Water crisis: Ground water level decreasing alarmingly in Jammu

Water crisis: Ground water level decreasing alarmingly in Jammu
Yash Khajuria	3/2/2012 7:59:28 PM
JAMMU, Mar 02: In what could be termed as an alarming situation, ground water level has fallen by 50 per cent in Jammu region during past five years. Sources said that at some places the tube wells have dried up while others are pumping very less water in the supply chain which depends upon the river Tawi to meet the requirements. According to the study conducted by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department recently, of the 22 major towns of the region, 14 are facing the acute water crisis, while five major towns are on verge of facing the reduced supply of water this summer. There are about 1500 tube wells in the entire region. Data collected by the department says that the Company Bagh tube-well is providing only 15000 gallons of water per hour as against the previous supply of 40,000 gallons. The pumping capacity of the Press Club tube well has come down to 15,000 gallons per hour as against 20,000 gallons per hour in the past. Similarly the water supply from Science College has come down to 30,000 gallons per day from 45,000 gallons per day. GGM Science college Hostel tube-well has come down from 35,000 gallons to 25,000 gallons per hour Another tubewell which supply water to the city area and the Peer Kho tube-well pumping capacity has come down to 15,000 gallons per hour as against 25,000 gallons. A source said that the situation is not that alarming and ground water sources are being gradually being recharged. “Many tubewell had dried up or are facing leakage due to unplanned usage, but it has now improved”, he said. It is pertinent to mention here that the some decades ago, the population of the Jammu city was about 4-5 lakhs but now it has reached more than 11 lakhs because of which the shortage of water is difficult to be fulfilled. Locals alleged that the water is the basic need but the authorities do not keep a check on the proper distribution of water as many areas face a regular distribution of water with many hours whereas the other face the scarcity. They said that PHE department should have proper timings of water supply so that the people could make the use of the distributed water.