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Dried up borewells to be recharged in Prakasam
The Water Land and Trees Act (WALTA) introduced by the government controls digging of borewells in the State. But, the farmers from drought-hit areas in the State have been drilling the borewells indiscriminately in their farms to save their withering crops. But, excessive digging of borewells and incessant use of the existing resulted in complete drying up of borewells.
Ongole: Dried up borewells in Markapuram and Giddalur areas in Prakasam district would be recharged soon. The local administration is now planning to identify permanent water sources as well as construction of recharge pits for the borewells in the district.
The Water Land and Trees Act (WALTA) introduced by the government controls digging of borewells in the State. But, the farmers from drought-hit areas in the State have been drilling the borewells indiscriminately in their farms to save their withering crops. But, excessive digging of borewells and incessant use of the existing resulted in complete drying up of borewells.
There are about 24,000 borewells in Prakasam district. That is about one borewell for every 0.7 square kilometre or for every three square acres. This average reduces to two borewells in every one square acre in the western area of Prakasam district.
For every borewell, the farmers are spending Rs 50,000 to R 1,000,00 depending on the depth of the borewell and incurrring losses every year.
With this density of borewells, Prakasam district stood among the top drought-hit districts in the country.As the water conservation movement is gaining momentum in the State, the officials also decided to revive the dried up borewells by constructing recharge pits and using rain water harvesting methods. This method is found helpful to recharge even completely dried up borewells, along with the increasing flow of water in the output.
The cost of the recharging of a borewell varies from Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 depending on the local circumstances and about 50 per cent of the cost could be borne by NABARD as subsidy.In order to stop the digging of new borewells and provide water for irrigation purposes, the State government asked the officials to take up recharging the borewells.
On Thursday, Prakasam District Collector Sujatha Sharma ordered the RWS officials to identify the dried up borewells in Giddalur and Markapuram areas for recharging. She also asked them to see the methods of constructing the check dams and recharge pits. She ordered the officials to prepare estimations to take up recharging of borewells immediately.
