Very high density of tubewells leads to fall in water table in Punjab: PSPCL report

Aman Sood

Patiala, December 6

Though 13.94 lakh tubewells are pumping out gallons of water to irrigate fields, a majority of these borewells are located in the districts with overexploited water table.

According to data prepared by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), majority of the districts with critical water table continue to have maximum tubewells.

Ludhiana has maximum tubewells (1.17 lakh) followed by Gurdaspur (99,581), Amritsar (93,946) and Sangrur (93,669).

Interestingly, these districts have shown a steepest decline in water table. Farmers in Barnala and Sangrur have been extracting water from the maximum depth by using 17 BHP motors followed closely by Patiala, 16 BHP motors, to irrigate their fields.

“There is a very high density of tubewells in Punjab in addition to solar and over 50,000 diesel pumps. While the cultivable area is around 80 lakh acres, there’s one tubewell for every six acres,” reads the report.

Average subsidy

Average power subsidy in Punjab is around Rs 10,000 per acre annually. However, in some areas of Sangrur, Barnala and Patiala where water level is low, subsidy touches Rs 20,000 per acre on a yearly basis.” — Baldev Singh Sran, CMD, PSPCL

Baldev Singh Sran, CMD, PSPCL, said, “Average power subsidy in Punjab is around Rs 10,000 per acre annually. However, in some areas of Sangrur, Barnala and Patiala where water level is low, subsidy touches Rs 20,000 per acre on a yearly basis.”

Out of 150 assessed blocks in Punjab, the Central Ground Water Assessment Board’s report categorised 114 (76.47 per cent) as ‘over exploited’, three (1.96 per cent as ‘critical’, 13 (8.5 per cent) as ‘semi-critical’ and 20 blocks (13.07 per cent) as ‘safe’.

Every tubewell pumps out 30.24 lakh litres of water per week with an average eight hours of power supply. This means that 14 lakh tubewells pump out 4,385 billion litres of water per week.

A report submitted to the National Green Tribunal by an expert committee suggest that if paddy transplantation is delayed by a week, the state can meet the demand for water of its 3 crore population for more than 3.5 years.

Agriculture experts suggest that farmers should use canal water for irrigating their fields and the government should ensure supply till the tail-end villages. “The Punjab Government has started working on it. If the target is achieved early, we will be able to save the falling groundwater table,” they said.