GHAZIABAD: The groundwater level in Ghaziabad has depleted by almost12 metres in the past four years and experts have warned that the district would “stare at a water scarcity” if measures are not taken to replenish the waterbodies immediately.
Data sourced from the UP government says that groundwater in the district has been depleting at the rate of around 3m every year since 2016. Four of five blocks in Ghaziabad have been put under the “notified” category, which means that water here has been extracted at a much higher rate than it has been recharged. The extraction rate of Ghaziabad city itself is more than 260%.
“Till last year, the annual groundwater depletion rate hovered around1.5m. But it has almost doubled now. There are areas where the water table has plummeted to as low as 48m. If the slide continues at this rate, we would stare at a water scarcity in less than a decade,” said Gemini Rao, a citybased hydrologist.
Data provided by the UP groundwater department showed the pre-monsoon level in the district to be 18.7m in 2016. In the next four year, it has gone down to 30.6m, a drop of 12m. Noornagar in Sihani area has seen the sharpest fall — from 29.4m in 2016, it has dropped to 48.3m this year, a drop of 19m. It is followed by Vijay Nagar, which has registered a depletion of 8.5m during the same period.
Officials said the water level was recorded digitally at 39 places, of which 10 spots were categorised as “dry”. “A dry spot means either the apparatus used for recording groundwater level had malfunctioned or the water table is so low that the recorder cannot register the data. There are a dozen spots where the groundwater level has depleted by more than 5m,” said Rahul Dev Sharma, an engineer with the groundwater department.
Asked how alarming the situation was in Ghaziabad, Rao referred to a composite water management index report released by Niti Aayog in 2019. The report said that “21 Indian cities, including Ghaziabad, may run out of groundwater in a couple of years, affecting a population of 100 million people”.
“The latest data on groundwater is a pointer to this. Of five blocks here in Ghaziabad, four have exceeded the water extraction capacity. The use of groundwater has been 140.9% in Bhojpur, while it has been 132.9% in Loni. In Ghaziabad, it is an alarming 263.3%,” Rao said.
Reasons for the sharp decline in water table range from vanishing waterbodies to rampant illegal extraction for commercial, construction and industrial purposes. Rapid urbanisation has also been blamed for the situation.
Officials have, however, pinned their hopes on the Uttar Pradesh Ground Water (Management and Regulation) Act, 2019, which mandates a fine of up to Rs 20 lakh and a maximum imprisonment of seven years for illegal extraction of water. “Earlier, the groundwater policy was governed by the Central Ground Water Authority, but it lacked teeth. Under the new law, there are provisions to levy a penalty and punishment for overuse of groundwater. ,” Sharma said.