BMC to map water table
Survey Civic body says this will help them check feasibility of borewells and ringwells in an area
Survey Civic body says this will help them check feasibility of borewells and ringwells in an area
With several coporators demanding borewells in their respective wards, the civic body wants to ensure that the wells don’t bleed the city’s groundwater resources dry. On Wednesday, municipal commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was planning to get the groundwater resources mapped.
Kshatriya said the mapping would allow people to use the water table more judiciously. “It is very important that we, as the planning body, know where our groundwater resources are, so that we know where borewells and ringwells are feasible, and where they aren’t. Hence, we will get in touch with the state’s Ground Water Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) and conduct a joint survey with their experts,” he said.
Even as the city faced acute water shortage in 2009 and parts of 2010, the civic body had encouraged people to utilise water from sources like ringwells and borewells for non-drinking purposes.
With the city receiving surplus rainfall this year, corporators have complained of the BMC turning down their demands for more borewells.
According to the civic chief, digging of borewells and ringwells will be carried out in a more efficient manner once the mapping of the water table is carried out. “Currently, borewells are being dug without any specification about its depth or the number needed. All this will stop once we have completed the survey,” Kshatriya said.
Kshatriya said corporators should first consult local officials and GSDA experts before carrying out any further digging of wells. “Corporators should ask local officials and experts whether digging a borewell at a particular spot would yield any water or no. Our groundwater resources are very limited and if we exhaust them, borewells might yield saline water.”