Groundwater level in Jind district depletes

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jind, June 2

In the absence of adequate canal water for irrigation, farmers are forced to use tube wells resulting in a steep fall in the water table in the district.

Out of the seven blocks, the ground water table has fallen alarmingly in the past five years in five blocks while the water in the remaining two blocks is unfit for both agriculture and human consumption.

Sources said the ground water of Aleva is most exploited as it’s fallen to 28.04 meters from the 21.42 meters recorded in 2010. The figures for other blocks are Jind (16.82 meters from 14.80 meters), Uchana (14.63 meters from 12.50 meters), Narwana (13.81 meters from 10.82 meters), Safidon (12.96 meters from 9.48 meters).

Interestingly, in Julana the water table has improved as it is now available at a depth of 4.12 meters against the earlier figure of 4.22 meters while in Pillukhera block it’s now at 4.49 meters against the previous figure of 5.90 meters in 2010. The ground water of both blocks is unfit for agriculture and other purposes due to high saline content.

“In the district, there is no arrangement of proper canal water. Farmers are totally dependent on ground water. We are ready to switch over to canal water if it is available,” said Sukh Ram, a farmer of Pandu Pindara village.

Officers of the agriculture department said that around 2.30 lakh hectares will come under paddy and as per their assessment and farmers need 4,000 litres of water to produce just 1 kg of rice.

There are around 7,000 power and diesel run tube wells while then state water supply department has also installed around 150 tube wells in district to supply drinking water to the residents. All tube wells are lowering the water level of district every year.

“We have launched many campaigns to spread awareness in this context. Farmers want to switch over to less water guzzling crops and in coming years the situation would improve,” said Kamal Saini, Agriculture Development Officer, Jind.