Jodhpur’s groundwater level rising

Water Is Seeping Into Basements And Weakening Foundation Of Houses In City

July 06, 2009 - Times of India

At a time when most parts of the desert state of Rajasthan is facing acute shortage of water, the groundwater level in jodhpur city has been rising rapidly and water has started seeping into basements of houses.

The authorities as well as several local residents here are now being forced to pump out large amount of water from wells and basements of houses.

Groundwater has been rising for more than a decade in at least 40% of the land area in the city. And in some areas, it is barely a few centimeters below the surface. The government has now started pumping out water from wells and other areas in order to maintain the water table.

“The groundwater level in several parts of the city has been rising since 1998 after the city started getting drinking water from the Rajiv Gandhi lift canal. Currently, there are many areas in the city with water availability at less than five meters below surface,” chief engineer of groundwater department Updesh Karan Mathur said.

“Studies suggest that the water table got disturbed due to increase in water inflow from the canal into the Kayalana lake from where the water is supplied to the entire city.” Mathur said.

He added that the rise in water table could also be due to the waning practice of using water from traditional sources. “People stopped using traditional water resources after the authorities started supplying water from the canal, and this probably contributed to the rise in the water table,” he said.

Experts feel that improper drainage system, leakages in pipelines, increased water supply and other geographical factors are the other reasons behind the problem.

The city now gets about 450 lakh gallon of drinking water, which is double the supply some 10-12 years ago, a PHED official said.

Speaking about relief measures, PHED chief engineer KM Mathur said: “around 60 traditional water resources have been identified to pump out excess water as instant relief. We have started pumping out water from 24 wells in recent months and will soon start doing so from others.

“Our strategy is to pump out excess water, which is not potable, from the city for agricultural and others uses. About one lakh gallon water is being supplied to the Border Security force (BSF) and also for use in parks.”

District collector Naveen Mahajan said experts from the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, and National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, will soon carry out studies to find out the reason for the rise in water table.

Jodhpur Development Authority (JDA) has already stopped giving permission for digging and construction of basements. “We have stopped giving permission for basements in the city and adjoining areas since February this year,” JDA commissioner Gaurav Goyal said, adding a review of the decision will be taken after the results of a survey come out , which is expected next year.

“It is like a terror situation for us because half the city can collapse if a slight tremor occurs as building foundations are weakening,” local shopkeeper Harish Kuamr said. “I have installed five pumps to draw out the water from the basement of my shop. About four to five feet of water accumulates in the basement if I stop the machines for a day,” he claimed

The locals said water has been seeping into the basements of their houses since the past two to three years, but in the past few months, the seepage is happening at a rapid pace.

Official sources said while in 1984,203 of the 236 blocks of the state were labeled as safe, only 30 blocks have been found safe in 2008. A block is categorized as safe if the groundwater level is maintained and its extraction is around 70% most of these safe blocks are only in a few districts like Banswara, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, where the level is maintained due to water logging in some canal areas.