City’s ground water table can get polluted with saline water, says the civic body
Mumbai : The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will not give permission to dig any new bore wells or tube wells in the city, unless the owners assure to replenish the well’s consumed water reserves. The civic body has said that the entire city’s ground water table can get polluted with saline water, if the reserves are not replenished on time. An empty water table can result in saline sea water seeping in, mixing with fresh ground water and polluting the entire ground water reserve.
The civic body has suggested that citizens practice rainwater harvesting in open spaces and in gardens. This collected rain water can then be used to replenish the water table.
It can also be used for construction purposes, gardening and sanitation, instead of exhausting the ground water.
The city uses 3,750 million litres of water every day. To provide for this requirement, over 17,993 bore wells and tube wells have been constructed across the city. This is leading to rapid decrease in the ground water levels. Moreover, with the increasing population, the city’s water demands will further burden ground water resources.
To ensure that the city does not run out of ground, of that the existing ground water table does not get polluted with the influx of saline sea water, the BMC has issued a notice urging Mumbaikars to replenish used ground water resources.
