Damjibhai Ghodasara of Khanpar village in Morbi district of Gujarat believes in experimenting. After conventional farming, such as cotton, failed to give attractive returns, the 56-year-old - turned to horticulture crops and cultivated pomegranate on about six acres. He proudly shows off his pomegranate plants bearing healthy fruits. He expects to profit, with a price of up to ₹40 a kg.

The story appears like a ‘dream-come-true’ for any farmer in the drought year. But this might also turn Damjibhai’s worst nightmare. For, every cycle of watering means his fertile soil getting another step closer to turning ‘extremely saline’.

Pointing to his borewell, the source of the water for his pomegranate crop, Damjibhai said: “Water isn't available easily here. We had to go deep, as deep as 1,710 feet. The water is warm, but we bring it to our surface wells and then get it in our drip channel. This is a cumbersome process, but with this we are able to achieve good crops even in this scarcity.” About a dozen others in his village have dug up borewells of similar depth, he added. He has spent about ₹7 lakh for one such well, while he has one more at a different location for his watermelon crop.

When asked if he is aware of the potential threat of over-exploitation of groundwater , Damjibhai said: “I am experimenting with this water. People say this won't work on crop and will spoil the quality of the soil. See, I am doing this for two years and earning good profit from it. Those who can afford a deeper well can get this access, what is wrong in it?”

This is not new or unique to Morbi. This is an old practice across the drought-prone Saurashtra and Kutch, where people in search of water go deep inside the earth. The warm water that comes from such deep levels is actually not normal water, but magmatic water or juvenile water, which is a derivative fluid of magma. This water in most cases is not used for potable purpose, but is used largely for farming and domestic use.

Experts believe that the danger of using this water goes far beyond consumption-led impacts. “This water comes at high temperature with increased levels of minerals and salt. Such high levels are not advisable for human consumption or even for agriculture. Most people, for a short-term gain, try to exploit this resource and damage the entire ecology out of ignorance. The government must formulate a policy to protect and monitor the use of groundwater,” said Narendra Kumar Gontia, Principal & Dean, Faculty of College of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, Junagadh Agricultural University.

Gontia explained that with sustained exploitation of this juvenile water, soil quality will deteriorate with increased salt levels and salinity ingress will increase further in the groundwater. “Ideally, in Saurashtra, people should not go beyond 400-500 feet. This is the limit, otherwise it will become damaging for the land and for humans,” he added.

The Gujarat Government’s State Water Policy draft, released in 2015, mentions that the groundwater table is “being depleted at 3-5 metres per year as the abstraction of groundwater is more than the recharge in these regions. As a result, groundwater resources go on depleting and the quality also goes on deteriorating in some areas along the coast.

The policy document also notes that groundwater, though part of hydrological cycle and a community resource, is still perceived as an individual property and is exploited inequitably and without any consideration to its sustainability leading to its over-exploitation in certain areas.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW