The water table in Punjab is at a harmful stage and a study by Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee suggests that the state that draws big element of its earnings from cultivation may well run out of water and turn to a desert in the next 25 years if the present trend of drawing water from underground aquifers continues. A prediction performed more than two decades also mentioned that the aquifers will run out of water by 2025.
How report of a study performed two decades ago mentioned
The study titled ‘The State of the World Report, 1998 conducted by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) official and published in Washington-based World Watch Institute (WWI) said aquifers will be depleted by 2025.
Why report says Punjab (land of five rivers) turn into a desert
In Punjab, the dwellers are drawing out more water than it is getting replenished as a result the water table is getting depleted day by day, posing a threat of desertification for the state. The rate of underground water extraction is 1.66 times more than replenishment.
109 out of 138 blocks are already over-exploited with 100 per cent groundwater extraction. Two of the blocks are in ‘dark/critical’ zone though 5 other individuals are in the semi-essential zone. Hence, 80 per cent blocks of the state have currently dried up and 4 per cent are on the verge of it.
The 22 blocks in South west Punjab exactly where ground water rises also is filled with saline or brackish water unsuitable for human consumption or cultivation. Water is readily available at 20 to 30 meters, or more than 30 meters down, in about 84 per cent of Punjab. Framers are spending enormous amounts to get deeper and deeper pumps for extraction of water for cultivation.
Why waterbeds are more than-exploited in Punjab
The Green Revolution in the state in 1966-67 made the farmers there take up paddy farming that was historically by no means the primary crop there. Area beneath it elevated from 2.93 lakh hectares in the course of the advent of the revolution to 31.49 LS in 2020 , highest ever region beneath rice cultivation in the history of Punjab. This brought on an 11-time raise in rice region in 5 decades.
Dr. Rajan Aggarwal, a senior study engineer, division of soil and water engineering, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), and Chief Scientist in All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) mentioned that the puddling strategy of rice cultivation resulted in disturbing the replenishment technique, building flash floods and wasting rain water to evaporation.
How each the research calculated 25 years for drying up of aquifers
Two decades ago water was readily available at a depth of 3010 meters in most districts. But now it is readily available at 20 meters depth in 84 per cent of the states that call for deep tubewells to extract water.
Paddy requires at least 4,000 liters of water to develop one kg of rice and by this calculation and thinking about the present predicament in the coming 25 to 27 years the whole Pu jab will slide to the dark zone, placing a query mark on sustainability of agriculture if handle measures are not accepted.
Dr. Rajan, added that like upper aquifers even deeper aquifers can also dry up if mindless extraction of groundwater is not controlled.