Ground water level rises due to lockdown in 27 Telangana districts

Hyderabad: Apart from improvement in air quality, the lockdown and decreased human activity for the past year as well as a good monsoon has had good tidings with regard to groundwater levels as well. There has been a net rise in groundwater level of 2.03 m in April as compared to the same month last year, say officials of the state ground water department.

The rise, they say, is observed in 27 districts. Six other districts, however, saw a fall in groundwater levels.

Pandith Madhanure, director of the department, told Deccan Chronicle, “The water levels have not dipped since the extraction was limited to drinking water purposes. There was no commercial extraction of water.”

While the number of people staying back at home increased, commercial activities like construction came to a halt or slowed down for long periods. This helped in the rise in groundwater levels.

A report by the department said the smallest rise of groundwater level of 0.26 m was observed in Karimnagar district and a maximum rise of 7.08 m in Sangareddy district. A minimum fall of 0.01 m was observed in Bhupalapally and a maximum fall of 1.85 m in the groundwater level was seen in Adilabad district.

“The levels of this April as compared to March showed an increase in area of deep-water level (greater than 20 m) by 852 km2 of state area,” they said.  

The fall, compared to decadal average of April from 2011 2020, of up to 0.5 m was observed in 24 mandals, a 0.5-1 m in eight mandals, 1-2 m in nine mandals and a fall of more than 2m in 14 mandals. These mandals fall in the western and southern parts of Nizamabad, north and eastern Bhupalpally, western part of Adilabad and the central part of Kamareddy.