Govt plans 10-fold increase in land irrigated by treated water

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 20

A total of 7,630 hectares of agricultural land in the state has been brought under the pond/sewage irrigation scheme through 81 projects set up in the state. The government plans to increase this area around 10 times, planning to bring 70,000 acres of farm land under treated water irrigation in the next three years.

While 110 blocks of the 141 in the state have already been declared over-exploited (making it the highest percentage of area under over-exploited category in the country) and with the state’s aquifers depleting rapidly, pond and treated water irrigation is the foremost method chosen by the state government to deal with the crisis.

To date, under the STP irrigation scheme, the irrigation department has installed 29 projects from various STPs, utilising approximately 175 MLD of water for a total of 6,850 hectares of agricultural land across 76 villages of the state. Meanwhile, under pond irrigation, 52 solar power-based pond irrigation projects have been set up to supply water to 1,050 hectares of agricultural land commissioned under the programme.

Under the STP irrigation scheme, as many as 12 STP water irrigation projects are presently under progress, which shall irrigate further 3,486 hectares of land across 38 villages.

With none of the water recharge and conservation schemes taking off at the moment, the state government’s best bet at conserving the state’s enormous reserve of waste water is to put them to use for irrigation.

Two major schemes – utilisation of STP (sewage treatment plant) water and sewage/pond water – are currently being run in the state to counter water depletion and recycle of waste water.

Gurbinder Singh Dhillon, Sub Divisional Soil Conservation Officer-cum-Map Officer, Soil Conservation Department, said, “We have over 7,000 hectares of agricultural land under treated water tillage presently and there are plans to increase it to 70,000 hectares in the next three years. While elaborate ground water proposals – including installation of recharge pits near drains – have also been prepared due to lack of funds for the same, the plan currently is to increase the use of treated water for tillage. Our Talwara and Phagwara STPs, along with many smaller projects, are already charting a success story on the same.”