The UN reports that Punjab in northern India is facing acute water shortage, with farmers digging expensive boreholes 18 meters deep. 

Despite living in a bountiful geographical landscape courted by five rivers, Punjabi famers are increasingly depending on depleted ground water. Industrialisation, drought and pollution account for the scarcity of water in this region, which is India’s bread basket. 

Punjabi rice growers whose reservoirs supplement the weekly ration of canal supply cite water scarcity as a threat to agriculture.

Like 40% of farmers around the globe who depend on groundwater, these Indian agriculturalists tap water from boreholes.  

The cost of a 60-meter community borehole with pump can cost as much as $6,600, including maintenance.

The rapid urbanisation of this populous region has seen industries turn nearby water basins to waste outlets, harming river ecosystems.

Recharging the Good Side

In the face of increasing waste mismanagement, India began a campaign in 2023 to rid off pollution on its rivers. Five polluted groundwater sources in the Punjabi river basin could benefit from the scheme. They include Satluj, Ghaggar, Beas, Kali Bein and, partially, the freshwater source of Harike basin.

The potable water of Harike and Sutlaj, especially, which had been ‘A grade’ turned to ‘C grade‘ this October, from contamination. 

The government of India has also mooted restraint measures by enforcing forcible compensatory orders upon distillery factories. One such case occurred in March, 2023 in Ferozepur district where a brewery faced legal action for harming the environment.

On their part, farmers along the Harike and Satluj water basins have started to harvest water using home technology. Solar panels power up moisture to special tanks or into the fields in the dry season. This reserved water comes handy in irrigation and for safe drinking.

Well-endowed farmers are also maximizing on the sporadic rainfall patterns by building reservoirs for rain catchment.

Some sources already point out diligence has helped recharge groundwater such that it is reachable just 6 meters underground.

The El Niño, however, might negatively impact the region whose rainfall volume has fallen to 30% in a decade. Since 2020, rice production in India has depreciated by 13% due to weather effects related to past El Niños.

Thus, as farmers improvise means to collect scant water on their rice paddies, they expect the government to preserve water.