Water Scarcity Hits Numerous Areas of Karimnagar Town Despite Rains

 KARIMNAGAR: Residents of many areas in Karimnagar town are facing water scarcity as borewells have dried up. Borewells even in locations near Lower Manair Dam (LMD) are not yielding water, creating problems for people in the area.

Drying up of borewells in Karimnagar town is being attributed to declining water levels in LMD. But for a few days, there has been no real rainfall in the two months since the southwest monsoon season started. As a result, there has been no recharge of water. Groundwater levels have fallen, drying up borewells in numerous areas. Borewells are yielding water only in a few localities.

The situation is grim as irrigation projects have also not received inflows. At present, water storage in Lower Manair Dam is 5.7 TMC as against its full storage capacity of 24 TMC. Besides Karimnagar town, 494 other habitations are dependent on LMD for their water needs; requiring 143 cusecs of water every day.

The problem is severe in Kattarampur, Kothirampur, Ramachandrapur Colony, Raghavendranagar, Laxminagar, and Padmanagar, among others.

Following the decline in water level of LMD, Karimnagar Municipal Corporation authorities have reduced its supply of water. Instead of on a regular basis, water has been released only on alternate days for a few months now. People are forced to buy water from tankers.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, M. Satyanarayana, who owns a two-storey residential building in Kattarampur where six families are staying, said he has been hiring tankers to get water for serving the needs of these families. He maintained that the borewell in his house is not yielding water sufficient for all families.

When asked about drying of borewells near Lower Manair Dam, Groundwater department deputy director B. Shyam Prasad Nayak said it is quite natural that borewells dry up once the water levels in the nearby water bodies have declined.