Scientists organize a team to protect Punjab’s groundwater

A news release issued here today said that leading agricultural experts and alumni of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have formed the “Punjab Water Conservation Initiative Group” due to their concerns over the state’s rapidly declining water table.

Padma Bhushan Distinguished members include Dr. Sardara Singh Johal, Padma Shri Dr. Rattan Lal, a World Food Prize laureate and distinguished professor at Ohio State University Columbus, USA; Dr. Gurdev Singh Khush; Padma Shri Dr. BS Dhillon; former Vice-Chancellor of PAU, Dr. Jai Rup Singh; former Vice-Chancellor of GND University and Central University, Bathinda, Dr. SS Chahal; and former Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, Kahan Singh Pannu.

According to a senior group official, the Central Ground Water Board’s “Dynamic ground water resource of river basins 2022” report indicated that good quality groundwater in Punjab state’s three aquifers, down to a depth of 1,000 feet, would run out in the next 15 years, resulting in a “disaster of unprecedented proportions.”