Groundwater is one of the most important sources for irrigation in India. It is still a key source for rural and urban domestic water supply. However, overexploitation of it has led to its depletion.
According to a report published in the Down to Earth, Punjab government has decided to concretise canals in the state. The move has alarmed environment activists as they fear concretisation will prevent water from seeping into the land. This may leave the land dry as it will not get water from any other sources.
Remember This: In June 2022, a National Green Tribunal (NGT) monitoring committee highlighted the problem of the depleting groundwater in Punjab. It warned that Punjab is left with groundwater to last for just 17 years.
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Key Points
- In the past two decades, the groundwater table in Punjab has been falling at the rate of 25-30 centimetres (cm) a year.
- According to the State of the World Report, 1998 , published by the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, aquifer under Punjab could be depleted by the year 2025.
- About 60 to 70 per cent of the total cultivated land in Punjab is under wheat-rice cultivation.
- Some nine lakh tubewells pump out groundwater to irrigate and produce 60 per cent of the wheat and 40 per cent of rice of the Central pool.
- If the present depletion continues, Punjab’s groundwater is expected to drop below 300 metres by 2039.
- A 2020 block-wise groundwater resources assessment by the Central Ground Water Board found that most of the districts in Punjab had over-exploited the groundwater levels.
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Solution To Groundwater Crisis In Punjab
- Shift from the rice cultivation to a less water intensive non-cereal crop.
- There should be enough irrigation network system and surplus canal water
- Surplus water can be diverted to the rice fields during the monsoons.
- Punjab government had promoted direct seeding of rice. However, it has few takers.
- Punjab government has been taking steps towards crop diversification. It recently announced the scheme to incentivise Direct Sowing of Rice (DSR) technology to save groundwater.
- The state government also provided financial incentives to farmers to encourage them for moong dal cultivation.
- Direct seeding of rice is the process of growing rice crops from seeds sown in the field rather than transplanting seedlings from the nursery. The state government should make a renewed effort to promote Direct seeding of rice.
- Apart from crop diversification, the British era-made canal-based irrigation system should be expanded to reduce dependence on groundwater.
- Currently not more than 20 percent of the agriculture area is irrigated by the canal system.
- State government should also promote crops like maize that can replace paddy.