Ground water level in UP going down alarmingly

Lucknow, Apr (UNI) Besides power crisis, Uttar Pradesh is faced with yet another major problem as the ground water in most of the places is going down to alarmingly low levels.

The State Ground Water Department (SGWD) has already sounded a ''SOS'' to stop the over-exploitation of the ground water for agriculture purposes in view of the drinking water scarcity looming large in the state.

Out of 820 development blocks in 70 districts of the state, the ground water level in over 450 blocks has been found to be in the category of the seriously affected, the scenario giving sleepless nights to the state authorities, the SGWD officials said here.

The ground water level in as many as 140 blocks was really' a cause of worry, the officials said. Of these in 100 blocks, the ground water level is in the state of either critical' or semi-critical'.

State Jal Nigam, department responsible for laying government tubewells, senior engineer R K Yadav told UNI here today that the underground water level in the state was going down in alarming pace and concrete step should be taken soon to stop exploitation of ground water.

''In Lucknow the ground water level has gone down to 35 metre and was decreasing by 20 to 50 centimetres every year'', Dr Yadav said.

Meanwhile, the UP Government, in order to counter this alarming situation, has prepared an action plan to deal with it specially when the mercury is rising, the power supply is perpetually erratic and the prospects of the monsoon are not encouraging either.

The ground water situation is worse in the western part of the state where 70 per cent of the ground water had already been exploited and the indiscreet use of water pumps and other mechanism had left little scope for the drinking water resources.

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