A Note on Effect of Tsunami on Groundwater Regime in Parts of Andhra Pradesh

The reported rise of water levels in some of the wells in AP is noted days after the 26 December 2004 earthquake and the accompanied tsunami events. It is found to be due to seepage from sewerage, paddy fields, deliberate filling up of the wells, etc. Classic signature of an earthquake on water levels is missed by all the 1017 piezometers in the state. None of the piezometers show any abnormal change that coincides with the reported changes in water levels of some of the wells. Thus confirming that the earthquake (tsunami) raised false alarms about water table rise. In coastal areas, quality of the groundwater is affected due to direct inundation of the wells and percolation of sea water that inundated the lands and entered far inland through the estuaries.