Around 30 per cent of the groundwater resource in the state is unfit for both drinking and agriculture, a fact that has sparked concern in the groundwater department authorities since water sources in the state are receding at an alarming rate. Salinity and fluoride contamination are the main reasons for the water becoming unsuitable for irrigation and drinking. Dr K. Venugopal, joint director, groundwater department, said that there are as many as 36 saline mandals and a huge area with high flourine content in water, posing health hazards due to fluorosis.
It is, therefore, imperative to conserve the remaining 70 per cent of the cache, which is jeopardised too by over-use. “A significant area is over-exploited,” he said, referring to commercial use eating away into the state’s limited resources. “An equally huge chunk of land comes under poor groundwater quality,” he added A recent report suggests that about 115 basins come under the ‘over-exploited’ category while another 80 come under ‘critical’ status with respect to ground water. There are also about 190 ‘semi-critical’ basins, fast moving into the ‘critical’ category.
“More than 10 per cent of the total number of villages in the state have been notified under ‘over exploited’ (OE) category, which can go up to 15 per cent if the monsoon is poor and steps are not taken to check heavy exploitation of ground water resources,” said Dr Venugopal, adding that there is no further scope for development of the water resource in the state. Almost all the districts are plagued by disproportionate ground water recharges vis-a-vis extraction of water.