Telangana villages cry for water

​Hyderabad: As summer becomes fierce, several villages in the state are already under the grip of acute drinking water shortage. In many villages, water is being transported in tankers to mitigate the problem.

The Rural Water Supply officials are hiring agriculture borewells to supply drinking water to the villages where there is problem.

Mission Bhagiratha officials have stepped up their work to ensure bulk supply of water on priority basis to the village which have been facing shortage. A senior official of Rural Water Supply department said that they have been taking steps to transport water through tankers and have been responding to the issues being reported with regard to water shortage.

The Groundwater Department has informed that the average groundwater levels in the state during March 2018 is 11.90 metres below ground level (mgbl) and it varies from 6.80 mgbl (Wanaparthi Dist) to 19.95 mbgl (Medak dist).

The department informed that a net fall of 0.94 metres in groundwater level is observed during March 2018 as compared to March 2017.The fall in water levels is observed in most of the districts and this fall is mainly due to deficit rainfall of 10 per cent during this season. A maximum fall of 4.12 metres is observed in Medak district with 24 per cent deficit rainfall and minimum fall of 0.08 metres is observed in Suryapet district with 13 per cent deficit rainfall.

During the March 2018 in comparison to March 2017, rise in water levels are observed in 9 districts and which varies from 0.15m in Badradri- Kothagudem to 2.28 m in Rangareddy district. The rise in groundwater level from May 2017 to March 2018 is 0.45 m.

In Mahbubnagar district, the groundwater level is 12.86 mbgl against 16.72 mgbl in the last year and in Vikarabad district the water level 15.08 mgbl in March against the level of 14.68 mgbl in the same period last year.     

The Medak district has quite low level of water table as it was 19.9 m in March this year against the level of 17.6 m in the same month last year.

In many districts, the groundwater levels have fallen from February to March of this year and they would fall further in April and the situation may worsen in May if the groundwater levels are examined.

The villages where the drinking water supply schemes have been planned on the borewells have been suffering the shortage of drinking water and emergency transportation is being taken up.

District Collectors have been directed to take up transportation with the help of contingency funds available with them. 

The Mission Bhagiratha officials have been directed to provide bulk supply of water on priority basis to the villages where there is shortage.