With the rise in mercury, availability of water started becoming scarce in capital Raipur. In the major residential locations of capital city Raipur, water level slumped down with the dangerous speed. Water table has depleted at an unimaginable rate. In the year 2015-16, potable groundwater can easily be fetched out at the depth of 300-400 ft and is now not easily accessible at such a depth. It compelled people to go for bore-well drilling more than 600-900 fts. Even after ground drilling up to more than 900 fts, in several cases people failed to fetch ground water. The fast pace of shrinking ground water table, is continuously pushing Raipur towards a gloomy future and unsustainable city.
Swelling up numbers of high rise buildings, faster rate. concretization and lack of installation of rainwater harvesting systems in buildings and colonies worsened the situation and made it explosive. It has been observed that outer areas of capital city Raipur Bhanpuri, Urla Siltara, Mana, Banarsi, VIP road, Saddu-Mowa, Sejbahar, Dunda, Kota, Anupam Nagar and others gradually turned into a sere zone. Unavailability of clean water made life difficult and unsustainable in harsh summer days.
In the coming days, the situation will worsen and sustaining life in Raipur in absence of proper supply of water becomes very difficult, a retired PHE Officer Gautam Rai said.
The situation has not worsened due to population explosion, the colonizers to government officers no one has taken the issue of depleting the water table seriously. People overlooked water conservation and installation of rain water harvesting systems, finally, the time is approaching if proper and serious initiatives are not taken about water conservation then people have to face the music of water scarcity in their respective areas. A collective effort can resolve the issue to some extent, Rai said.
If potable water keeps on receding with present pace, the groundwater reserve will last for 20 years only, Hydrologist Dr. Vipin Dubey told the media. Immediate and effective intervention is required to be taken on ground if we want to check the further deterioration of the water table.
Water conservator Anupam Mishra who was acknowledged for his campaigns to conserve ponds and water tables, mentioned in his book - Raipur was a city of ponds.
Unfortunately, the majority of ponds vanished from the landscape of capital city Raipur either became victim of encroachments by land mafia or converted into garbage filling grounds, complained political analyst Ashok Tomar.
Such types of works can be executed only by those people who lack vision. And as an outcome of vision impairment, the common public has to pay a heavy price. Instead of beautification of ponds, the funds should be utilized on how to recharge ponds and make them sustainable, Tomar mentioned.
