In Karnal block, 41 villages to have rain gauges

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, April 23

With the aim to bring Karnal block out of the dark zone category, 41 villages of the block have been identified under the Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), where the Irrigation Department and Water Research Department will install piezometers and rain gauge instruments.

A water security plan (WSP) regarding water availability, source of water and water consumption has been prepared for 34 villages by the District Implement Partner (DIP) of the Atal Bhujal Yojana.

It will help in determining the balance between the availability of water after consumption to preparing a budget for the same.

Water recharge systems and borewells will be installed in these villages and water kits will be used to check the quality of water there. Geotagging of artificial recharge structure, soakage pits and ponds will also constructed to know the storage capacity.

“It is an ambitious scheme of the Centre, under which the Karnal block has been taken up. This scheme aims to demonstrate community-led sustainable groundwater management in fields,” said Sanjay Rahar, Senior Engineer, Irrigation Department.

Around 50 farmers have given their consent to the department for the installation of groundwater recharge system, he added.

Shubham Agarwal, groundwater expert, said the team members were also collecting information about the status of tubewells and storage capacity of the ponds in these villages. “Work on crop diversification is also being done to reduce the consumption of water,” he added.

The Information, Education and Communication expert of the scheme, Amit Kaushik, said they had been educating farmers and villagers not to waste groundwater and utilise rainwater with the help of water recharging systems. “We are also making farmers aware about micro-irrigation, for which subsidy is given under this scheme,” he said.

Rapid and extensive extraction of groundwater has made the Karnal block overexploited and has witnessed an alarming downfall by 8.98 meters between 2000 and 2021, while the district has recorded a downfall by 12.86 meters in the same time.

Water table of Karnal block was at 9.11 m in 2000, which has reached to 18.09 m in 2021. Similarly, the water table of Karnal district was at 8.57 m in 2000 and reached to 21.43 m in 2021.