Undergroundwater scarcity increases in Chauk, Yenangyoung, NyaungU

In some areas of Chauk, Yenangyoung and NyaungU that are now extremely hot, it has become more difficult to dig for underground water, according to the Yenantha Dingar Brothers Tree Growing Parahita Group.
With wells drying up and the distance to undergroundwater sources increasing, these very hot areas are facing water shortage issues.
“The water problems are getting worse every year without any relief. A lake that used to be dry for two months is now dry for two and a half or three months. When we asked well experts, access to undergroundwater has moved farther away from 80 feet to 100 feet. The water level has been receding year by year and is now very far away. Villages in these areas have to bear K20-K30 million to sink an tube well. In our village, we had to sink up to 800 to 900 feet to reach the water. And since the villages with tube wells — do not have electricity, we also have to consider the cost of a solar power system. The current cost of K20-K30 million will increase to K50 million in the next ten years. The farther the undergroundwater is, the deeper a well has to be sunk,” said Ko Dingar, who heads the Parahita group.
With the receding water table, tubewells in some villages have stopped flowing during the summer.
“Water issue is getting worse. It is because people in later generations depend more on tube wells, disregarding the value of lakes. We have sunk about 100 lakes. But, the efforts of only one group are not effective,” he said.
In the hot and dry areas of Anya, people used to depend on lake water, but in the modern time of tubewells, they have abandoned the lakes without any maintenance, leading to the disappearance of the lakes. It is only when these lakes are repaired and maintained that benefits such as rainwater harvesting, environmental greening and undergroundwater recharge can be achieved, it is learnt. — Thit Taw/ZN/ED