Tripura mulls legislation to regulate underground water

Agartala: The Tripura government led by Chief Minister Manik Saha is contemplating bringing legislation to curb the inappropriate extraction of underground water, informed a senior officer of the state water resource department.

According to top officials, Agartala has witnessed rapid urbanisation and a rise in apartment construction over the last five years. Sources said underground water is now the only source of water for the city.

As per reports, city dwellers install water pumps to frequently extract underground water instead of staying dependent on the state government’s regulated water supply. An official is concerned that this practice has affected the groundwater tables. He explains to EastMojo, “Water layers are depleting in some areas as people dig deeper than the permissible limit. If the situation persists many water pumps would go defunct in future and the whole city will be left grappling with a severe water crisis.”