Hyderabad tops list in utilizing groundwater compared to other districts

Hyderabad: Hyderabad topped the list in utilizing ground water to a large extent followed by Rajanna Sircilla and Jangaon districts in 2019-20, according to ground water resource estimations carried out jointly by the State Groundwater Department and Central Ground Water Board. Apart from Hyderabad, Rajanna Sircilla and Jangaon districts, Ranga Reddy, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad were […]

Hyderabad: Hyderabad topped the list in utilizing ground water to a large extent followed by Rajanna Sircilla and Jangaon districts in 2019-20, according to ground water resource estimations carried out jointly by the State Groundwater Department and Central Ground Water Board.

Apart from Hyderabad, Rajanna Sircilla and Jangaon districts, Ranga Reddy, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad were in the list of high use of ground water in the State. Nine other districts – Jagitial, Warangal Rural and Urban, Nagarkurnool, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Sangareddy, Vikarabad, Kamareddy and Siddpet were in the moderate use of groundwater while the remaining districts were in the category of low use of groundwater.

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Ninety seven per cent of groundwater was consumed in Hyderabad while 79 per cent and 78 per cent of groundwater was in Rajanna Sircilla and Janagaon, respectively. Seventy-four per cent of groundwater was consumed in Ranga Reddy while 72 per cent in Mahabubnagar and 70 per cent in Nizamabad.

Groundwater resources estimation of the State as on March 2020 were carried out based on the GEC-2015 methodology. As major part of the State was underlain by hard rocks, watershed was taken as assessment unit for the entire State. After excluding hilly areas where slope was more than 20 per cent, the resources were estimated separately for command and non-command areas and separate methodology was used for estimation of groundwater resources for Hyderabad, officials said.

As per resource estimation for 2019-20, the total annual extractable groundwater resources are 15128 million cubic meter (mcm) (command area:6705 and non-command area:8423), which is 22 per cent more in comparison to 2017 resources (12367mcm).

Total groundwater extraction for all uses is 7576mcm (command area:2407 and non-command:5169), six per cent less in comparison to 2017 resources (8094mcm). Net groundwater availability for future irrigation use is 7139 mcm (command area:4197 and non-command: 2942), officials said.

Earlier, the groundwater resource estimates carried out for the years 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2016-17.

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