Hyderabad: The Telangana government needs to initiate enforcement to control the depletion of groundwater, especially since the state has over 80 per cent hard rock formations. The Andhra Pradesh government, meanwhile, needs to worry about the groundwater situation in all four districts of Rayalaseema and a few upland areas of West Godavari. According to studies conducted by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Ground Water department, certain hard rock areas have been identified in Telangana and Rayalaseema.
“Compared to Telangana and Rayalaseema, the situation in Andhra is significantly better due to the existence of several filter points,” said K.B. Biswas, chairman, Central Ground Water Board, New Delhi. Over 105 areas or mandals in Telangana, where the study was taken up, were found to be critical. Of these, 42 were identified to be over-exploited (OE), while eight are critical (C) and 55 were semi critical (SC).
All the 16 mandals in Greater Hyderabad Including Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts) were found to be over-exploited. Groundwater resources marked as over-exploited (OE) are at areas where the withdrawal of water is more than 100 per cent and at 30-meter depth. Up to 100 per cent withdrawal is classified as critical while 90 to 100 per cent withdrawal is classified as semi-critical. The over-exploited areas include 14 blocks in Medak, 11 blocks in Karimnagar, 10 in Warangal, one in Khammam and one each in Adilabad and Nalgonda.
Meanwhile in Andhra Pradesh, 41 blocks have been identified as over exploited, seven as critical and 42 as semi critical. Majority of the over-exploited areas in AP are in Kadapa, Anantapur, Chittoor, Prakasam and Krishna.“It is high time that both state governments consider the situation as high priority and start implementing the ‘Model Ground Water Regulation Act’ so that the situation does not worsen in the future, as is being considered in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. In comparison to Telangana and Rayala-seema, the situation in Andhra is significantly better due to the existence of several filter points,” said Mr Biswas.
