Ground Water Depletion

THE findings of a recent study by the Administrative Staff College regarding depletion of ground water in the hard rock area* has caused a lot of flutter in the country, Questions were asked and concern was shown in parliament regarding the state of affairs. The study was conducted in Kolar district of Karnataka, Anantpur of Andhra Pradesh and Amravati of Maharashtra. It found that in Kolar, the ground water table in 50 per cent of the observation wells had lowered from 4.2 metres in 1976 to 8.1 metres in 1984. In Anantpur and Amravati, where the trends were fluctuating the level was less than 4.2 metres in 1975 and by 1985 it had gone down 6.95 metres.