Check dams will help improve groundwater

The state government will take up check dams on a large scale to improve groundwater table and prevent rainwater from going waste.

The state government issued orders to the department to focus on the construction of check dams especially in the areas where there is steep fall in groundwater table in the district.

Keeping in mind the prevailing severe drought in the state, the state government has taken a decision to improve the ground water table. For this, it will encourage rainwater harvesting pits at individual level and check-dams at the community level.

Already, the district administration has started encouraging construction of rainwater harvesting pits in the government offices and police department also doing the same in their police stations.

Experts say that even streams and rivulets will not go dry if there were check dam on them and ground water table will increase manyfold in that area. This would be more helpful to the farmers as most of them set up agricultures motors in the streams or rivulets and supply water to their agriculture fields.

The state government is also planning to construct check dams at the bridges on the rivers and streams and rivulets.

The state government will also strictly impose the rule of having rainwater harvesting pits giving permission for the constructing new buildings so that groundwater table will get a boost with the rainwater at least in the premises of a house or its surroundings. 

People who had experience d severe drought and drinking water problems this season to seem to have realized the importance of having the rain harvesting pits to have sufficient water and to avoid drinking water problems even during the hot summer.

Krishnakanth Goud of Vidyanagar in Adilabad town said ‘they have decided to construct a rain harvesting pit in his house as they have been facing severe drinking water problem for the first time this summer’.

Farmer suicides: Telangana to promote check dams

State government will promote check dams to increase the ground water table, and help in preventing farmer distress in the Telangana.

The check dams will be constructed on rivulets and streams along with the bridges to improve the ground water table to save standing crops during drought in order to prevent farmer suicides in the Telangana state.

Panchayatraj and Roads and buildings departments have to inform the irrigation department while they were constructing bridges on rivulets and stream and even small rivers so that irrigation department construct check dams at such places.

State government has issued instruction to the Panchayatraj and R&B departments to prepare designs of the bridges on streams and rivulets consulting irrigation officials. 

Reports revealed that some farmers had fallen into debt after digging many borewells but failed to get water for agriculture due drastic fall in the ground water at many places.

The state government is of the opinion that farmers were resorting to suicides due to crop failure and subsequent debts due to crop failures during drought and following the borewells dried up following the drastic fall in ground water table.

Borewells they dug goes dry within no time and this was resulted in low yields even after investing huge amounts in digging borewells.

State government found that water from rivulets and streams flowing downstream without any use and enters into sea at last. At many places, there were no check dams on rivulets and streams especially hilly areas and water flows to down stream.

It is also found that overflowing water from tanks goes downstream without any check and go waste but things become worst during summer when there were no rains or scanty rainfall.      

Minister for irrigation T. Harish Rao said ‘they were going to promote check dams on big scale in the state and construct check dams near Swarna irrigation project in Mudhole in the Adilabad to improve the ground water table for agriculture purposes and said state government will give nine hours uninterrupted power to agriculture from next Kharif’.

State government is making serious efforts to install new electric transformers and set up power sub-station to give uninterrupted power supply to the agriculture in future.

Probe into anomalies in building check dams: TRS