Groundwater level declining in all the districts of Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tamil Nadu, which is facing one of its worst ever North East monsoon rainfall seasons, will be facing severe water scarcity right across the state with the groundwater declining in almost all the districts except one.

All observatory wells of the State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre across the State have recorded a fall in the groundwater table in December, compared with the level in December 2015.

The groundwater table in 17 districts has fallen by more than three metres. The groundwater level in Erode has fallen steeply by 6.46 meters below ground level (mbgl) followed by Villupuram and Tirunelveli at 5.89 mbgl and 5.74 mbgl.

The Nilgiris district is the only place to record a rise in the water level, that too marginally from 2.26 mbgl in December 2015 to 2.11 mbgl last month. The centre has stopped releasing the data on the groundwater level in Chennai as the city comes under the jurisdiction of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

With the state facing a deficit of 62 per cent rainfall in North East Monsoon, the ground water level has plummeted to record low since 2012. In the last five years, the state has received deficit rainfall in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 and 2015 state witnessed 53 per cent excess rainfall.

The water levels recorded in the 17 districts, particularly in Western and Southern districts, have been lowest since 2012. Coimbatore district has the lowest level at 16.08 mbgl followed by Namakkal, Thiruppur, Salem and Erode has a water level below 12 mbgl.

An official of Water Resources Department said that the fall in water level was due to poor rainfall received during the South West Monsoon and the North East Monsoon.

The stress on the ground water table would go up further in the coming summer months as the storage level in the reservoirs were also very less, the official said, adding that none of the major reservoirs in the state has good storage.

With the monsoon coming to an end, there is very little hope for any major increase in the reservoir storage level. The WRD official said that the state stares at a summer of worst water scarcity both for drinking as well as for agriculture.