Sir,

Water table depth is directly proportionate to the combination of withdrawal of underground water and its replenishment, and as the present withdrawal is greater than replenishment, naturally the situation is getting desperate. The reasons for this are the utter lack of commitment from the authorities (both politicians and bureaucrats) and, of course, complete carelessness of the general public.

Let me elaborate the second aspect first. In my residential locality, I see every morning residents misusing kilolitres of water in cleaning their drive-way and cars. This water flows 200 meters along the road! The replies I get when requested not to waste water are unfortunately unprintable. The mildest responses are “Who are you to question me?” or “Namma maneyalli borewell ide”. While the borewell might be within his property, he does not realise that he is drawing water from a limited and more importantly a common underground aquifer which is a national property.

Regarding the first aspect, rain water is a natural source for replenishment of water table but this has to be harnessed properly. From the Corporation’s side they must ensure that all roads have proper rain water drainage system interlinked to major drains which in turn flows to a river or a lake. While the older residents might be reluctant to install “Roof-Top Rainwater Harvesting System”, they may be asked to connect water from the roof top and cemented drive way to flow directly into the road side drain. This can be enforced only if the roadside drains are functional. Unfortunately, it is not so in my locality.

Lastly, while the Corporation must insist on rain water harvesting installed in each and every new building, it must also ensure that the underground sewage water pipeline system leads to a processing plant and the liquid waste is used for irrigation purpose.

– U.B. Acharya, Jayalakshmipuram, 5.2. 2018

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