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21.12.09

Succour for parched Katol orange fields

Once Katol and Kalmeshwar talukas in Nagpur district had enough groundwater to irrigate their orange orchards. But in the past decade or

so, the water table has gone down to 700-900 feet in almost the entire belt and digging of bore wells has become totally uneconomical. Farmers here have now switched to conventional dry land farming of cotton and soyabean, with the area under orange cultivation reduced almost to half.

The Hyderbad-based National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has brought new hope to the farmers here by
locating water trapped in aquifers in the Gondwana geological formations made up of sand stone. These have water retaining capacity, detected using the known ‘electrical sounding’ technique. After surveying 45 sites, the NGRI team led by SN Rai, head groundwater division, was able to locate water in 30 sites. Of these 30 places the institute has drilled bore wells at three places free of cost for farmers, to demonstrate the efficacy
of the technology. They have plans to dig another 2-3 wells in the area.

“NGRI is doing this work as part of a societal mission of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),
which being funded by the Planning Commission under the 11th five year plan (from 2007-2012). It is part of the national network project on groundwater prospecting, development and management in problematic areas in the
country, and is directed towards helping farmers in water distress areas,” said VP Dimri, director NGRI.

Rai told TOI that CSIR has chosen NGRI as the nodal agency for the project and five other CSIR institutes; National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri), Indian Institute of Toxicological Research, Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Advanced Material and Processes Research Institute and Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology are co-partners with different roles. However, unfortunately, as the information spread that
the NGRI has found good sources of water from about 150 ft in Raulgaon village of Katol taluka to 460 feet in Ubali
village in Kalmeshwar taluka, farmers in these areas are expecting the institute to also drill borewells free of cost. NGRI scientists say, being a research institute their basic job is to demonstrate the technology
only. The government agencies should replicate the model and help farmers locate water using the technique, they said. “Farmers wouldn’t mind spending money if they are sure of the presence of water at shallow levels. All NGRI can do is conduct surveys and locate water,” said Rai. Although water could be located at about 60 feet in Ubali village the well had to to be dug till 460 feet to avoid collapse of well walls. It also needed a perforated wall casing at lower depth to allow regular inflow of water from surrounding areas. The borewell at Ubali cost the NGRI Rs 1.2 lakh. The electrical resistivity technique helps in locating water between two Deccan basalt traps in the sedimentary deposits if it has loose soil. So far we have surveyed ten villages and located water at different heights. However, this water source cannot be replenished and will get exhausted over a period of time. Hence, the farmers should use all possible techniques of water conservation and recharge. They should use it only when their dug wells are completely dry,” said Dewashish Kumar, a team member. “Farmers should use either drip irrigation
or sprinklers depending on the depth and approximate quantity of water. The project is already giving good results
in the Ghatia watershed near Ujjain in 21 villages,” said S Thiagarajan, another team member.
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