Shallow Aquifers

Featured Articles
July 11, 2022
Greening of barren lands – the local way
The Chauka system of Rajasthan can not only provide a sustainable way to manage water resources in water stressed regions, but also support livelihoods through development of pastures.
Can greening of barren lands happen? (Image Source: India Water Portal Flickr photos)
July 29, 2021
Demystifying groundwater for collective action
Experiences from participatory groundwater management efforts in Maharashtra
Unless work on managing the demand is undertaken, the notion of ‘infinite’ groundwater will be hard to address. (Image: Rucha Deshmukh, ACWADAM)
December 4, 2019
Looking back into history to understand droughts
The 2015­-2018 drought, the longest, but less severe of droughts experienced by India raises alarm on the negative effects of future droughts on water security in the country.
India will see more droughts in the future. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
October 25, 2019
Mapping Pune’s aquifers
Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.
Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
October 1, 2019
From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes
Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India.
Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)
September 30, 2019
The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.
Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.
The Dying Springs of Chirimiri'
Blasting and drilling around Chirimiri's coal mines have taken a toll on the area's water resources and environment. The film presents the community's perspective on this issue.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 01 Apr, 2016 06:04 PM

Chirimiri Coalfield is a part of Central India Coalfields, located in Koriya district, Chhattisgarh.
Coal mining in Chirimiri
UP Coca Cola plant in trouble again
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 26 Jan, 2016 02:03 PM

CPCB finds Coca Cola plant in Hapur pumping toxic water into a pond
Coca Cola bottling plant (Source: S. Subramanium via Hindu)
Alarm bells ring for Delhi’s groundwater
The city's old wells and baodis are running dry, and the Yamuna is getting more polluted by the day. Where is Delhi's water going to come from when groundwater levels are also dropping?
Amita Bhaduri
Bhim Singh Rawat
Posted on 25 Jan, 2016 01:19 PM

Delhi, home to 16.75 million people, is in the grip of a major water crisis. Statistics by the Delhi Jal Board for the year 2011 suggest that the water deficit stands at about 250 million gallons per day with the supply being 830 million gallons per day.
Residents say they are forced to flout the groundwater extraction norms with illegal groundwater pumps in Narela in North-west Delhi due to insufficient and poor quality of water supplied.
Can recurring droughts in Maharashtra be offset by participatory groundwater management (PGWM)?
Three different methods using PGWM that resulted in better water management demonstrate that hydrogeology can become a catalyst for villages to come together to plan and achieve water security.
Aarti Kelkar-Khambete
Harshavardhan Dhawan
Posted on 20 Jan, 2016 09:02 AM

Maharashtra is the fourth state following Karnataka, Chattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh to seek out relief from the Union government thanks to more than 15,000 of its villages across Marathwada and parts of Western Maharashtra reeling under drought in 2015 [1].
The role of PGWM to deal with droughts in Maharashtra (Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Undisposed toxic waste still haunts Bhopal’s groundwater
A report says that many locals in Bhopal are dealing with “high rates of birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, chaotic menstrual cycles and mental illness".
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 02 Dec, 2015 03:06 PM

“When cool air blows over the city and it rains in Bhopal bringing welcome respite to its people, I fear that toxic waste is spilling into its groundwater”, says Rajesh Kumar who shows me around the 68-acre plant site of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL).
A poem that describes how the city was left destroyed is written on a wall near a memorial for those killed & disabled by the Bhopal gas tragedy, 1984
Tackling water salinity in Mewat, Haryana
Lalit Mohan Sharma of Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon speaks to India Water Portal about innovative solutions to sail through Mewat's water crisis.
Lalit Mohan Sharma
Posted on 24 Nov, 2015 11:16 AM

What is the exact problem as regards groundwater salinity, fluoride and water scarcity in Mewat, Haryana? Is the area underlain with saline groundwater aquifers? What is the status of surface water in the area? Can it not reduce dependence on groundwater?
Tackling salinity in Mewat (Source: Lalit Mohan Sharma)
High pressure recharge well to the rescue of school children in Mewat, Haryana
An innovative rainwater harvesting structure stores sweet rainwater below the ground, within a saline aquifer.
Sumathi Sivam
Posted on 10 Nov, 2015 11:34 AM

356 students and the teachers of Government Middle School in Sukhpuri village of Mewat district, Haryana are a happy lot now that they have access to potable water right within their school premises
School children of Sukhpuri reap the benefit of HPRW (Source: Sumathi Sivam)
India's urban water systems: Challenges and way forward
Stages of urban development, sources of water, and the nature of aquifers all pose different challenges for water demand and availability in urban spaces in India.
Mihir Shah
Himanshu Kulkarni
Posted on 13 Oct, 2015 07:03 PM

Current evidence shows that the number of people living in urban areas in India is expected to more than double and grow to around 800 million by 2050, which will pose unprecedented challenges for water management in the country. The paper titled 'Urban water systems in India: Typologies and hypothesis' published in the

Water, a valuable resource (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Step back in time into 'Ugrasen ki baoli'
Hidden amidst the crushing madness of Delhi's life, this stepwell offers a glimpse of a monument centred around water which is both fascinating and 'past' functional.
Sabita Kaushal
Posted on 12 Oct, 2015 08:28 AM

Tucked away in a quiet by-lane of Delhi's busiest commercial centre Connaught Place, Agrasen or Ugrasen ki baoli waits imperially for a lost traveller to reach its steps.Called 
The old and the new: Ugrasen 'baoli' against the backdrop of Delhi.
Delhi’s Bhalaswa landfill contaminates groundwater
The landfill, which was supposed to be shut down in 2010 once the trash reached a height of 22m still remains functional at a height of 41m, polluting groundwater and areas around it.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 17 Aug, 2015 09:51 PM

With more than 8360 tons of trash created daily in Delhi, the city has three trash pile sites at Bhalaswa, Ghazipur and Okhla. In these sites technically known as landfills, garbage is buried between layers of earth to build up low-lying lands.
Pushpa has been leading the struggle of Bhalaswa residents to clean water
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