Prolonged rains help tackle drought

Why in news?
  • While the prolonged rains in Maharashtra have led to destruction of crops in many parts of the State, it has also given authorities a breather in tackling drought.
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  • Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) of the State Govt. prepared drought prediction survey 2019­-20.
  • GSDA had set up 32,769 observation wells, geo­tagged with Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre, where the water levels were measured till October-­end.
  • Predictions in the survey:
(1) around 689 villages in 14 tehsils of the State could face water scarcity in 2020.
(2) Of these 359 villages may face the problem from January while the rest from April 2020.
(3) Villages which might face water scarcity in 2020 are in Latur, Osmanabad, Solapur, Parbhani, Yavatmal, Amaravati and Chandrapur districts.
(4) Region which received more than 1200 mm rainfall : Entire Konkan region including Mumbai, Kolhapur, Bhandara, Gondia, and Gadchiroli.
(5) Region which received around 1200 mm to 700 mm rainfall: Pune, Satara, Nasik, Nandurbar, Latur, Parbhani, Hingoli, Nanded, Amaravati, Washim, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Wardha and Chandrapur.
(6) Rest of the State falls in the less than 700 mm rainfall category.
  • The GSDA survey for 2018­-19 had estimated that 11,487 villages from 167 tehsils would face water scarcity due to rainfall deficit.
  • Survey will help plan and prepare for drought mitigation methods.
  • Geography of Maharashtra:
(1) 28% area is a highly dissected plateau, which includes Konkan, western ghats and other hilly regions.
(2) At least 44% area is moderately dissected plateau with medium water seepage capacity.
(3) Rest of the 28% area is undissected plateau and/or valley fill where groundwater availability is higher.
(4) In addition, 82% of the State consists of balsamic rock which has the capacity to store merely 1 to 3% water.
(5) Metamorphic rock covers 10% region which too does not hold water.
(6) Remaining 8%, around 5.5% is sedimentary rock while rest is a
Sources
The Hindu




Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 20th Nov 2019
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