NEW DELHI: Despite a drop in the share of stubble burning in Delhi's air pollution, the city's air quality deteriorated sharply to 'very poor' on Sunday, with AQI rising over 100 points from 'poor' just a day ago.
The city's average AQI rose from 255 on Saturday to 356 and is likely to remain 'very poor' on Monday and Tuesday. It may turn even more hazardous on Diwali-eve (Wednesday) at 'severe' if there are added emissions from firecrackers or stubble burning, as per the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS).
The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 was 5.5% on Saturday, as against 14.6% a day earlier, due to changed wind direction, the Decision Support System (DSS) said. Punjab and Haryana have lost a staggering 64.6 billion cubic metres of groundwater in the 17 years between 2003 to 2020, a study has found, underscoring the possible effect of urbanisation on the rapidly depleting resource.
To put it into perspective, this volume of groundwater could fill around 25 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, researchers from IIT-Delhi and Nasa's Hydrological Sciences Laboratory estimate. The depletion, the highest in India, is correlated with higher demand of water by industries and households, agriculture and population growth, researchers said. The study, titled 'Detection and Social Economic Attribution of Groundwater Depletion in India', was published on Oct 14 in the Hydrogeology Journal. The paper cited other research to note that "substantial groundwater depletion" was observed in Gurgaon and Faridabad, where water-intensive paddy cultivation is minimal - indicating much of the resource in these areas was likely because of urban sprawl.
"Long-term implications of groundwater loss include reduced agricultural productivity and degraded soil quality. This will have societal implications for an agriculture-dominated state," Manabendra Saharia, assistant professor at IIT-Delhi, said. Saharia is a co-author of the study. Asked how Haryana could slow down this plunder, Saharia said rainwater harvesting and precision agriculture were key to recharge aquifers.
Researchers relied on data from the Central Ground Water Board, at-site inspections, satellite data and hydrological models to analyse groundwater levels across the country. The paper shortlisted five hotspots with highest levels of groundwater depletion - Punjab and Haryana topped list, followed by UP, Bengal, CG and Kerala. While irrigation was a common reason for groundwater extraction in all five hotspots, other in Punjab and Haryana include industries, population and urbanisation, study noted. TOI had reported this July that Gurgaon drew an astounding 214% - more than double - of its total extractable groundwater last year, according to a govt study.
The city's average AQI rose from 255 on Saturday to 356 and is likely to remain 'very poor' on Monday and Tuesday. It may turn even more hazardous on Diwali-eve (Wednesday) at 'severe' if there are added emissions from firecrackers or stubble burning, as per the Air Quality Early Warning System (EWS).
The share of stubble burning in Delhi's PM2.5 was 5.5% on Saturday, as against 14.6% a day earlier, due to changed wind direction, the Decision Support System (DSS) said. Punjab and Haryana have lost a staggering 64.6 billion cubic metres of groundwater in the 17 years between 2003 to 2020, a study has found, underscoring the possible effect of urbanisation on the rapidly depleting resource.
To put it into perspective, this volume of groundwater could fill around 25 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, researchers from IIT-Delhi and Nasa's Hydrological Sciences Laboratory estimate. The depletion, the highest in India, is correlated with higher demand of water by industries and households, agriculture and population growth, researchers said. The study, titled 'Detection and Social Economic Attribution of Groundwater Depletion in India', was published on Oct 14 in the Hydrogeology Journal. The paper cited other research to note that "substantial groundwater depletion" was observed in Gurgaon and Faridabad, where water-intensive paddy cultivation is minimal - indicating much of the resource in these areas was likely because of urban sprawl.
"Long-term implications of groundwater loss include reduced agricultural productivity and degraded soil quality. This will have societal implications for an agriculture-dominated state," Manabendra Saharia, assistant professor at IIT-Delhi, said. Saharia is a co-author of the study. Asked how Haryana could slow down this plunder, Saharia said rainwater harvesting and precision agriculture were key to recharge aquifers.
Researchers relied on data from the Central Ground Water Board, at-site inspections, satellite data and hydrological models to analyse groundwater levels across the country. The paper shortlisted five hotspots with highest levels of groundwater depletion - Punjab and Haryana topped list, followed by UP, Bengal, CG and Kerala. While irrigation was a common reason for groundwater extraction in all five hotspots, other in Punjab and Haryana include industries, population and urbanisation, study noted. TOI had reported this July that Gurgaon drew an astounding 214% - more than double - of its total extractable groundwater last year, according to a govt study.
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