There are 108 piezometers in Krishna district, and 48 of them are located in the government schools in villages.
Ironically, neither the students nor the teachers have any idea of what these metal boxes, which are surrounded by a chicken wire fence, do.
To remedy the situation, the Andhra Pradesh Groundwater Department has come up with a programme to create awareness.
What started as an awareness programme is now poised to become a movement.
The department has decided to invite teachers from all the 108 villages with piezometers for an awareness camp on groundwater at the Water Resources Department Farmers’ Training Centre.
The objective is to turn all the teachers into Water Ambassadors.
The department will also gave a certificate signed by Director K. Venugopal, declaring the teacher as a Water Ambassador.
A movement
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) A. Varaprasada Rao says the programme, which has started in a small way, is shaping up into a movement.
The department initially thought of educating 108 students on the functioning of the piezometers.
But the Minister for Water Resources has suggested that all the 1,000 teachers in Krishna district be given a crash course on the importance of groundwater, as they pass on the knowledge to the students and turn them into Blue Soldiers.
The first thing the teachers are taught is about the piezometer, its utility in measuring the pressure of liquid or gas, and how it is placed in the borewells for monitoring the depth of groundwater.
Andhra Pradesh is the first State in the country to install over 1,200 piezometers to get real-time level of the ground water.
“Musunur mandal in Krishna district is a rain-fed area with high dependence on groundwater. The borewells in the area are deep and the yield (output) is also high. The subterranean sandstone has the capacity to hold comparatively more water. Because groundwater is available round the year, palmoil groves have come up on a large scale in the mandal,” Mr. Varaprasada Rao explains.