Groundwater has failed Andhra Pradesh's farmers. Between 1997 and 2006, about 4,500 farmers committed suicide. Unable to repay loans they had taken to drill in borewells. Monya and Ashutosh Mishra found farmer scoffing at rules to dig deeper for an uncertain resource. The Andhra Pradesh Government intends to check the increasingly depleting groundwater reserves by roping farmers to monitor groundwater use. Will it result in a shift to less water intensive crops?
Shekhar, 25, committed suicide a year ago. A resident of Burgupalle village in Andhra Pradesh's Mahabubnagar district, he had bought half a hectare (ha) for growing paddy. He borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh to sink three bore-wells but did not find groundwater. Swami also had almost the same story.He had a debt of Rs 5 lakh. He sunk 15 bore wells between March and April this year but they were of no use.
The desperate attempts of farmers to find water has become a gambling game. Between 2009 and 2010 the groundwater department of Andhra Pradesh investigated 15,263 sites and recommended 7,335 sites for borewells. But it is no longer like it was.
Drilling to new depths
Chittoor is prone to drought, which makes it worse. As per official records about 56 per cent of the total irrigated area in the district is watered through borewells. Therefore, drilling to new depths is not unusual. The average depth of groundwater in the western mandals of the district is about 152 meters, said Vijay Shekhar of Foundation for Ecological Security.
The density and depth of bore wells are a result of the shift to commercial crops, lack of alternative irrigation sources and deficit rainfall, said B Venkat Reddy of the non-profit, Sahajeevan. While the dry regions of the state take the lead in the number of bore wells, coastal areas are not far behind in groundwater exploitation.
With Visakhapatnam emerging as an industrial hub, organizations like Fishermen's Youth Welfare Association led by T Sankar have launched a campaign against groundwater mining by industries. Last year, Sankar wrote to the chairman of the state Coastal Zone Management Authority and the member secretary of the state pollution control board alleging that Hetro Drugs, a pharma company, was drawing water at Rajayyapeta village turning the water in surrounding areas saline. He is awaiting reply.
What rules?
Farmers take no permission, officers do not survey wells. The Water, Land and Trees Act (walta) was enacted in 2002. Meant to regulate groundwater use, the Act requires farmers to register their bore wells with the mandal revenue office after getting clearance from the district groundwater office. Farmers like Muniratnam Naidu in Chittoor district laugh at the idea of taking permission T Basavaiah, deputy tehsildar of Chittoor district's K V Palle mandal, admitted to widespread violation of walta in the district. "We have seized three bore wells this year for which permission was not sought," he said. But the Act has helped monitor and record the extent of groundwater use and generated awareness among farmers, said AK Jain
Officials get to know of borewells only if there are complaints, which are rare, said Basappa. Often if one farmer strikes water, his neighbour attempts to drill a bore well close to that spot. If there is disagreement between two farmers, cases go to the mandal revenue officer. After investigation, either one or both the bore wells are sealed.
Then there are bribe
Bal Swami of Burugupalle village in Mahabubnagar district said he tried to get permission for two bore wells six years ago. He was denied permission but decided to get them drilled.
The tehsildar of Thondangi, C H V R Sudhakar, denied the bribery charges but admitted walta is violated. Although walta is one of the best pieces of legislation on groundwater use it has not been effective on the ground because of lack of coordination between departments, said Palla Narendra, a hydrologist based at Hyderabad.
High stress
Groundwater levels in the state in free fall
The quantum of groundwater Andhra Pradesh received earlier from 100,000 bore wells is now obtained by drilling 260,000 bore wells, said A K Jain, special secretary to the state's irrigation and command area development department.
The April 2010 groundwater level report also said groundwater levels in the state is falling fast. Compared to last year there was a fall of 23.15 metres in Dhone mandal of Kurnool district.
More than 80 villages across the state have seen a fall of more than four meters between 2009 and 2010, the report said.
The April 2010 report also says that the groundwater level on an average in Andhra Pradesh has fallen 12 metres below ground level in the past year, the lowest since March 2007. Between May 1998 and March 2010 the water level has fallen two metres below average in the state
Despite heavy rains in 2008 the groundwater levels have only marginally risen in the state. According to officials the continuing fall is because of uneven rainfall across the state.
As per the 2006-07 data of the groundwater department, there are 132 overexploited basins, 89 critical, 175 semi-critical and 833 safe basins.
Andhra Pradesh is divided into 40 drainage basins and 81 sub basins of major and minor rivers. The 81 sub basins are divided into 1,229 groundwater micro basins of 100-300 sq km area based on drainage, geomorphology and hydrogeology. There is an addition of more than 50,000 groundwater extraction structures every year, said Krishna. In the last three decades well population-borewells and dugwells-increased from 0.8 million to 2.5 million.
But there is no record of the borewells that are dug illegally, admits C Suvarna, special commissioner at the state rural development department. The reason, she said, was the district water management authority under the groundwater department does not send them regular data. Officials of the groundwater department say they collect and collate data in the state and have no policy-making or law-enforcing powers.
DTE team
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Friday, September 03, 2010
