Every year, groundwater in Noida and Greater Noida fall to alarming levels, with the water table in some parts of Gautam Budh Nagar district being deemed “semi-critical”.
Local activists and conservationists take up the issue every few months. They accuse the rapid expansion of industry for the large-scale illegal extraction of water.
They file petitions in the National Green Tribunal and (NGT) mark their protest.
But, without the support of residents, depletion of groundwater has become more rapid.
Recognising the need for greater public participation, the district administration and local conservationists are joining hands to spread awareness. Starting with villages in Noida and Greater Noida, the awareness campaign aims to get residents to both conserve water and advocate for it.
“We keep filing petitions in the NGT. It becomes activists versus industry. But, we need the movement for water conservation to be a public one. We will be asking villagers to join our efforts,” said Vikrant Tongad, a Greater Noida-based water conservation activist.
Mr. Tongad said that the groundwater table was depleting by two metres annually in the district, so the immediate goal was to arrest the decline.
‘Paani Chaupals’
At a meeting on Thursday, district officials and activists came up with a plan to hold ‘Paani Chaupals’ in the villages of Noida and Greater Noida to get people talking about water conservation.
The initiative will start next week — most likely with the first meeting in Bisrakh as it is a ‘critical’ area for groundwater depletion — District Magistrate N.P. Singh told The Hindu on Friday.
“We will get youngsters to become the leaders of the movement. We will first educate them about the need to conserve water and then ask them to spread the message,” said Mr. Singh, adding that about 40 such meetings will be held in the coming weeks.
Mr. Tongad added that most residents did not associate the problem with the ongoing construction and commercial activities in their areas.
“We will ask them to remain vigilant towards any illegal groundwater extraction near their villages. It is becoming difficult to increase groundwater recharge due to concretisation, but we can work towards arresting the depletion. It will need a joint effort,” said Mr. Tongad.
An RTI application by Mr. Tongad in 2014 showed the extent of water table depletion in Noida and Greater Noida. As per the Central Ground Water Board, the levels in two of the four blocks of the district - Bisrakh and Dankaur - had reached “semi-critical” levels.
The 2014-15 Ground Water Year Book of Uttar Pradesh, released by the CGWB, had also found that rainfall in Gautam Budh Nagar district was the lowest of the 71 districts of the State.
