Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das on Thursday informed the State Assembly that the groundwater level has decreased by 6.71 per cent between 2009 and 2017 in the State.
In response to a question of BJP MLA Mohan Charan Majhi and additional questions put by Narasingha Mihsra (Congress), Jayanarayan Mishra (BJP) and Latika Pradhan (BJD), the Minister said that 1.12 billion cubic metres of groundwater has exhausted between 2009 and 2017.
According to the data of the Central Ground
Water Board (CGWB), the groundwater level in State was 16.69 million cubic metres in 2009 and it was reduced to 15.570 million cubic metre in 2017.
Thus, the percentage of reduction in groundwater level was 6.71 per cent.
The Minister further informed that more than 50 per cent of surface water is being flowed to the sea every year. “As per the State Water
Plan, the surface water in all rivers was 95,540 million cubic metre. After use of water for
different purposes, 50,640 million cubic water is being flowed to the sea,” said the Minister.
The Government has built 14,588 check dams to conserve surface water at different places, he said.