World water resources are coming under massive strain and are therefore becoming more difficult to manage and maintain. India is no different and an increasing pressure of increased needs for industry as well as of increased irrigation has created a huge problem with the groundwater in India.
Inadequate provision of water supplies for the population, coupled with increased urbanisation have led to aquifers near large cities being largely depleted, and rural areas are not far behind since the encouragement of irrigation with subsidised power was introduced.
In a recent report from the World Bank, entitled “Deep Wells and Prudence: Towards Pragmatic Action for Addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India,†problems with increased exploitation of Indian groundwater across the country are detailed and suggestions are made as to how this can be resolved.
Groundwater currently supports in excess of 80% of rural and urban water supplies as well as approximately 60% of irrigated agriculture. The development of more modern cities with paved areas means that there is increased runoff during the monsoon season, and this leads to far less water soaking back into the ground to recharge the underground aquifers.
There is no silver bullet solution to this complex problem, but intervention is necessary, and the report suggests that the first steps are realisation, education and understanding. It calls on governments to use development assistance to improve water harvesting and recharge systems, thereby relieving the strain on aquifers before they actually run dry, which will create an even bigger problem.
According to NASA scientists, who have been monitoring the north of the country, mainly in the agriculture rich regions of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan via the twin satellites of GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Change Experiment), the disappearing groundwater is largely as a result of irrigated fields of wheat, rice and barley.
The National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad has calculated, via satellite data, that 54 trillion litres of water is taken out of the ground every year in northern India.
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