When there are debates round the country to recycle water from all possible zones and help in the increase of ground water level. Jodhpur the gateway to Thar Desert comes as an exception. Compared to the neighbouring cities of Rajasthan, Jodhpur’s ground water is very high.
The increase in ground water level here is a major cause of worry among the builders and there is a undeclared ban on the construction of basement at certain parts of the city as it may give rise to the seepage from the shallow water table.
While it is difficult to draw water from the ground in most parts of Rajasthan, government machinery as well as many locals here are forced to pump out large amount of water from wells and the basements of houses. Groundwater level has been rising for more than a decade in at least 40 per cent of the land area in the city, and in some areas it is barely a few meters below the surface.
The government has now started pumping out water from wells and other resources in order to maintain the water table. “Groundwater level in several parts is rising since 1998 after the city started getting drinking water from the Indira Gandhi Canal. Currently there are many areas in the city with water availability at less than five meters,” assistant engineer of Central Ground Water Department (CGWD) SK Meena said.
“Primary studies suggest that the water table was disturbed due to double or triple times increase in water inflow from the canal in the Kayalana lake and Fateh Sagar here from where the water is supplied to the entire city,” OP Poonia, Scientist CGWD said. According to the latest report by CGWD out of 1118 ground water monitoring wells all have shown decline in water level especially in summers, but Jodhpur marks an exception to them.
