The groundwater level in Ghaziabad is going down sharply, claims statics of Central Public Information Office (CPIO) of Central Ground Water Authority of India (CGWAI).
Revealing the statistics of last four years, Akash Vashishtha, environmentalist and convenor of Society for Protection of Environment & Biodiversity (SPEBIO), said groundwater of Ghaziabad is going down at the rate of 1.5 metre to 2 metre annually. He disclosed that the Government attitude is indifferent towards this problem despite the fact that five blocks of the district had been declared dark zone.
The local monitoring agencies are not equipped even with the necessary instruments of piezo metres (a device used to measure liquid pressure in a system by measuring the height to which a column of the liquid rises against gravity).
According to the data provided by the CPIO, the ground water level in 2006 was found 16.95 metre below ground level (MBGl). It was found 17.89 MBGl in 2008 and again it went further at 17.96 and finally crossed to go 20.21 MBGl in 2010. “It is true the water situation is critical in the city. We shall write to concerned departments to enforce the Government orders” said Additional District Magistrate (ADM) City Preetie Jaiswal.
As per parameters laid down by the CGWAI, water extraction is allowed in notified areas whose four blocks are in dark zone but the water extraction is continuing on the massive scale in the city. The water harvesting system has not been enforced despite being made mandatory by the local authority before approving maps. The main defaulters are the Government buildings, institutes, group housing societies. The administration is apathetic towards the problem.
Vashishtha said it is shocking to know that Ghaziabad is the only city from UP which has been included in the notified area out of 162 areas from across the country. The Government merely issues orders to preserve water but ground realities are totally different. The enforcing agencies are not acting in accordance with the Environment Protection Act despite it coming into existence way back in 1996, added Vashishtha.