Geoscientists resolve water crisis in villages in Aurangabad district

Using revolutionary technological innovations, a team of geoscientists in the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra has claimed to have resolved the acute water crisis prevailing in the region.

Nearly 73 villages in Aurangabad district, which were facing a severe scarcity of water, have benefited from the unconventional techniques developed by a team of geoscientists from the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency (GSDA).

According to E E Shah of the regional GSDA office, the innovative experiment has opened up sources of water by blasting decade old wells.

"In view of harnessing groundwater supply in the region, unconventional measures have been adopted nearly 20 years ago. One of them is bore-well blasting," said Shah.

It was first tried out in Kachnapur village where the wells had dried up and residents had to travel for miles to get water.

When the geoscientists from GSDA surveyed the region, they found that even though the well was dry, there was water below the surface of the 'dried' well.

To resolve this, they dug up 17 borewells in the vicinity of the 'driedup wells' and blasted them up after filling it with explosives.

Water filled up the well, and solved the predicament of the villagers.

Highlighting this tapping of water from ground sources, Shah added, "The borewells around the wells were filled with explosives and blasts were carried out. The groundwater came out almost immediately because it got channelled towards the well."

Later, this innovative technique conceptualised by GDSA was tried out successfully in Pendphal village of Vaijapur Block.

Residents claim that the level of water in the well now is the same as it is when rainfall is good.

The GDSA scientists put massive pressure on the bore-wells near the village well, and made liquefied cement to flow in them. This considerably restricted the flow of groundwater and thereby the wastage, and groundwater began to collect within the well.
This technique, known as fracture seal cementation, has also eased the problems in areas where water is scarce.