TANKS BATTLE POLLUTED GROUNDWATER IN HARYANA

In Haryana, groundwater pollution has led people to build underground tanks that are fed by expensive water tank services whose costs escalate in summer. Ashok Kumar talks to residents to understand the extent of the problem, and to government officials, who claim that piped water supply has solved the issue.

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Ikbal Khan, 60, speaks in Hindi accented with a strong, rough Mewati accent. He recalls a time, over 25 years ago, when women from his village of Ghaghas would fetch drinking water from a well on the outskirts of the village. As the groundwater diminished, borewells were sunk. “But over the past four to five years, the groundwater has turned salty,” he says. People in Nuh district in Haryana began constructing kundas, underground water tanks, some with government support.

Ikbal, like most of his fellow villagers, constructed one a month ago. He spent ₹60,000, with financial aid from the Block Samiti, a rural government body. Ikbal lives below the poverty line, with an annual income of less than ₹1.8 lakh. His tank, like most others, has a capacity of around 20,000 litres. The farming family uses the water only to drink, relying on the rain to feed the crop. This cuts the produce per acre to less than half that well-irrigated land brings in.

Before his family of six got their own tank, Ikbal used to share one with other families. This is common in this village of about 5,000 people, which now has close to 200 tanks. Together, three or four families bear the cost of water, supplied by privately owned water tankers. This way, they share the financial burden.

Ghaghas is situated in the foothills of the Aravali mountain range, 10 km off National Highway 248A, connecting Gurugram to Haryana to Alwar in Rajasthan. Nuh figures among the government think-tank NITI Aayog’s list of 100 ‘Aspiration al Districts’, for faring poorly on various development parameters. But it’s not just Nuh. More than two-thirds of Haryana’s districts face a groundwater crisis. Harmful chemicals have entered underground streams, making the water unfit for drinking and irrigation.