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New AP Capital May Soon Face Water Scarcity

In what could be a dampener for the AP government that is proposing to construct its new capital in the Vijayawada region, a recent report of the groundwater department has revealed that the groundwater levels in Krishna and Guntur districts have seen a huge drop compared to last year. If this turns out to be a permanent indicator, then the capital region could face a shortage of drinking water soon.

As per the report submitted by the groundwater department to the AP government, in which the figures are updated till August this year, the water level reported an overall drop of 1.74 metres in Krishna district and 0.54 metres in Guntur as compared to last year.Though most of the places in these two districts depend on river Krishna for their drinking water needs, all upland areas, where land is available for construction of the capital, have reported dwindling groundwater levels.

The report compiled water levels in all 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh and concluded that there has been an overall fall of 1.02 metres in 2014 as compared to 2013.

Interestingly , places where the AP government claimed to have plenty of government land for the capital construction have reported poor groundwater levels. These include Musunuru, Nuzvidu and Chatrai mandals in Krishna district and Bollapalli, Guntur urban, Veldurthy and Dachepally mandals in Guntur district.

In fact, Musunuru and Nuzivudu mandals reported groundwater more than 20 metres deep in August 2014. At Bollapalli, the water is avail able only below 51.95 metres, at Edlapadu 27.20 metres and at Veldurthy 38.98 metres. In the two districts to gether, more than 18 mandals have reported a sharp de cline in water table.

“Massive urbanization and mindless exploitation of groundwater for crops and industrial needs has resulted in a sharp fall in groundwater levels in Krishna and Guntur districts,“ concluded sources in the department.

Meanwhile, Prakasam district reported a 3.04 metres drop in water level in one year while Kadapa district recorded a drop of 4.28 metres.

Source: TimesOfIndia

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