State Profile

State Profile Ground Water Scenario of Maharashtra

Area (Sq.km) Rainfall (mm) Total Districts / Taluks 3,07,713 1433 35 districts / 231 Talukas

Hydrogeology About 85% of the state is covered by Deccan basalts whereas the rest of the state is covered by Quaternary alluvium, Gondwanas, Cuddapahs, Kaladgis, Vindhyans, Dharwars and Archaeans. Based on the hydrogeological properties of different rock formations, the State can be divided into three major groups namely Unconsolidated, Semi-consolidated and Consolidated groups. The yield of dug wells in Deccan Trap varies from 0.2 to 30 m3/hr whereas in Vindhyans, Cuddapahs and Kaladgi, it varies from 1.1210 m3/hr. In Archaean, yield is just 3-4 m3/hr. In the semi consolidated formations, which consists of coastal Sedimentaries, Intra-trapeans and Gondwanas, the dugwells yield between 612m3/hr. In unconsolidated formations, the dug wells yield between 0.5-20m3/hr.
Dynamic Ground Water Resources Annual Replenishable Ground 32.96 BCM water Resource Net Annual Ground Water 31.21 BCM Availability Annual Ground Water Draft 15.09 BCM Stage of Ground Water 48 % Development Ground Water Development & Management Over Exploited 7 Talukas Critical 1 Taluka Semi- critical 23 Talukas Ground Water User Maps 34 districts Artificial Recharge to Ground Area identified for AR: 65267 Water (AR) sq km

Quantity of Surface Water to be Recharged: 2318 MCM Feasible AR structures: 8108 percolation tanks, 16598 cement plugs, 2300 recharge shafts, RTRWH for 8.78 lakh houses, 3500 run off harvesting.

AR schemes completed during VIII Plan: 2 AR schemes completed during IX Plan: 3

Ground Water Quality Problems Contaminants Districts affected (in part) Salinity (EC > 3000 S/cm at 25 Akola, Buldhana,Jalna, Jalgaon C) ,Nasik, Satara Fluoride (>1.5 mg/l) Amravati, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Jalna, Nagpur, Nanded Chloride (> 1000 mg/l) Iron (>1.0 mg/l) Ahmednagar, Amravati, Beed, Buldana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Jalna, Kohlapur, Latur, Nandurbar, Nashik, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Ratnagiri, Satara, Thane, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal Nitrate (>45 mg/l) Ahemnagar, Akola, Amravati, Auragabad, Beed, Bhandara, Buldana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Hingoli, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kohlapur, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nandurbad, Nashik, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Pune, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Wardha, Washim, Yavatmal

Enactment of Ground Water Bill to regulate and control the development of ground water: Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Act was enacted

in May 2005 and the State Govt. is considering amending this Act to incorporate the provision included in the Model Bill circulated by Ministry. Inclusion of Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting (RTRWH) in building by laws: Maharashtra Government is promoting RTRWH under the Shivkalin Pani Sthawan Yojana. It provides that all houses should have provision for rainwater harvesting without which house construction plan should not be approved. Bombay Municipal Corporation and Pimpri - Chinchwad Municipal Corporation have made RWH mandatory by enacting building bye-laws.

NAGPUR: While Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) continues to claim that people in as many as 454 villages in Yavatmal district are being forced to consume fluoride affected water for years the officials of the state water supply and sanitation department maintain that corrective measures have been taken in all but 49 villages. The VJAS president Kishor Tiwari said that at least 30-40 villages each in Yavatmal, Umarkhed, Kelapur, Wani, Zari, Ghatanji, Arni, Digras, Darwah and Ralegaon talukas are suffering from various forms of fluorosis due to regular consumption of fluoride rich water. He claims that none of the de-fluoridation units set up by government were functional. Also, the claims of government of supplying water from surface water sources were false, he said. State government had agreed to make the entire district fluoride free in 2001 following some deaths in Mangi Kolampodawar. A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had visited Yavatmal and surveyed the villages following that the union government had released funds under UNICEF for setting up of tap water schemes and defluoridation plants.

As of now, there are no functional units. The ground water has been exhausted for saving the crops by farmers. There is no fresh water left. It is only during rainy season that good water is available. You cant say based on water quality in September that the water is good all year round. Water is not just contaminated with fluoride but also many other elements like arsenic, iron etc, he said. Two years back, the Maharashtra chief secretary M Rameshkumar had visited the district and promised clean and potable water for the residents in affected villages but things havent changed much, Tiwari added. The executive engineer of water supply and sanitation department at Yavatmal K P Umalkar maintained that the government had done its job well. We have set up tap water and dug well water supply in 405 villages so far. Process for alternative water supply was on in remaining 49 villages. These are not through borewells that would bring contaminated water. We have also set up 30 deflouridation units recently and all of them are functional. The project is being implemented by the state government with financial support from UNICEF, he said. As per government information, a survey was conducted in 9,798 villages in Maharashtra having fluoride, iron or nitrates or all of them as contaminants. It was noticed that 1,758 villages were fluoride affected in the state. Of these, 1011 were in Vidarbha alone. There was no village in Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Buldhana and Washim districts. All affected villages are in Gondia (22), Bhandara (139), Chandrapur (240), Gadchiroli (34) and Nagpur districts. Recently a village in Akola district and one in Nagpur district were given a defluoridation unit when water was found contaminated there, Umalkar added.