Table recedes, yet nod to borewells
Gurgaon: Guess what the solution is to a crisis precipitated by extraction of groundwater. Extraction of more groundwater.
The deputy commissioner has given permission to Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) to rebore six of its dry borewells in Udyog Vihar industrial estate, which faces perpetual water crisis. Digging deeper will be detrimental in the long run as it will further deplete groundwater level, which is already 400 ft below surface.
Industrialists deal with the crisis by illegally digging borewells or purchasing water from tankers to meet daily needs. HSIIDC said work on reboring will start soon.
Demand for water in Udyog Vihar phases 1-6 is 14 million litres per day (MLD), whereas supply is a meagre 3 MLD. Pressure on the supply line became worse 3 years ago when Daruhera village was added to it, even as number of connections within the estate rose by 25%. According to officials, the problem was further aggravated as 29 of 35 existing HSIIDC sanctioned borewells in the area have dried up, as groundwater level has dropped below the 300 feet they are dug to. “There is a crisis in the area. The supply has been hit. The borewells go down to 300 feet only, whereas water level has dropped to 400 ft,” said a senior HSIIDC official.
Illegal borewells, dug overnight and drawing water rampantly, have added to the crisis, with police and administration saying they lack manpower to keep track and prosecute violators.
“Industrialists are buying water from tankers, which cost Rs 1,500-2,000 each, adding an additional burden of Rs 50,000-60,000 for a building per month,” said industrialist Praveen Yadav.
Environmentalists said Gurgaon’s water level is depleting at the rate of 1.5cm a year, with the situation worse in hotspots like Udyog Vihar. “They need to install water-level detectors in all areas, and restrict the number of borewells and amount of water extracted by each,” said environmentalist Chetan Agarwal.
“We’re thinking of upgrading our storage capacity, as well as our supply infrastructure,
to prevent such crisis in future,” said a senior HSIIDC official. He was referring to what can be called a mid-term plan. Once ample water supply is created, HSIIDC hopes to enhance storage capacity by building infrastructure, which includes three overhead reservoirs, two underground reservoirs and a pump. It has submitted an estimate of Rs 425 lakh as cost for building this infrastructure.
