PALANPUR: A hot summer has just begun, but the districts of north Gujarat -- Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Patan and Aravalli are already facing a severe shortage of water. Even the main reservoirs there don't have enough water that could last the entire summer. This, experts say, is mainly because of low rainfall for two subsequent years.
They added that if the same situation prevails there will be an acute shortage of water which could result in migration from the districts.
As on April 21, the combined water stored in all reservoirs of North Gujarat was 292.27 million cubic meter (MCM) against the gross total storage capacity of 1,929.29 MCM which comes to 15.15% of the total storage. These figures were obtained from the website of Narmada, Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpasar Department, the government of Gujarat which updates the water storage situation on daily basis.
According to Banakantha Member of Parliament Parbat Patel groundwater level in many parts of north Gujarat has gone down to 1,000 feet.
"We are hopeful of a favourable monsoon this year. However, we hope that the farmers will use water judiciously and adopt the drip irrigation method of farming," added Patel.
Director of research at Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) B S Deora said that due to less availability of irrigation water the area of cultivation had also shrunk in north Gujarat. "The present groundwater is being used for the standing crops. But low rainfall this year may cause concern among farmers," said Deora, adding that both productivity and production have been affected over the past two years.
Former sarpanch of Kumbhasan village Shivram Patel said that as the village ponds, wells and reservoirs have dried out people are finding it difficult to provide water to cattle. "Our cattle are at the mercy of god. While buying fodder is out of reach of the cattle owners, people have been anxiously waiting for the rains in the catchment areas of the rivers, ponds and reservoirs," said Shivram.
According to official figures, Santalpur in Patan Kankrej in Banaskantha and Visnagar in Mehsana are experiencing severe water scarcity. However, in some parts of Sabarkantha the situation is not bad as the total rainfall there has been comparatively better.
District officials said that situation in Patna and Banaskantha was the worse. The main reservoirs there have nearly dried up.
