Alarm bells ring as groundwater levels dip in 10 districts in Bihar during monsoon

The rainfall deficit in monsoon 2023 has hit Bihar hard — several regions are facing a severe water crisis, triggering protests throughout the state. The groundwater levels of 10 out of 38 districts in the state have sunk excessively, the latest report of the state’s Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has found.

Bihar has recorded a nearly 48 per cent rainfall deficit till date. The state received 85 millimetres of rainfall in June 2023, against the normal 163.5 mm. Similarly, in July, it saw 178.2 mm of rainfall against the normal 340.5 mm, said an official at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) centre in Patna.

Paddy transplantation in the state has also taken a hit due to the rainfall deficit in 35 districts, said an official of the state’s agriculture department. Of the total 38 districts, eight witnessed a large deficiency in rainfall (-60 per cent or more).

Read more: The heat is on: Reservoir, groundwater levels dip in Bihar amid high temperatures, poor pre-monsoon

Only three districts — Aurangabad, Kishanganj and Buxar — have received near normal rains so far and no district has seen a surplus.

The dipping groundwater levels and a drought-like situation in the first week of August has led to concerns for the government as well as the common people. The administration is supplying water to some areas through tanks and local Hindi dailies report hand pumps running dry and protests around the state. 

The state is predominantly dependent on agriculture. 

Local Hindi dailies have reported in the last two months about dried hand pumps in over a dozen districts and the resulting drinking water crisis has triggered protests.

The PHED collected samples from 28 districts last month and found the levels were low in 10, said a senior department official.

“Usually groundwater levels dip in the summer season, but this time, the  report suggested that groundwater levels have gone down during the monsoon. It was unexpected,” the official pointed out.

Read more: How climate vulnerability in South Bihar takes a toll on its groundwater

Groundwater levels of Gaya, Jehanabad, Sheikhpura, Aurangabad and Arwal districts in drought-prone south Bihar have been affected, found the PHED monthly report. However, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, Samastipur, Lakhisarai and Vaishali in flood-prone north Bihar also have low water levels. 

The northern parts of the state usually receive more rainfall compared to the southern areas.

The groundwater table has dipped to 1,124.71 centimetre in Gaya, 1,051.56 cm in Aurangabad, 1,158.24 cm in Sheikhpura, 914.4 cm in Jehanabad, 743.71 cm in Arwal, 521.2 cm in Siramarhi, 826 cm in Lakhisarai, 676.66 cm in Samastipur and 460.25 cm in Saharsa and Vaishali, according to the official data.

Poor monsoons and  long dry spells during June and July are behind this dip, said a PHED official. “It has already affected paddy seedling transplantation in the state and created a drinking water scarcity as hand pumps are not pumping water,” the official said. 

IMD has, however, forecast widespread rainfall in Bihar until August 6. The revival has been attributed to the favourable position of the monsoon trough line.

Bihar Economic Survey of 2022-23, released in March this year, highlighted the dipping of pre-monsoon groundwater levels in several districts. Groundwater levels were at least 10 metres below ground in districts like Aurangabad, Nawada, Kaimur and Jamui during the pre-monsoon period in 2021, according to the survey data.

Read more: Bihar staring at water crisis in summer months with groundwater levels declining

The pre-monsoon groundwater level in Aurangabad was 10.59 m in 2020. But it dipped to 10.97 m in 2021. A similar situation was reported in other districts too. 

Indiscriminate drilling of wells has been blamed for depleting water tables in many parts of the country. In Bihar, too, over-exploitation of groundwater is a concern, with irrigation being one of the leading causes for depletion of water tables.

Bihar extracts around 29 billion cubic metres of groundwater annually, while the total annual groundwater recharge is about 31.4 BCM, according to Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India (2017) under the Union  Ministry of Water Resources. The state’s groundwater extraction rate is lower than the country’s average of 63.3 per cent.

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