Water crisis may trigger Palamur exodus

Mahbubnagar: Mahbubnagar district, which is known for its agrarian distress and mass migration of people from rural areas, is now staring into the face of drought this year. With the ground water levels dipping to more than 1000 feet and the water levels in all major reservoirs like Jurala, Ramanpad and Koilsagar, which are meant for drinking water supply, fast receding, this time people could migrate from the district just for the want of water, if authorities fail to mitigate the water supply problem in the coming summer.

According to K S Moses, the president of an NGO named DRDSO which is involved in the reconstruction of tanks, the mindless digging of bore wells at every nook and corner of the district was the major reason for fast depletion of groundwater levels. “Authorities have failed to control the illegal digging of bore wells. Moreover, they have failed to forecast the demand- supply gap of the water and come up with a future plan,” he said.

Experts feel that if there was no adequate rainfall at least by August this year to fill the major reservoirs, the problem will attain uncontrollable proportions. People migrating for the want of water could no more be a distant perspective, they warned. With summer fast approaching and people witnessing increasingly dry and hot days, the demand for drinking water is growing manifold in the villages and towns of the district alike.

Despite the moving situation, the leaders and concerned officials are still showing a laidback approach and waiting for the worst to come. From their side, there are hardly any encouraging measures to improve the fast-depleting water resources. At present Jurala reservoir has only 4.5 TMC water as against its total capacity of 12 TMC and it can release only 0.5 TMC water for the drinking purposes, which would not be sufficient even for one month’s drinking water needs.

The Ramanpad reservoir has already dried up and water supply has been already stopped. The Koilsagar reservoir is having only 0.5 TMC of water while its total capacity is 2.30 TMC. This water is being used to meet the water requirements of the district headquarters and the remaining water could utmost last for a week or two. For instance, the Ramanpad reservoir, which supplies water to Mahbubnagar, Jadcherla, Achempet towns and hundreds of other villages, has no more water left.

As a result, the major municipalities like Shadnagar, Achempet, Narayanpeta and Gadwal are facing a severe water crisis. Shadnagar which has a population of 60,000 needs at least 7.5 Million Liters per Day (MLD) of water per day, but only 1.5 MLD is being supplied per day. While Gadwal town requires about 8 MLD of water, it is getting only 2 MLD from Jammulamma reservoir, which is also drying up very fast.

The district headquarters which has more than 3 lakh population requires 17 MLD of water and only 5 MLD is being supplied from the Koilsagar reservoir. Narayanpeta which has a population of 50,000 needs at least 4 MLD water but is getting only 2.2 MLDs per day. The situations in areas like Jadcherla and Achempet is even worse. The people are not even getting 15 minutes supply of water in every 15 days. “The Ramanpad supply is totally stopped as there is no water in the reservoir.

We are searching for alternative sources and buying water tankers to supply to the colonies. At the same time, we are also repairing and reconstructing the existing pipelines to link with the main line of Ramanpad,” said Bukka Venkatesham, Sarpanch of Jadcherla, when enquired about their plan for water supply in summer. A recent agitation by farmers for the release of water to their crops has also affected the drinking water supply in the district.

“We have taken action against the officials who have ignored drinking water needs. In fact, we are preparing a comprehensive plan to meet the drinking water needs of people in coming summer and very soon we will conduct a detailed review of the reservoir levels and come up with an action plan to mitigate water problems in the district,” said TK Sridevi, the district Collector.