Water table rises in Mahabubnagar

The district has no dark areas now, thanks to water harvesting and irrigation facilities

From being an address for distress migration of labour and prevalence of drought-prone areas throughout the year, the reorganised Mahabubnagar district has undergone a sea change over the last seven years, thanks to the improved groundwater table, irrigation potential and, livelihoods linked to agriculture and allied activities.

Water harvesting works such as construction of farm ponds, percolation tanks and check dams taken up under the Jal Shakti Abhiyan, silt removal, improvement of feeders and bund strengthening of minor irrigation tanks taken up under the Mission Kakatiya programme and improved irrigation facilities have all helped bring up the groundwater table.

From the average of 17.55 metres below ground level in May 2016, months before reorganisation of the district in October that year, the groundwater table has come up to 6.38 metres in August this year, after the second reorganisation of the district in February 2019. In May this year, the average depth of groundwater availability was 10 metres below ground level.