The ground water level in the state has witnessed a net rise of 2.16m in the month of March 2021 compared to the same month last year. While Sangareddy recorded the maximum improvement in ground water level, Bhupalpally district saw the least change in the ground water level. When the data from March this year is compared to the same month last year, the rise in ground water level has been observed in 27 districts in the state and a fall has been recorded in the other six districts.
This comes as good news to people across the state because the onset of summer is a nightmare for people staying in areas where there is water shortage. Especially in Hyderabad, associations often end up spending a lot to procure water tankers to fulfil the requirement of residents.
In Hyderabad, the ground water level in March 2020 was 9.39 m bgl (below ground level). A year later, in March 2021, the levels have improved to 7.12 m bgl. To simplify the numbers, it means that in the month of March 2021, the groundwater could be tapped if one dug 7.12 m bgl. This is higher than what it used to be exactly a year ago and this means that the ground water level has improved.
The average ground water level in the state during March was 8.35 m bgl. While Wanaparthy district reported the ground water level at 3.5 m bgl, in Medak one will have to go 14.87 m bgl to find water.
Improved rainfall is a major factor in the increase in ground water levels across the state. During the water year 2020-2021, the state received actual rainfall of 1262 mm against the normal rainfall of 865 mm up to March 31. This accounted for 46% more rainfall in the state during this period as compared to normal annual rainfall up to March 2021. Nalgonda district which received 864 mm of rainfall is the lowest while Mulugu received the highest rainfall of 2064 mm. Overall, 27 districts in the state received excess rainfall and the remaining six received normal rainfall.
The ground water department monitors ground water levels throughout the 33 districts of the state using piezometers. The monitoring stations record the depth of the ground water level periodically and this helps compare the levels over a period of time.
While Bhupalpally recorded the least fall, Jagityal district recorded the maximum fall of 1.16 m.
Decadel water level refers to the average water level during the last 10 years. The water levels during March this year when compared with the decadel average of March (2011 to 2020) it can be observed that out of a total of 592 mandals, a rise in the water level is observed in 530 mandals. A fall in the water levels was observed in 62 mandals in total.
On the occasion of World Water Day on March 22 CM K Chandrasekhar Rao conveyed to the people, “Protecting the natural resources not only maintains equilibrium in nature but also accumulates valuable wealth that we would pass on to the next generations."
"In Telangana state, the state government is implementing several schemes and projects to supply water for irrigation and for drinking water purposes and also to revive the ground water levels. Through Mission Kakatiya and mega irrigation projects like Kaleswaram, efforts are on to increase the availability of the ground water as well as availability of water for cultivation. The measures taken by the state government for the past six and half years have brought in a qualitative change in water resources management,” the CM had said.