State, CGWB differ on water extraction issue

8220;The CGWB or any other Central agency has no business to interfere in a State subject groundwater utilisation. Instead of giving us unsolicited advice, the CGWB should provide us financial and technical assistance to help Gujarat implement its proposed groundwater recharge schemes in different districts,8221; secretary in the State Water Resources Department M S Patel said here on Tuesday.

Patel said his department had submitted a project proposal of Rs 359.57 crore to the Union Water Resources Ministry in 1998, seeking its approval for the financial assistance from the OECF, a Japan-based premier financial agency, for augmenting the surface water recharge in the affected districts of Gujarat. But, the Centre is yet to respond to the proposal, the official lamented, saying, 8220;we have again sent a reminder to the Centre.8221;

In fact, Gujarat Water Resources Development Corporation GWRDC chairman has shot off a letter to CGWB chairman D K Chadha in Delhi, stating that 8220;without providing an alternative surface water supply and without implementing surface water recharge projects, the government cannot prevent farmers from extracting groundwater which is their only water source.8221;

GWRDC chairman Gordhanji Mali contends that the water-level depletion in certain districts, particularly in Mehsana, is not only due to excessive extraction of groundwater, but also owing to absence of adequate recharge facility and alternative surface application in this region.

Besides, the recharge of 862 million cubic metres of groundwater per year takes place through phreatic unconfined aquifer, whereas the withdrawal of groundwater now is from the confined aquifer.

The GWRDC chief has also protested, through another letter to Chadha, against the recent advertisement issued by the CGWB in local vernacular dailies directing farmers and co-operative bodies to get registration done with the CGWB for construction of tube-wells under the Enviroment Protection Act, 1986. Mali wrote in the letter, 8220;The main job of the Central agency is only to monitor groundwater utilisation and not to execute the works in States. Necessary details about tube-well constrution if required, can be sought by it from the GWRDC or the State Narmada and Water Resources and the Water Supply Departments.8221;

CGWB8217;s regional director A K Sinha said his Ahmedabad-based regional office had already sent necessary inputs on the groundwater situation in Gujarat to the Board8217;s head office in Delhi. To a query, he said, 8220;the groundwater table in certain districts has been depleting in an alarming pace, and the CGWB8217;s bosses in Delhi are contemplating to impose a ban on further extraction of precious groundwater. A notification for this can be issued only by our Delhi head office.8221;

Water rersources expert C C Patel also endorses the CGWB8217;s move, saying, 8220;as far as groundwater use is concerned, priority should be given to drinking water rather than encouraging farmers to exploit the already depleting water table.8221; Patel said the CGWB has been vested with adequate powers as per the recent Supreme Court directive, to impose a ban on any further extraction of groundwater in any State. Patel, the former Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam chairman, said, 8220;about 90 per cent of the groundwater is being extracted for irrigation purpose, with the remaining quantum being utilised for human consumption and industrial use. The maximum over-exploitation of groundwater is in North Gujarat, mainly Mehsana district.8221;

He feels that Narmada is the only answer to this problem.

There are as many as 31 talukas spread over 11 districts in the State, which fall in the over-exploited8217; category. Of these, 15 are located in North Gujarat alone, with Mehsana district having earned a dubious distinction of having maximum number of borewells. 8220;To avail groundwater, one has to drill a borewell as deep as 700 to 1,000 feet in North Gujarat, and the groundwater table depleting at an average rate of 10 to 12 feet every year,8221; admits a senior GWRDC officer.