Explain the over exploitation of groundwater resources
Answers
Explanation:
At present, 51 billion cubic metres of groundwater is extracted annually with the help of 800,000 tube-wells. More than 50 per cent of irrigated lands are now served by groundwater wells. Investment on private tube-wells is around Rs25 billion. The annual benefits in agricultural production are worth Rs150 billion. Over 2.5 million farmers directly or indirectly benefit from groundwater. On an average, every fourth farming family has a tube-well and a large proportion of non-owners purchase water from their neighbours.
Over 80 per cent of groundwater exploitation is in the private sector and there is no restriction or control on its extraction. Anybody can install a tube-well anywhere in his land and extract any amount of water at any time without consideration of its detrimental effects. The flexibility provided by groundwater has largely contributed to enhancing agricultural productivity, drought mitigation and poverty alleviation. However, the current uncontrolled and unregulated use of groundwater is replete with serious consequences as problems of overdraft of aquifers and salt-water intrusion have emerged in many areas of the Indus basinExcessive lowering of groundwater levels is making the pumping more expensive and wells are going out of production. The secondary salinisation associated with the use of poor quality groundwater for irrigation has further compounded the problem. Therefore, salt-affected soils are becoming an important ecological entity of the Indus basin and about 4.5 million hectare is suffering from various levels of salinisation. The problem is severe in Sindh where 56 per cent of the total irrigated land is affected with salinity.
In this process, it should not be forgotten that farmers need to be made more aware of the consequences of imprudent use of groundwater.
Answer:
Groundwater is water that is below the ground surface and not exposed to the atmosphere like in ponds or lakes.
The sources of surface waters are contaminated by human activities and not sufficient for agriculture, domestic or industrial use. Hence we tap the water that is stored in the groundwater reservoir. We drill through the ground rock below the top soil and reach the groundwater reservoir from where we
pump out water for our needs.
With population growth and increase in demand for fresh water, more and more people are drilling borewells to tap the groundwater water.
Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, are exploiting ground water by drawing excessive underground water for packaged (bottled) drinking water plants.
Because of the exploitation of ground water, the underground water level is going down. If people used to get ground water by boring about 80 feet in the past, today we have to bore about 200 feet deep into the surface of the earth. Underground water is not limitless, it is depleting. We have to take drastic measures to preserve and increase ground water. If we continue boring wells mindlessly, a time will come when it will reach the salty undrinkable sea level.