Ground Water major Source of Irrigation in Bangaru Telangana

Ground Water major Source of Irrigation in Bangaru Telangana
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Highlights

Ground water is one of the major sources of irrigation in the State. Being an important and integral part of the hydrological cycle, its availability depends on the rainfall and recharge conditions.

Ground Water

Ground water is one of the major sources of irrigation in the State. Being an important and integral part of the hydrological cycle, its availability depends on the rainfall and recharge conditions.
The demand for water has increased over the years and this has led to water scarcity in many parts of the world. During the past two decades water level in several parts has been falling rapidly due to an increase in ground water extraction.
The number of bore wells drilled for irrigation of both food and cash crops have rapidly increased. Intense competition among users viz., agriculture, industry and domestic sectors is in demand for ground water resulting in driving the ground water table lower.
The estimation of the ground water resources was done with 2010-11 databases where the state was divided into 494 watersheds, also known as groundwater basins or assessment units. The categorization of watersheds/ mandals/ villages on the basis of ground water development and level of exploitation has been made in Telangana.
Mandal –Wise Distribution of Area under Ground Water Irrigation











As per the assessment the ground water development is shown in Table Table Details of Category-wise Watersheds at Mandals


Further 1064 villages have been identified as over-exploited for the purpose of notification under Water, Land and Trees Act, 2005 (WALTA), where further exploitation of ground water is banned except for drink- ing water purpose. In terms of quantity, the total groundwater availability in the state is 13243 MCM out of which 7224 MCM is the utilization for various purposes leaving a balance of 5841 MCM. The overall stage of ground water development is about 55%. Total number of additional wells feasible are 2,92,050.
At present, on an average about 1.2 hectares is irrigated per well and on an average a total number of 50,000 wells per year are commissioned due to which the average unit area irrigated per well may decrease. At pres- ent, the well population is more than 12 lakhs (mostly bore wells) and the area irrigated underground water for the year 2011-12 was 15.49 lakh hectares. If micro irrigation practices are adopted, the irrigation potential through groundwater can reach to a level of 25.82 lakh Ha.

Telangana Community Based Tank Management (TCBTM)

Participatory Ground water Management aims at empowering the ground water users in the tank influence zone to wisely have been selected for Participatory Ground Water Management activities, falling in 7 districts and covering 78 Mandals manage the dynamic groundwater resources replenished through rainfall, surface water sources and returns circulation from irrigated areas. Under this project a total of 172 tanks.

The activities cover installation of PHM equipment including, drilling of piezometers, installation of PHM equipment, trainings, data analysis and dissemination of data etc. The project is scheduled for seven years (2007-2014) at an estimated cost of Rs. 16.24 crores for Telangana State. In the year 2013-14, Rs.887.60 lakhs were released by the State Project Director and the expenditure is Rs.413.30 lakhs.

Telangana Water Sector Improvement Project

Considering limitations of present groundwater management system there is a need to develop a new groundwater management model that recognizes limitations of existing management system by individual and recommends an aquifer level groundwater management by the community. The project is scheduled for six years (2010 to 2018) at an estimated cost of Rs. 14.93 Crores. Two pilot projects are being undertaken by the department.
User Centred Aquifer Level Groundwater Management Pilot in Nalgonda
Conjunctive use of surface and groundwater pilots in NSLCCN in Khammam

Under this project, the budget estimate for the year 2014-15 was Rs.669.10 lakhs, the budget release was Rs.76.67 lakhs and the expenditure was Rs.13.25 lakhs.
Further 1,057 villages have been identified as over exploited for the purpose of notification under Telangana Water, Land and Trees Act (TWALTA), where continued exploitation of ground water is banned except for drinking water purpose. In terms of quantity, the total groundwater availability in the state is 1,36,74 Million Cubic Meters (MCM) out of which 7,502 MCM is the utilization for various purposes leaving a balance of 5,805 MCM. The overall stage of ground water development is about 58%. Total number of additional wells feasible is 2,33,529.

Minor Irrigation
Minor Irrigation is having about 35,942 tanks serving an ayacut of 18.75 lakh acres including 31,196 Panchayat Raj Department tanks serving an ayacut of 6.68 lakh acres.

The tank irrigation is concentrated mostly in the districts of Warangal, Khammam and Karimnagar .Under minor irrigation, an area of 37,300 acres of irrigation potential is created and 19,700 acres of irrigation potential is utilised with an expenditure of Rs.488.46 crores during the year 2013-14. The rehabilitation of Minor irrigation schemes sanctioned under World Bank assisted by Telangana Community Based Tank Management Project (APCBTMP) is in Progress. The scheme is intended to improve 1182 tanks and about 762 schemes are completed.


Mandal-wise Distribution Under Tank Irrigation







G.Rajendra Kumar

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