The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Moratorium on drilling borewells in State sought

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Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Moratorium on drilling borewells in State sought

Staff Correspondent

`Two million borewells responsible for depletion of groundwater table'

MYSORE: The depletion of the groundwater table and dwindling of surface water sources have forced hydro-geologists to renew their call for a moratorium on drilling borewells in the State.

The two million borewells in the State have been chiefly held responsible for the depletion of the water table.

"If drilling of borewells is not stopped immediately, Karnataka, which is an upper riparian State, will face acute shortage of water in the near future," cautioned hydro-geologist, V. Mahesha.

Recommending a three-year moratorium on drilling of borewells in the State, except for the purpose of providing community drinking water, Mr. Mahesha, who is also a convenor of the Mysore Grahakara Parishat, said the groundwater table, which had depleted over the past 30 years, should be given an opportunity to rejuvenate itself.

Urging the Government to deny permission for drilling of any private, agricultural, or industrial borewells, Mr. Mahesha said research on preventing the draining of water from the surface and shallow underground to deep underground should be pursued with greater urgency.

Open wells

Mr. Mahesha, a hydro-geologist with more than 36 years of experience, recalled that there were only open wells in the State till late 1960s, about 70,000 were used for irrigation and 30,000 for drinking water. "Once borewells made their appearance, they swept aside the open wells. Today, there are about 15,00,000 borewells for irrigation and about 5,00,000 borewells for drinking water and industrial use. With two million borewells, the average density of borewells in agricultural and urban land in the State works out to one every 20 sq km," he said.

The explosive increase in the number of borewells has had catastrophic consequences with water table, which used to fluctuate between three metres and 10 metres below the ground level in the 60s.

It now varies between 30 metres and 70 metres.

This has lead to drying up of almost all old wells, especially in areas where the borewell density exceeds one every 10 sq km, he said.

Dwindling water sources

Mr. Mahesha expressed concerned over the dwindling surface water sources with perennial streams becoming seasonal and seasonal streams either becoming rainy day rivulets or going completely dry.

"Of the nearly 40,000 manmade tanks in the State, more than half have not reached their full level over the past 10 to 15 years, and nearly 20 per cent of the tanks located in high borewell density regions dry up during summer," he said.

The dry situation may be attributed to a decrease in rainfall and to excess drawing of water from borewells.

But, there may be another reason for the depletion of the water table.

"It has now been confirmed that borewells are draining water into deep underground through vents in the borewells that provide for free flow from shallow to deeper zones," he said.

Drains

Mr. Mahesha said borewells have become drains for the free flow of rainwater straight into the deeper layers, as the depth of borewells increases.

"This has resulted in the failure of a vast majority of open wells and shallow borewells. The land acts like a sponge and sucks the rainwater. As a result, the surface runoffs have also diminished, limiting the flow to tanks, tributaries, and rivers," Mr. Mahesha said.

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