తెలంగాణ నీటి కథ: భూగర్భ జలాలు, బోర్లు, రైతు కష్టం

Telangana's water story: Groundwater, borewells and the farmer

"Water, Funds, Appointments" — The first word in the Telangana movement slogan is water. Although big rivers like Godavari and Krishna flow through this state, getting that water to the fields has always been a challenge due to its location on the high Deccan Plateau. That is why Telangana farmers have relied on borewells for decades.

The state of borewells

A large part of the irrigation water in Telangana comes from groundwater. There are lakhs of boreholes across the state. The number of boreholes increased exponentially after the increase in electricity supply in the 1990s. Water, which was once available at a depth of 100–200 feet, is now unavailable in some areas even after going to a depth of 600–1000 feet. There are stories in every district of farmers who spent lakhs of rupees on each borehole and got into debt because they did not get water.

Rocky soil — a special problem

Most of Telangana is located on hard rock layers like granite. Water accumulates in the cracks in these rocks. That is why groundwater is limited and drops rapidly when the rains stop. If more boreholes are dug in the same area, the water from one borehole will drain away from the other.

Pond culture

Telangana has had a tradition of chained tanks since the Kakatiya period. This system, where water would flow to the lower tank when the upper tank was full, also recharged the groundwater. Over time, siltation and encroachment of canals led to the desilting of thousands of tanks, leading to the collapse of many of them. "Mission Kakatiya", which was launched in 2015, has attempted to desilt thousands of tanks and increase their storage capacity.

Drinking Water — Mission Bhagiratha

For decades, the fluoride problem in Nalgonda district has affected the lives of thousands of people. Images of victims with crooked bones and decayed teeth have shaken the nation. "Mission Bhagiratha" was launched in 2016 to provide purified river water through pipes to every household. Providing safe water to fluoride-affected areas is a major change. However, complaints are still being received on issues such as maintenance of pipelines and timely delivery of water to the last household.

Huge projects

Lift irrigation schemes like Kaleshwaram and Palamuru-Ranga Reddy were undertaken with the aim of lifting river water uphill and bringing it to the fields. While governments claim that these have increased the area under cultivation in some areas, they have also drawn criticism for their high cost, power consumption, and construction flaws. We will discuss these projects in detail in another article.

What is working?

• Drip and sprinkler irrigation: Crops can be grown with much less water compared to the traditional method. Government subsidies are available.

• Crop rotation: Planting pulses, oilseeds, and small grains in some seasons instead of rice, which requires more water.

• Infiltration pits and check dams: Infiltration of rainwater into the ground.

• Village-level water budgeting: Calculating in the gram sabha how much water is available and how much is being used. Some villages in the country have achieved remarkable results with this method.

Conclusion

Water is not infinite. No matter how big the government projects are, Telangana's water security is possible only when every farmer and every family uses water economically. The first word in the movement's slogan is water — it is now the responsibility of all of us to protect that water.

Photo: User: Vraj Acharya, WELL Labs / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)