Night showers help improve groundwater
City received 209.5 mm of rainfall in July, which is double the one of the wettest months of the decades
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-08-11 03:11 GMT
Chennai: The recent spell of rain that lashed the city seems to have helped recharge the groundwater table marginally and also improve water quality. The city received 209.5 mm of rainfall in July, which is double the one of the wettest months of the decades.
The average water level observed in Chennai city for the month of July 2015 is 4.55 m below ground level. The heavy rainfall recorded in the last two weeks of the July has helped the water table to increase by 0.24 m when compared to June 2015 level of 4.79 m, according to the metro water data.
Groundwater is available at a depth ranging from 2.51 m in Shollinganallur to 6.25 m in Ambattur, as per the study done by metro water. All the zones of the metro water have recorded an increase in water level varying from 0.09 m to 0.47 m when compared to the last month’s level.
The increase in the water table has helped improve the water quality (total dissolved solids) in the range of 100 to 200 ppm (parts per million). The metro water is monitoring groundwater level and quality every month through a network of 145 observation wells spread in 426 sq.km.
To encourage people to make use of groundwater in the wake of increase level and improved quality, metro water has made available 4,137 pump sets for public use.
However, hydrologists warned that increased water table would be felt by people using open wells than deep borewells.
To avoid controversies over two different groundwater levels for the city, the water resources department’s wing, State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre (SGSWRDC) has decided not to publicise Chennai’s water level in its monthly GW level status report.
The data centre has used to release monthly GW level status report of all the 32 districts including Chennai in the first week of every month in its website. However, the water level of Chennai given by the data centre would differ with Chennai metro water’s level. For the month of June, the date centre’s report showed that the groundwater level has gone down by 0.57 m to 5.63 m when compared to last year’s June level of 5.06 m. However, the metro water in contrary claimed that the water level has gone up in the city by 0.80 m to 4.79 m.
Sources in WRD said that except Chennai, the groundwater level of all other districts would be published in the monthly status report. “Chennai’s GW level will be hereafter given out only by the metro water,” the official said. A senior official of Metrowater said that the ground water level of city has been arrived after monitoring 145 observation wells in the metropolitan area