Govt approves 14-point action plan to preserve groundwater

The Punjab Government on Friday approved a 14-point action plan to preserve and replenish groundwater.

According to a statement, the Integrated State Water Plan includes measures like the setting up of treatment plants by private players, tapping of Ghaggar water and the construction of choke dams.

However, the statement did not mention the date for its rollout.

The initiative was approved during a meeting of the Water Resources Department chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

The move has come as the state is facing over-exploitation of its groundwater resources, mainly due to the transplantation of water-guzzling paddy over 30 lakh hectares, stocking fears of desertification.

The Chief Minister said the water table in the state had been declining at an annual rate of 0.7 metre due to extraction of 5.2 billion cubic metre of the groundwater per year.

According to official data, 115 of 153 water blocks in Punjab are over-exploited.

The plan envisages the storing of flood waters of the seasonal Ghaggar River and use it for agricultural purposes, a statement said.

For this, theWater Resources Department has proposed the construction of check dams, a cost-effective way that helps percolation of water into the soil. The water stored in check dams will also be diverted to already existing ponds.

The plan also proposes encouraging the private sector to set up treatment plants under corporate social responsibility initiatives besides promoting less water intensive micro-irrigation methods.

The treated water will then be taken to agricultural fields, for which an underground pipeline system would be built, according to the statement.

It said apart from undertaking research on flood modelling and mapping, choke or drain points would also be identified along the Ghaggar.

This will be accompanied by stress on crop diversification by motivating farmers to shun water-guzzling crops like paddy, maize and cotton. Commenting over it, the Chief Minister said the private sector participation in water management would be encouraged to reduce the financial burden on the government.

Mann said the CSR activities would be promoted for setting up of sewerage treatment plants, water conservation structure and the micro-irrigation system.

The Chief Minister said the over-extraction of groundwater could be stopped by reducing its demand by the agriculture sector, improving irrigation techniques and artificially augmenting the water table.

Mann said his government was committed to give water to every tail-end user, for which it restored abandoned water channels, having an approximate length of 6,300 km when put together.

He said while south-west Punjab faced waterlogging, the Kandi area along the Shivalik ranges struggled from the availability of groundwater as it was at the great depth.

He said a holistic plan was the need of the hour as a single solution couldn’t be effective for all areas in the state.

The Chief Minister said the state would be divided in different catchment areas, thereby regulating water flow, soil erosion and retaining essential nutrients.