Taking initiative towards state Government’s water conservation objective, Haryana Water Resources (Conservation, Regulation and Management) Authority (HWRA) has categorized the State into seven different zones based on depth to groundwater table as of June 2020 taking village as the unit of assessment which means this categorization is at the micro-level as compared to earlier categorization which used to be done taking block as assessment unit.
This village-wise categorization is initially for the purpose of management and micro-level planning of water resources and for making policies and taking remedial actions for water resources in the State.
A statement issued on Saturday said the Authority has called for objections or suggestions from the public at large on the proposed categorization on its official email id objections2022.hwra@gmail.com within 30 days from the issuance of this public notice. No suggestions/objections shall be entertained after the last date. An official spokesperson of the HWRA said that the categorization has been done while adhering to the direction given by the Chief Minister who has already expressed serious concern over the depleting groundwater level in the state.
As per the directions given by the Chief Minister to divide the state into different zones according to the situation of the groundwater level in the village, so as to overcome the water shortage as well as to manage the groundwater, several schemes will be formulated at the village level to increase the water level. Villages having less water levels would be given priority in all the water conservation schemes, said the spokesperson.
The spokesman said that as good work is being done under Atal Bhujal Yojana in the villages where the groundwater level is less, now this categorization will prove pivotal in spreading awareness among farmers/community for equitable use of groundwater and also to adopt low water consuming crops in water-stressed areas. The categorization is also helpful for observing groundwater movement beneath the surface and behavior of aquifer. Measured data is used in Ground Water Management and Regulation, Research and Policymaking.
He said that groundwater level of all villages (6885) is collected by Ground Water Cell, I&WRD, Haryana from existing 2200 numbers of observation points on the basis of contouring method, added the spokesperson. The spokesperson further shared that a Portal is to be developed by Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Department to seek basic information from the farmers. Besides this, the work of reclamation of waterlogged and saline soils will be executed on the fields of those farmers who register themselves on the portal showing their interest and agree to pay 20 percent share of cost of the work. The clusters will be prepared after taking the consent of the farmers on the portal.
The spokesperson informed that the depth of water table data as well as the declining rate of the last 10 years (June-2010 to June-2020) is available of all villages of the state. The villages having a water table of more than 30.00 meters are categorized as Severely Groundwater Stressed Villages and represented by ‘Red’ Colour. A total of 1780 villages come under this category. The villages having water table 20.01 to 30.00 meters are categorized as Moderately Groundwater Stressed Villages and represented by ‘Pink’ colour. According to groundwater level data of June 2020, a total of 1041 villages come under this category. Similarly, the villages having water table 1.51 to 3.00 meters are categorized as Potential Water-Logged Villages and represented by ‘Purple’ colour. According to groundwater level data in June 2020, a total of 319 villages come under this category. The villages having a water table less than 1.50 meters are categorized as Severely Water-Logged Villages and represented by ‘Blue’ colour. A total of 85 villages come under this category.