Roof-top rainwater harvesting only remedy for sinking water table

Sir,

It was shocking to read the news item titled “Water Table Sinking” in SOM dated Feb.2. The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water.

Groundwater depletion most commonly occurs because of the frequent pumping of water from the ground to fulfil the increasing demands of ever-increasing population, for all the facilities such as houses, shops, roads, offices, pavements, etc. This, in turn, decreases the open area for seepage of water into the ground.

Most of the stages of manufacturing processes in industries require water. If the number of industries increases, then the water requirement will also automatically increase. Therefore, increase of industries contributes to the depletion of water table.

India is an agricultural country and the water for agriculture is mainly utilised from ground water, rain water and canal water. As there is no rainfall in many places, agriculture cannot be entirely dependent on rain water which is erratic sometimes. Also, canal water is available in a few places only. Therefore, groundwater is the main source of water for agricultural activities and this causes depletion of water table.

The one and only remedy is roof-top rainwater harvesting where water is captured from the roof catchments and stored in reservoirs. Harvested rainwater can be stored in sub-surface ground water reservoir by adopting artificial recharge techniques to meet the household/industrial needs through storage in tanks.

The main objective of rooftop as well as direct rainwater harvesting is to make water available for our future use. Capturing and storing of rainwater in other open spaces like fields, parks etc. for use is also important. Groundwater table comes up when all these factors are combined together. People should understand the above simple matters and join hands together at the time of water crisis.