New borewell revives hopes

VELLORE: The residents of Kilpatti in Gudiyattam block had a pleasant surprise on Friday when a new bore well sunk by the panchayat, overflowed all by itself. ‘We could not believe that water kept pouring out from the bore well,’ remarked some residents, who later performed pooja at the site. Their wonder is not unfounded since Gudiyattam block has been  classified a dark region, meaning that groundwater potential there is grim.  The village had sought the services of The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board to locate water sources at Othukuttai in the western part of the village. The rig operator  drilled to a depth of 250 feet when water gushed out from the borewell and the rigging operation had to be stopped. People were surprised as in most areas, drilling operations carried out at a depth of 750 to 800 feet had not yielded adequate water.“Identifying water sources is a tricky issue. Usually, out of the ten spots selected for sinking borewells, only two or three yield good results while another three give a moderate yield and the rest fail,” said Arumugam a Water Diviner. He added that finding water is a hydrological riddle and even sophisticated electrical resonances methods often fail to locate sources. Studies by the TWAD board during pre- and post-monsoon conditions across the district in all the 5,797 habitats between 1990 and 2010 revealed that rains helped raise the ground water level with an increase of around 10 meters. Realistically speaking, it may not be enough to compensate for  the water extraction across the district.According to the Groundwater Estimation Committee, the annual utilisable ground water recharge in the district is around 984 million cubic meter (mcm) while the net groundwater draft is around 1376 mcm. This results in a deficit of 391 mcm. Out of the 20 blocks in the district, 10 including Guidyattam are classified as over-exploited for water. While extraction at Nemili block is between 90 per cent to 100 per cent, Arakonam, Kaveripakkam and Wallajah are the only three blocks where the extraction is relatively less and ranges at 70 per cent to 90 per cent.