, a progressive farmer from Saleena village, said, “The state government must launch a scheme along with farmers to install underground pipelines instead of having kutcha channels. It will help to improve groundwater table.”

Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, who is an agro scientist, said groundwater table can be improved by adopting crop diversification, including paddy to maize, soyabean and pulses. “It can save one million cubic metre of water in one square kilometer. In case of pulses, higher amount of groundwater can be saved,” he said.

So far, the Department of Soil Conservation, has constructed 22 recharge structures in Patiala, Sangrur, Moga and Mohali districts. The results of these were yet to be ascertained.

The government had also made rooftop rainwater harvesting mandatory in buildings above 200 sq yd by amending the building bylaws, but nothing concrete has happened on the ground in this regard.

Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat during his visit to the district, said, “We have asked the state government to bring in a policy to monitor excessive exploitation of groundwater to ensure long-term sustainability of agriculture. Water metres can also be installed.”