BARPETA

Sharp fall in underground water level will make about 3 lakh shallow tube wells inoperative during the peak boro season hampering its cultivation on 8 lakh hectares, which is about 16 per cent of total arable land.
Sources of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation said on Monday that this problem would ultimately reduce boro production by about 28 lakh tonnes.

The level of arsenic in water of some tube-wells in the port city has increased to an alarming rate of 0.4 microgram per litre as against the permissible limit of 0.05 in Bangladesh.
This was revealed in a study in 13 out of 41 wards of the city, jointly conducted recently by the Chittagong University of Engineers and Technology and the Institution of Engineers.

In a move fraught with serious repercussions for the already critical ground water levels in the south and southwest districts in Delhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon, the Central Ground Water Authority has decided to permit boring of new tubewells for domestic purposes in these regions on the condition that the area deputy commissioner be intimated 10 days before work is to start.

Haryana has the potential to save 25 to 30 per cent of the energy used in the agriculture sector by making the existing tubewell system energy efficient. This was said on Sunday by Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam MD Vijayendra Kumar, who added that 170 lakh units of electricity can be saved on daily basis by making the tubewells energy efficient by upto 20 per cent.

A documentary film on how market forces are appropriating natural resources that belong to everybody.

IN VARANASI, WITH the Ganga in the background. The documentary is part of a movement to expose the subterranean war going on for water.

An alarming reduction in water supply from tube wells to the federal capital has shocked Capital Development Authority (CDA) Water Supply Directorate.

The CDA officials noticed this development when they learnt that tube wells designed to produce 400 to 500 gallon water per minute were now producing only 40 to 50 gallons water per minute, sources told Daily Times.

Says water below 100 feet is highly saline and non-potable

In a recent move, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to restrict the depth of borewells and tubewells in the city to 100 feet. This comes after the civic body asked the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, to
examine the underground water in the city.

The primary report submitted by CWPRS revealed that the underground water had high saline content and was, therefore, not fit for drinking.