Mumbai: Can the Dadar Parsi well be revived?

After 89 years, the well of the Rustom Faramna Agiary in Dadar Parsi Colony has run dry and the trustees are exploring the possibility of digging deeper if the monsoon fails to refill

Rustom Faramna Agiary. File Pic

For the first time in 89 years, the well of the Rustom Faramna Agiary in Dadar Parsi Colony has run dry. Now, the chairman of the agiary has pinned his hopes on the upcoming monsoon or else according to his consult with technicians, it might have to be dug deeper.

"The technicians have asked us to wait and watch if a good monsoon fills the well up," said Nasha Jassawalla, Chairman of the agiary, adding that the depth of the well was currently at 20 feet. "If it doesn’t, then we might dig deeper to try and tap a source of underground water."

Is monsoon enough?
Now, although the India Met Department (IMD) has predicted that the country will have a uniform and healthy monsoon in 2017, approximately at the rate of 96 per cent, with a 38 per cent probability of mere normal, Shahrokh Bagli, CTO at Strata Geosytsems India, said, "There have been controversial reports in the media, including ones of an El Nino effect occurring in the south, which could affect our rainfall. And while a good rainfall is one of the parameters, it will not have a direct correlation with the well. Rainfall is a yearly phenomenon, but it does not assure you that in the long-term, this will be enough to keep the well filled." He added that if the de-watering at nearby construction sites continued, it would lower the ground water table of the locality.

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