AP in distress on World Water Day

Hyderabad

March 21: Pollution in rivers, depleting resources of groundwater and landward movement of seawater are haunting Andhra Pradesh this World Water Day.
Though endowed with natural water resources, the state is one of the geographical areas identified as ‘problematic’ by water experts. They warn that unless wise steps are taken, there will be severe shortage of drinking water in AP by 2050.
The state has recently been witnessing a major environmental problem in the form of landward movement of sea water. Through underground aquifers, the sea is intruding into the land. The groundwater department estimates that seawater has already intruded up to 30 km in the coastal belt. This means that people living in these areas will not get potable water in wells. They get only salty water unfit for consumption.
Already several villages in Krishna, Godavari, Guntur and Prakasam districts are facing this problem.
“Indiscriminate construction of dams across rivers and streams is telling on the estuaries,” said the senior environmental biologist, Dr Duggaraju Srinivas.
“In Krishna River, seawater is felt even up to Nagayalanka, 20 km away from the sea coast. Same is the case with the Penna River in Nellore district.”
The intrusion of seawater in river estuaries upsetting the hydrological balance in nearby villages, said Mr Srinivas. Similarly, groundwater levels have plummeted, thanks to indiscriminate drilling for water. The number of wells in the state has gone up by 400 per cent in the last four decades.
Today the State has nearly 2.5 million wells. The dependable availability of water in the State is 2,746 tmc while the utilisation is 2092 tmc. Anantapur is fast turning into a desert and groundwater levels are also coming down in the coastal belt where normally groundwater levels are quite high. Experts are alarmed by all this.
Excessive use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and conversion of agricultural fields into aqua ponds have further aggravated the situation. However, there are signs of hope. Under a special FAO programme, thousands of farmers in nearly 1,000 villages in Telangana have mastered the art of drought agriculture.
“Use of innovative agricultural methods by these farmers has brought about a major social transformation,” said Mr P.S. Rao, co-coordinator of National Land and Water Programme.