Shallow Aquifers

India is the largest user of groundwater resources in the world. It is estimated that approximately 230 cubic kilometers per year is used annually, this is more than a quarter of the total world consumption from this resource.

It is in this context that this World Bank report looks at the reasons for this quantum of groundwater usage.

The report delves into socio-economic and political reasons and looks at policies which inadvertently promote so much extraction. The report also analyses various attempts to manage this resource. These attempts range from government and international agency efforts directed to grassroots mobilisations. Finally the report comes out with suggestions to deal with this crisis.

This paper presents the case of Khazana Bawali - a large ancient well that irrigated around 1000 acres in the past but is now in disrepair. The well is about 20 metres in diameter which stores rainwater from the neighbouring hills. The water is brought through underground tunnels that have ventilators at regular intervals to ensure fresh air and also to help in its manual cleaning. This well today irrigates only about 525 acres. It was built by the Jagirdar of Beed in 1582.

This paper focuses on water management techniques used in two tanks constructed by the kings of the Vijaynagar Empire.

The first example taken, is that of the Anantraj Sagar built by the son of the minister of Harihar. The lake is still in use and there are inscriptions on stone near it which provide a thumb rule to constructing lakes. Construction of this lake began in 1369 and was completed in 2 years. The paper states that the length of the dam was 5000 dand, width was 8 dand and the height was 7 dand (One dand is about one metre).

This paper discusses the water management systems found in temples in coastal Konkan, based on a study of 5 temples in the district of Ratnagiri. The study area is a rocky and rugged country, with elevated plateau and intersecting creeks.

This report by Aligarh Muslim University and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) deals with groundwater flow modelling and aquifer vulnerability assessment in Yamuna–Krishni sub-basin of Muzaffarnagar district. For evaluation of the groundwater resources and for minimizing the error of estimation, the system has been evaluated through aquifer modelling where water balance is established using partial differential equation of groundwater flow and is solved with boundary and initial boundary conditions.

A civil society consultation was held on “Regenerating natural resources and rural livelihoods in rainfed areas of India” by WASSAN at Hyderabad in December 2010 to discuss priorities for the twelfth five year plan. The Planning Commission, Government of India has been steering the process of development in India by conceptualizing five year plans and had sought inputs from civil society organizations, activists groups, networks of CBOs / NGOs, donors and others for preparing an approach paper for twelfth plan.

The objective of the consultation workshop was to contribute to the process of defining broad contours of twelfth plan with a focus on rural livelihoods the thrust area being policy framework, funding support, institutional arrangements etc., by -

• Consolidating the lessons from good practices in promoting and protecting rural livelihoods in the country, that could be integrated in twelfth five year plan.
• Systematically articulating issues and concerns (bottlenecks) in promoting and protecting rural livelihoods, which could be addressed in the twelfth five year plan.

 It is an attempt to understand the effect of rainfall, physiography, lithology, slope and aspect, land use practices, vegetation, altitude, soil type and anthropogenic interference (e.g., road construction and settlement etc.) and other characteristics in the spring recharge zone on the water yield and water quality of the selected springs in the mid-altitudinal belt (lesser Himalaya) in western Himalaya (Uttaranchal).

It warns that groundwater quantity as well as quality are the two major problems that the country has been facing.

The rate of withdrawal of groundwater has reached “unsafe” levels in 31% of the districts, covering 33% of the land area and 35% of the population. The situation has dramatically worsened within a short span of nine years, between the assessments done in 1995 and 2004.

Taking the quantitative and qualitative aspects together, data indicates that a total of 347 districts (59% of all districts in India) are vulnerable in terms of safe drinking water in India. This is a matter of serious concern, requiring a new approach.

How SGWISS could support the Rainwater Harvesting? 

The main source of sweet water is Rain, but the water available from the rain is not regular and uniformly spread throughout year. So the rainwater could be stored by any method in rain. When the rainwater is stored on the surface but there would not be sufficient capacities of structures developed for the rainwater harvesting. Little quantity of the rainwater is recharged in the subsurface and underground.

India’s Groundwater Challenge and the Way Forward
P S Vijay Shankar , Himanshu Kulkarni , Sunderrajan Krishnan

The groundwater crisis is acquiring alarming proportions in many parts of the country. Strategies to respond to groundwater overuse and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach involving typologising the resource problems and redefining the institutional structure governing groundwater. This approach is based on the notion of groundwater as common property.