It seems a revelation as the coming up of 2016 acute water crisis was evident in 2015 itself when even before the devastating drought had gripped Odisha, abnormal drying up of wells was conspicuous in January 2015 when wells with fallen water level to total wells vis-a-vis January 2014 have grown by a whopping 41 per cent.
A whopping seven in every ten wells in Odisha then have recorded fall in the ground water level by at most over 4 meter below the ground level (m bgl).
Since 2014 has almost received a normal rainfall as deficit was only 13 per cent, Odisha hurtling fast into water crisis was evident with the faster drying up of wells by January 2015.
According to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) regional centre in Bhubaneswar, the water level in January 2015 vis-a-vis the decadal mean level of the years from January 2004 to January 2014 revealed a fall in around 68 per cent of National Hydrograph Network Station (NHNS) wells (open/dug) in the State against rise in mere 32 per cent. It says this shows the water level has fallen overwhelmingly in the State in 2015 vis-a-vis the last decade.
Though the January 2016 data is still being processed, sources indicated an acute fall in the water level in Odisha in January 2016. The shocker is post drought almost nine in every ten wells in State reported drying up as early as January.
“Gripping water crisis got exacerbated as the number of wells recording fall in water level was alarming in November 2015 (post Monsoon period) itself. The numbers doubled to around 30 per cent against 18 per cent in November 2014. The situation couldn’t have been worse now had the Government gone for an overdrive then,” observed a senior scientist at CGWB here.
Farmers’ suicide prone Bargarh was the worst hit in the State as the water level has fallen by around 5.7 mt - which is considered an alarming fall. However, solacing is it is not gripping the entire district as fall was limited to certain pockets only. But water crisis was found very acute in Deogarh as around 10 per cent of the NHNS wells there have recorded a fall in water level by as high as over 4mt.
Pockets of Angul and Mayurbhanj have also reported fall in water level by over 4 mt. Water parched districts this year that have recorded a significant fall in water level by as high as in over 75 per cent wells are: Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur, Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Nabrangpur, Subarnapur and Sambalpur. Even a whopping 85 per cent NHNS wells in Khurda district have recorded a fall by around 2 mt.
But the crisis at hand for Odisha is these water parched districts have recorded a net fall in water level since last decade.