Time to think beyond the routine drill

Water scarcity always evokes a knee-jerk measure - drilling borewells; long-term plans need of the hour.

Elected representatives are demanding more and more funds from the government for drilling borewells in the 123 drought affected taluks spread across 24 districts.

With the chorus for new borewells getting shriller, the government is turning generous releasing funds for the same, despite the fact that the failure rate of borewells in the State is about 40 per cent.

Of the 30 districts in the state, only six – Bangalore Urban, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shimoga and Kodagu – are the blessed ones as they do not figure in the list of drought-hit districts. While Bangalore Urban has piped water supply system, the rest have rivers.

The MLAs of the 123 taluks in rest of the 24 districts have found getting money from the government for sinking new borewells the easiest method to meet the demand for drinking water in the parched areas.

According to the revenue department’s disaster management cell, the State has about 2.20 lakh borewells and at least 40 per cent of these are defunct.

The government has sanctioned funds for drilling 5,655 borewells in the last few weeks, with water for drinking purposes from all sources becoming a rarity.  The total funds sanctioned for drought relief works runs to Rs 370 crore as on April 11 this year.

Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda has often declared that there is no shortage of funds for meeting the demand for water and fodder. Even the deputy commissioners have said that they have sufficient funds at their disposal to take up relief works. But the question is – where is the water to meet the demand?

Sinking more and more borewells is not serving any purpose. Kolar district has proved this point. Non-availability of surface water in Kolar has pushed the district administration to go on a borewell drilling spree for the last many years.

Today the district, which falls under the rain shadow region, is in a desperate situation without sufficient water with hundreds of tanks going dry.

Rajendra Cholan, Chief Executive Officer, Kolar Zilla Panchayat says that from January to April this year, the government has given permission for sinking 300 new borewells. In the last one year, 945 new borewells were drilled. Of these, 255 did not yield water putting the failure rate at about 27 per cent. There is demand for 640 more borewells.

“Politicians and officials are aware that drilling borewells is not the solution to meet the demand for water. But what is the immediate alternative? When people are helpless without water, in a district like Kolar, all we can do is supply water through tankers and depend on borewells. Ground water depletion has led to the drying up of scores of borewells,” he said.

The CEO said that a borewell depth has to be a minimum of 1,200 ft in Kolar, for which a minimum of Rs 1.5 lakh has to be spent.

“A majority of the new borewells yield water only for 15 days to one month due to drastic depletion in ground water. Still, we sanction money for new borewells, rehabilitation and hydrofracturing because elected representatives seek our help to mitigate the situation.

We have also taken over private borewells. On an average the consumption of water by people of Kolar is just 20 litre a day, while as per the global standards it should have been 600 litres,” he said.

Cholan said there is an urgent need to take up water harvesting in kalyanis (traditional water tanks). The work will commence soon, he added.

Link rivers

K Amaranarayana, Secretary, Revenue Department (Disaster Management) minces no words when he says drilling borewells will not solve the water crisis. “We are using borewells like the way we use toothpaste tubes. It is difficult refill a tube while squeezing out is very easy.

Recharge or percolation pits must be constructed along with every borewell. Otherwise, how does a borewell get recharged? But this practice is not followed. It used to be mandatory in early 2000. But not so now. In our hurry to provide water, we are just going in for borewells.”

How much money has the government sanctioned for drilling borewells since the drought was declared in October, 2011? “The cost depends on the depth. In a city like Bangalore, we may have to dig 400 to 500 ft, whereas in rain shadow districts like Kolar, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Raichur, etc., it may go beyond 1,000 ft. Recently, funds have been released for nearly 5,655 borewells. But we are not constructing recharge pits as we are in a hurry to provide water. It can be compared to fire fighting.”

Why is the State left with so many failed borewells? Amaranarayana says the reasons are many, including over exploitation of ground water. As many as 16 districts in the Maidan region fall in the rain shadow region. Rains are erratic.

Sustainable water supply has to be provided. Surface water is the only solution. Interlinking of rivers should be done, failing which water famine will be the order of the day, except in the districts which have rivers. It takes decades for ground water to be re-charged. Water level does not increase by rains in a year or two.

“Chitradurga’s plight was no different from that of Kolar. When I was the Deputy Commissioner, I took up rejuvenation of kalyanis on a massive scale. Today, many taluks and Chitradurga city are not facing water shortage. Undivided Kolar had about 5,000 tanks. These old water bodies must be revived.

Problem districts should get perennial source of water through diversion of rivers. When deserts of the US like California and Las Vegas can have sufficient water through planning, why are our arid zones deprived of water? It is political will which is required to take up water harvesting schemes.”