PHE Drilling Two Bore Wells To Deal With Water Shortage, Water Table Goes 300 Feet Below Earth’s Surface

Sehore (Madhya Pradesh): The Public Health Engineering Department has begun to dig up bore wells at Khamlia village in Sehore, which is grip of acute water shortage. But two bore wells will be too little to meet the water shortage, say villagers. Most of the bore wells and hand pumps have gone dry in many areas across the district.

The district administration has also swung into action to deal with the situation. Junior engineer of PHE Siddhnath Malviya said the groundwater table in the depleted in summers.

The department is drilling two bore wells to deal with the water shortage in Khamlia village, Malviya said. As a result of water shortage, more than 50 families of Khamlia are living in farmlands. With the arrival of summer, the district has been in the grip of severe water scarcity. 

Those living in rural areas are the worst sufferers. Consequently, the administration has declared the district drought-hit. There are nine hand pumps in Khamliya village, but seven of them are out of order. The rest of the two have too little water to supply to villagers.

The district faces a water shortage every summer when the groundwater table depletes and hand pumps go out of order. According to villagers, water is not available even 300 feet below the earth's surface. Sarpanch of Khamliya village Kuldeep Mewada said more than 50 families had left the village to live in their farmlands.

The villagers said they had to pay Rs 5 for a can of water. Those who are unable to buy water go to Nonikhedi, Badli, Chhapri, Taj and other villages, three to four km away from their homes, to fetch a pail of water. The government has spent Rs 1.50 crore to supply water to 2,500 residents of the village under the Nal Jal Yojna.

A tank with the capacity of one lakh litres of water has been installed and the pipelines laid, but the work under the project has stopped since October last year. It happened due to a want of water in government bore wells. There are three government bore wells in the village, and two of them have dried up. One is working, but it is supplying a little water