Water level depletes to record low in Ch'nagar

Underground water level average recorded at 550 feet

The underground water levels have reached record lows, raising fears of a severe water crisis in the district.

One of the major causes for the depletion in underground water, according to officials, is the reduction in annual rainfall and exploitation of water by indiscriminate digging of borewells. Besides, failure to implement projects meant to rejuvenate groundwater has also been blamed for the depletion.

According to the department of Mines and Geology, the average level of groundwater in the district is between 500 to 600 feet. Only Yalandur taluk has satisfactory groundwater levels, while the depletion has been severe in Kollegal and Gundlupet taluks. Even though the situation is alarming in Chamarajanagar taluk too, the project to fill lakes with water from Kabini reservoir has raised some hopes of rejuvenation of groundwater levels.

With the onset of summer, the Zilla Panchayat has compiled a list of 325 villages which face water shortage. In order to address the issue, the ZP has decided to dig borewells, despite the alarming depletion in underground water.

Another concern is that, on an average 23 of the 100 borewells dug in the district have been failing in recent days. In Kollegal and Hanur regions, the average groundwater level range between 700 to 900 feet.

According to the district rural water supply and sanitation division, there are a total of 6,948 borewells in the district. Of them, 1,507 have gone defunct, with fears that hundreds more will be defunct by the end of summer.

According to Devaraj, executive engineer of the division, the failure rate among the newly dug borewells is between 15 to 23 per cent. In some areas, the average depth of groundwater have depleted alarmingly, he said.

H S Mahadeshwar, geologist of the department of Mines and Geology, lamented that the groundwater rejuvenation programmes require a push, so that the growing problem could be addressed. He added that the programmes to fill lakes with water from reservoirs was a step towards rejuvenating groundwater levels.