Lucknow, July 28: Uttar Pradesh's irrigation department has taken up a project of recharging the state's declining ground water level in rural areas by 2007, irrigation minister O P Singh said here today. "The decline in the ground water level is alarming, he told reporters.

The irrigation department would build check dams and recharge wells. The aim was to restore ground water to its normal limits by the year 2007, Singh said.

Experiments carried out in Muzaffarnagar district over the last three months of checking the decline in ground water level through check dams and recharge wells have yielded encouraging results, Singh said.
A total of 500 check dams and 2700 to 2800 recharge wells would be set up in 181 blocks of 45 districts over the next four years where the ground water level has declined upto 10 metres below the ground.

Singh said that experiments were also carried out in the water scarce areas of Mathura and Agra to dilute the salt content in the water and the results have been very encouraging.
As the irrigation department would be carrying out the construction and maintainence of these check dams and recharge wells, the department has requested the chief secretary of the state to ensure that all works related to them be routed through the irrigation department, Singh added.

Bureau Report