India’s first groundwater census in Kerala

The State Groundwater Department has kicked off a ‘Groundwater census’ for listing all groundwater structures, including wells in the State. As part of the National Hydrology Project in collaboration with Kerala, Groundwater Department is conducting the groundwater census for the first time in India to ascertain the potential of groundwater sources in all Block Panchayats in Kerala.

With the help of Kudumbashree workers, accurate information about groundwater resources will be collected through ‘Neerarivu’ mobile application. The project costing Rs 14 crore is being implemented in 2 phases. In the first phase, 39 blocks have been selected. As per the project, 105 supervisors and 1215 enumerators of the Kudumbashree Mission were given expert training as part of the census. The objectives of the project are to regulate the use of groundwater according to the needs of each region, to increase the groundwater capacity, and to improve the groundwater quality. The project is designed in such a way that flood, landslide-prone areas, and soil piping can be identified in advance and preventive measures can be taken to reduce their impact. Water table, depth, location, water consumption, daily use, water quality, etc. of wells, ponds, springs, tunnels, etc will be collected as part of the census.

In the first phase, 39 blocks including 33 blocks in the over-exploited, severe, and semi-severe categories of groundwater depletion have been selected from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod districts. Information will be collected on all groundwater sources used for domestic, small, and large-scale industrial purposes, agriculture, and drinking water. Through this, floods, landslide-prone areas, and soil piping can be detected in advance and necessary precautions can be taken to reduce their impact. Ground Water will start from June 20 in selected blocks. The census will be conducted with the cooperation of locals, public servants, and members of local self-government bodies.