Six months & counting, WRD's wait for ₹6 cr for aquifer mapping study in dists continues

THE Water Resources Department (WRD) has been waiting for nearly seven months for the state government to approve and sanction ₹6.3 crore for a pilot study for village-wise aquifer mapping in the three districts of Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri, which are in the "over-exploited" category in terms of groundwater level.

- S GURUVANMIKANATHAN @ Chennai

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) was submitted in last December.

The WRD carries out periodical mapping of groundwater level at the firka level in every district, except Chennai. Out of the roughly 1,200 firkas in the state, nearly 400 have been identified as over-exploited, while many more are in critical and semi-critical state.

Officials said in these three districts, nearly 50% of the firkas come under the over-exploited category due to industrial, agricultural and domestic uses and therefore these three were chosen for a more granular level in every village.