E-Paper
Water table depleting rapidly in Punjab, 67% wells register dip
Of the 174 wells monitored in Punjab over the past five years, 67.2%, or 117 have registered a dip in water level, according to a data shared by Union minister of state for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary in the Rajya Sabha on February 3
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Patiala: Of the 174 wells monitored in Punjab over the past five years, 67.2%, or 117 have registered a dip in water level, according to a data shared by Union minister of state for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary in the Rajya Sabha on February 3.
Replying to a query by Congress Rajya Sabha member from Assam Sushmita Dev, Choudhary said the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) data collected in November 2024 shows a significant decline in the water level in Punjab. The water level data of wells, when compared with the data of post-monsoon in 2019, showed that water level of 117 out of 174 wells had already declined, the minister said.
In order to assess the long-term fluctuation in groundwater, the post-monsoon 2024 water level data was compared with the mean of the last five years (2019-23).
The data showed that only 56 wells in Punjab showed a rise in water level and too very minimal. Of these, 43 wells showed a rise between 0-2 metres. Seventy-four wells of the total 117 monitored recorded a dip of 0-2 metres, while 30 reported a decline between 2-4 metres. Fourteen wells recorded a decline of more than 4 meters in the water level across Punjab.
According to the data, Punjab is among the worst-hit states in the country which showed a maximum decline in the groundwater level. Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya also saw an alarming drop in the water table. The neighbouring Haryana, also an agrarian state, witnessed a decline of 51.5% in the groundwater level, according to the data.
The Punjab government had last year banned PUSA-44, a water-guzzling paddy variety, to stop groundwater depletion in the state. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had claimed that farmers in Punjab cultivated short-duration varieties of paddy in the 2023 kharif season instead of the water-guzzling PUSA-44, thus saving 5 billion cusecs of groundwater.
