Angul: As many as 200 pits will be dug at different areas of the industrial town here to preserve groundwater during the monsoon.
The target for completion of the rainwater harvesting project is fixed by June 25. Sources at Angul Municipality said the novel initiative has been taken up to recharge the groundwater which has gone down to rock bottom level.
Municipality sources said that it has received a grant of Rs 50 lakh for digging up 200 groundwater harvesting pits at fifty different places. The municipality has entrusted the responsibility to 50 Self Help Groups (SHGs) for digging the pits. The SHGs have been asked to construct pits with connecting drains for the smooth flow of rainwater into the pits to recharge groundwater.
Local environmentalists said that the initiative of the municipality is praiseworthy, but sincere efforts must be done to keep the project going. Rapid industrialisation in the Angul-Talcher region has depleted groundwater resources, they said and added it is high time that such groundwater projects be taken at the right earnest to recharge subterranean water system.
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