Take measures to raise groundwater level: Collector
NTR District Collector S Dilli Rao holding a meeting with officials at the Collectorate in Vijayawada on Saturday
Vijayawada: NTR District Collector S Dilli Rao instructed officials to take necessary measures for improving the groundwater levels in the district and asked them make collective efforts to utilise every drop of rainwater to protect the groundwater table.
As part of the National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM), the Collector held a district-level groundwater co-ordination meeting at the Collectorate here on Saturday.
Officials from the departments of Groundwater, Irrigation, Agriculture, Horticulture and Forest participated in the meeting.
Speaking at the meeting, the Collector stressed the need for chalking out some plans for proper and sustainable maintenance of the groundwater. He said that to cater to the water needs locally there was a need to conserve the groundwater table.
He said that maximum villages depend on using groundwater and added that the groundwater is catering to the water needs of above 85 per cent villages. The Collector further stressed on proper maintenance of check dams and minor irrigation tanks to protect the groundwater levels. There are a total of 443 minor irrigation tanks in the district.
The authorities undertook tank development activities under NREGA. People who are residing in the cities and towns are made aware of doing Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting (RRWH) methods.
Besides, government offices, apartments and commercial complexes have also been advised to adopt rooftop rain harvesting procedure.
Similar rainwater recharge structures must be set up at all the government offices across the district, the Collector said.
The Collector also asked farmers to use nano urea and organic pesticides in place of hazardous fertilisers and pesticides to prevent water contamination.
Groundwater DDs B Nagaraju, K Vijayakumar, B Nageswara Rao, groundwater scientists Sudhirkumar, SN Vital, forest deputy range officer N Bhanu Prakash, Irrigation Deputy SE K Ramesh, DWAMA PD J Sunitha, APMIC PD Subhani and others participated.