Telangana: Rise in groundwater levels in March

Hyderabad: Out of 33 districts, in two districts average water level was less than five m bgl, in remaining 23 districts, it was between five and 10 m bgl and in eight districts it was between 10 and 15 mbgl.

A net average rise of 1.15 m in groundwater levels was observed during March-2022 as compared to March-2021 and rise was observed in 31 districts from 0.12 m in Nagarkurnool to 3.60 m in Sangareddy, while fall in remaining two districts from 0.12 m in Medchal to 0.15 m in Hanumakonda.

GWD Director Pandith Madhnure said the department monitored water levels during March-2022 through 1296 piezometers monitoring stations covering all mandals from 33 districts of Telangana.

During the water year 2021-22 up to 31st March 2022, the State received rainfall of 1140 mm against 865 mm of normal rainfall and it ranges from 573 mm in Jogulamba Gadwal district to 1530 mm in Rajanna-Sircilla district. Thus, there was 32 per cent of excess rainfall during this period as compared to normal annual rainfall.

Twenty six districts – Adilabad, Bhadradri, Bhupalpally, Hanumakonda, Hyderabad, Jagityal, Jangaon, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Khammam, Kumuram Bheem-Asifabad, Mahabubabad, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Medchal, Nalgonda, Narayanpet, Nirmal Nizamabad, Rangareddy, Siddipet, Vikarabad, Wanaparthy, Warangal, Yadadri and Rajanna-Sircilla districts received excess rainfall from 20 per cent to 75 per cent and remaining seven districts received normal rainfall from less than one per cent to 13 per cent.

The GWD said the water levels during March-2022 compared with decadal average of March (2012-2021) levels, it was observed that, out of 594 mandals, rise in the range of 0.04-32.04 m was observed in 336 (67 per cent) mandals and fall in the range of 0.01-7.30 m in 258 (43 %) mandals.

The rise compared to decadal average of March (2012-2021) up to 0.5 m was observed in 39 mandals, 0.5-1.0 m in 27 mandals, one to two m in 72 mandals and more than two m in 198 mandals falling in north, east and southern parts of Nirmal, eastern parts of Rajanna-Sircilla, eastern parts of Jagtial, western parts of Mahabubabad, western and central parts of Warangal, Hanmakonda Karimnagar, Siddipet, Suryapet, Medak, Jangoan, Kamareddy, Yadadri, Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, south part of Bhupalpally, Bhadradri, Rangareddy, northern part of Medchal, Khammam, central part of Jogulamba Gadwal, Vikarabad, Nagarkurnool, Narayanpet, Nalgonda and Wanaparthy districts.

The fall compared to the decadal average of March (2012-2021)) up to 0.5 m was observed in 30 mandals, 0.5 to one m in 29 mandals, one to two m in 36 mandals and more than two m in 163 mandals, he added.