Groundwater level in Guwahati reaches semi-critical stage

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The groundwater extraction level in Guwahati has reached the semi-critical stage. Thanks to the rampant extraction of groundwater and its use beyond limits in the metropolitan city!

It has come to light in the Central Ground Water Board's (CGWB) recent report. The report considers the stage of groundwater extraction as safe if the extraction is less than 70 per cent. If the extraction limit exceeds 70 per cent, it is semi-safe or semi-critical. The Central Ground Water Board report considers the stage of groundwater extraction in Guwahati as semi-critical.

Irrigation Minister Ashok Singhal has accepted that the fall in the groundwater level in Guwahati to the semi-critical level is worrying. He has blamed it on the rampant extraction of groundwater in the city.

The department concerned imposed a ban on illegal commercial groundwater extraction in the city but had to relax it due to public outcry. The four big water supply projects under construction for the past nine years in Guwahati are not yet complete. Only a part of one of the four projects has started to supply water to a few areas. The people in the city have to buy water mostly from private suppliers.

According to CGWB sources, water consumption in Guwahati and other urban areas in the state has gone up manifold due to the mushroom growth of apartments and commercial activities. If the authorities concerned cannot take measures to prevent the rampant extraction and use of groundwater now, the situation may escalate to other urban areas in the state.

According to experts, the more the groundwater level falls, the more the contamination of arsenic in water becomes. The commercially extracted groundwater supplied to consumers without treatment is harmful to health. It augurs well for the government to minimize the dependence on groundwater and explore other sources to meet the demand for water through its mechanism.

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