Groundwater depleting, city yet to wake up to rainwater harvesting

Ludhiana: Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a national effort to protect and augment the country’s water resources, the city is yet to wake up to the cause. Green initiatives are given a miss despite the alarming rate at which groundwater is depleting. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) experts say groundwater level is going down by 4 feet every year and the situation is likely to worsen this year because of less June rainfall.
The central groundwater authority has already declared that all the 11 blocks of industrial town are in dark zone and over-exploited.
Rajan Aggarwal, a senior scientist at PAU, says, “In central Ludhiana, the groundwater level goes down by 3 to 4 feet every year, but no steps are being taken to recharge it. Even as we are yet to receive reports for this year, those are not likely to be favourable due to less rainfall in June. The situation will worsen if digging for groundwater continues. Steps must be taken to recharge groundwater through rainwater harvesting.”
A municipal corporation official says, “As many as 1,000 tube-wells supply 45-crore litre of water to the city daily. There are several submersible pumps, too, that draw out water, but we do not have their records. Despite this, hardly any measures are being adopted to conserve water.”
Though water is available at 120 feet, it is not potable. “At some places, potable water is available at 600 feet. About 10 years ago, it was found at 350 feet. The MC spends Rs 40 per 1,000 litres,” he adds.
Mayor Balkar Sandhu says “MC alone is not bound to take steps for saving water... residents are equally responsible. Despite wide-spread awareness about low water level, people are not changing their habits. They are washing cars and floors with potable water. We have started issuing challans to the offenders.”
The industrial hub is dependent on groundwater for drinking and other purposes. The civic body, in association with the World Bank, is working on a project to supply canal water after treatment.
170 car-washing challans issued in 1 week
Residents washing cars, floors and spilling water on roads is a common sight in city every morning. To check the wastage of the precious resource, the local bodies department has once again directed the civic body to issue challans to defaulters. MC has issued only 170 challans for car washing in the past one week. The offence entails a fine up to Rs 5,000. But there are hardly any checks on car washing centres. Taking note of it, MC commissioner KP Brar has sought a report from the civic officials about these centres.
‘An RO wastes 30 litre of water daily’
As per the Punjab Pollution Control Board officials, a household where RO is installed for purification of water wastes at least 30 litres of water daily. Roughly, 10 lakh households have ROs. This way, 3-crore litre water is being wasted daily. “RO is not required in the city because TDS (total dissolved solids) level here is between 350 and 400. An RO is required where TDS level is over 750. The water coming out of RO after purification process can be re-used for washing utensils, bathing and watering plants,” says a PPCB official.