Rangareddy district pegged 6.64 metres water below ground level despite heat wave

With bountiful rains last year and this year too, the average groundwater level has increased to 6.64 metres below surface level in Rangareddy district this year with present level standing at 10.27 metres as against the 16.91 metres reported previous year.

According to fresh statistics available with the District Ground Water Department, the Batasingaram village of Abdullapurmet mandal stood top of the list with 3.34 metres water below surface level as against the previous level of 3.58 metres while the Shadnagar village of Farooqnagar mandal as usual stands at bottom of the list with 19.30 meter water below surface level. However, the mandal has somewhat fared well against the previous year where the groundwater level was recorded at 29.52 metres. This translates to a fluctuation of 10.22 metres during the last one year in Farooqnagar mandal.

Most grim is the situation of Moinabad village of Moinabad mandal where water built-up is hovering presently at 6.00 metres as against 29.37 metres depletion registered in the year 2020. This communicates a fluctuation of 23.37 metres during the cumulative year.

Only Yacharam is the second mandal in the row after Abdullapurmet that fared well in retention of groundwater level with 4.69 metres water built up. However, the mandal performed much better than Abdullapurmet in preserving the groundwater against last year where the groundwater below surface level was registered 19.98 metres as against the present level of 4.69 metres.

The officials are attributing it to less consumption of groundwater in the mandal due to lift irrigation schemes and recently built Kaleshwaram project, a flagship project of the Telangana government.

Kothur, Siddapur, and Teegapur are the three villages in Kothur Mandal in the district registered an increase of 7.82 m, 9.91 m, and 14.32 metres respectively in the groundwater level. However, Kothur and Teegapur portray a bleak picture of water depletion last year where 11.52m and 21.12 m depletion respectively was recorded in these two villages.

Dharamasagar village in Chevella mandal has the second deepest point after Shadnagar village of Abdullapurmet with 17.06 metres water depth while the same area reported 25.65 metres depletion last year.

Maheshwaram village of Maheshwaram mandal recorded 12.67 metres of water built up below ground surface level while it stood at 22.19 metres down the ground last year. This forms a fluctuation of 9.52 metres during the last one year.

"Lift irrigation schemes and the recently built Kaleshwaram project are main sources for improving the water level in the state. Besides, excess rainfall in past and present years in Rangareddy district is also the reason behind improving groundwater levels in the district. Due to these factors, farmers rely less over the groundwater," informed Raghupathi Reddy, District Ground Water Officer, Rangareddy district.