Aquifers run dry in six districts of Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: In a reply on the issue, the Union government told the Rajya Sabha that groundwater tables in Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Mehsana and Patan has dropped due to over-exploitation.
The Union government said that the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) has notified 162 areas in the country for regulating groundwater.
Under the CGWA guidelines, in notified areas, no permission is accorded to extract groundwater through any energized means for any purpose other than for obtaining drinking water.However, for non-notified areas, groundwater withdrawal by industries is allowed and regulated by CGWA guidelines.
The reply further stated that CGWA has issued advisories to states and UTs to take measures to promote and adopt artificial recharge of groundwater and rainwater harvesting. The Union government gave a list of over-exploited district among which Ahmedabad, Banaskantha, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Mehsana and Patan figured in Gujarat.
In another reply, it said the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the ministry of water resources carries out groundwater monitoring on a regional scale, four times a year, through a network of observation wells in the country.
The government said that in Gujarat there were 115 observation wells of which only 26 wells that is 23% wells showed improvement in groundwater, while the remaining 89 wells (77%) showed depletion in groundwater.
The groundwater in these 115 wells were monitored between 2006 and 2015, and readings were noted before monsoon. The readings were also taken in 2016, stated the reply.