Improved Groundwater Level in districts of Uttar Pradesh | 01 Jun 2024

Why in News?

According to the notification issued by the Namami Gange and water supply section-3 of the state, the groundwater level in 32 districts of the state, including Prayagraj, has experienced an enhancement, leading to a decrease in critical zones.

Key Points

  • The groundwater department in Prayagraj explained that they analyze various parameters to determine whether a district falls under the safe, critical, semi-critical, or over-extracted zone.
  • The primary consideration is the balance between water extraction and recharge. Following an in-depth annual assessment, they classify each district accordingly.
    • The districts across the state which are in safe zones include Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Fatehpur, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Mathura, Aligarh, Etah, Hathras, Badaun, Chitrakoot, Mahoba, Kanpur Nagar, Kannauj, Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Amroha, Bijnor, Sambhal, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.

Namami Gange Programme

  • It is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as a ‘Flagship Programme’ by the Union Government in June 2014 to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
  • It is being operated under the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
  • The program is being implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organizations i.e State Program Management Groups (SPMGs).
  • NMCG is the implementation wing of National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the National Ganga River Basin Authority - NGRBA).
  • It has a Rs. 20,000-crore, centrally-funded, non-lapsable corpus and consists of nearly 288 projects.
  • The main pillars of the programme are:
    • Sewage Treatment Infrastructure
    • River-Front Development
    • River-Surface Cleaning
    • Biodiversity
    • Afforestation
    • Public Awareness
    • Industrial Effluent Monitoring
    • Ganga Gram