English Pragmatic, cost-effective, socially inclusive and scalable solutions that reduce risks fr... more English Pragmatic, cost-effective, socially inclusive and scalable solutions that reduce risks from recurrent cycles of floods and droughts would greatly benefit emerging economies. One promising approach known as Underground Transfer of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI) involves recharging depleted aquifers with seasonal high flows to provide additional groundwater for irrigated agriculture during dry periods, while also mitigating floods. It has been identified that there is potential for implementing the UTFI approach across large parts of South Asia. The first pilot-scale implementation of UTFI was carried out in a rural community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in India, and performance of the approach was assessed over three years from a technical, environmental, socioeconomic and institutional perspective. The results are promising and show that UTFI has the potential to enhance groundwater storage and control flooding, if replicated across larger scales. The challenges and opportuniti...
Food security and economic livelihood of millions of people in Asia and Africa shall continue to ... more Food security and economic livelihood of millions of people in Asia and Africa shall continue to depend upon the flows in the major rivers. Variability of water and other resources in time and space is the major natural impediment for sustainable agriculture, food production and development at large. The extremes of variability - floods and droughts - are the primary \agents\ of destruction, severe crop damage and loss of human life. According to EM-DAT (2012), about 3 billion people in more than 110 countries are affected by catastrophic flooding. In 2011 alone they killed tens of thousands of people, primarily in developing countries, and caused over $150 billion in damage globally. Our present capacity to understand and make a reasonable forecast of the occurrence and thus management of such anomalies is rather inadequate. Earth observation (EO) satellites play a major role in the provision of information for the study and monitoring of the water resources and can support better ...
Invited paper presented at the 91st Session of the Indian Science Congress, January 3-7, Chandiga... more Invited paper presented at the 91st Session of the Indian Science Congress, January 3-7, Chandigarh, India, 2004
Irrigation using groundwater has expanded rapidly in South Asia since the inception of the Green ... more Irrigation using groundwater has expanded rapidly in South Asia since the inception of the Green Revolution in the 1970s. Groundwater currently represents the largest source of irrigation in the Indus-Ganges Basin (IGB), which feeds over one billion people and provides direct livelihoods for hundreds of millions of farmers. Although abundant in absolute terms, groundwater is overexploited in the western IGB plains and is underutilized in the east. The spatial and temporal patterns of groundwater development are the result of multiple demand factors: (a) farmer investment, (b) subsidies and markets, and (c) population density; as well as supply factors: (d) sources of groundwater recharge, and (e) energy supply and pricing. This paper examines trends in electricity supply and groundwater development in the Indian portion of the IGB over the 1980 – 1999 period, with contextual reference to groundwater irrigation in Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Principal findings include early-1980...
Indian agriculture is the largest user of rainfall, surface and groundwater resources. Some of th... more Indian agriculture is the largest user of rainfall, surface and groundwater resources. Some of the large river systems feedings the canal systems and the groundwater aquifers, like the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and their several tributaries have their origin in the Himalayas. A large part of the discharge of these river systems is fed through melting of the snow and glaciers. Although there is a lack of adequate scientific evidence on regional scales, a number of recent observational and modelling studies do suggest that the climate is changing. According to IPCC, the most significant consequences of climate change will be its impact on the hydrologic cycle, as already experienced in many parts of the world including India. Changes in precipitation intensity and duration will probably be the main factors altering the hydrologic cycle leading to more floods and droughts. Availability or scarcity of water will vary greatly depending on the region. The impact of climate change...
English Pragmatic, cost-effective, socially inclusive and scalable solutions that reduce risks fr... more English Pragmatic, cost-effective, socially inclusive and scalable solutions that reduce risks from recurrent cycles of floods and droughts would greatly benefit emerging economies. One promising approach known as Underground Transfer of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI) involves recharging depleted aquifers with seasonal high flows to provide additional groundwater for irrigated agriculture during dry periods, while also mitigating floods. It has been identified that there is potential for implementing the UTFI approach across large parts of South Asia. The first pilot-scale implementation of UTFI was carried out in a rural community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in India, and performance of the approach was assessed over three years from a technical, environmental, socioeconomic and institutional perspective. The results are promising and show that UTFI has the potential to enhance groundwater storage and control flooding, if replicated across larger scales. The challenges and opportuniti...
Food security and economic livelihood of millions of people in Asia and Africa shall continue to ... more Food security and economic livelihood of millions of people in Asia and Africa shall continue to depend upon the flows in the major rivers. Variability of water and other resources in time and space is the major natural impediment for sustainable agriculture, food production and development at large. The extremes of variability - floods and droughts - are the primary \agents\ of destruction, severe crop damage and loss of human life. According to EM-DAT (2012), about 3 billion people in more than 110 countries are affected by catastrophic flooding. In 2011 alone they killed tens of thousands of people, primarily in developing countries, and caused over $150 billion in damage globally. Our present capacity to understand and make a reasonable forecast of the occurrence and thus management of such anomalies is rather inadequate. Earth observation (EO) satellites play a major role in the provision of information for the study and monitoring of the water resources and can support better ...
Invited paper presented at the 91st Session of the Indian Science Congress, January 3-7, Chandiga... more Invited paper presented at the 91st Session of the Indian Science Congress, January 3-7, Chandigarh, India, 2004
Irrigation using groundwater has expanded rapidly in South Asia since the inception of the Green ... more Irrigation using groundwater has expanded rapidly in South Asia since the inception of the Green Revolution in the 1970s. Groundwater currently represents the largest source of irrigation in the Indus-Ganges Basin (IGB), which feeds over one billion people and provides direct livelihoods for hundreds of millions of farmers. Although abundant in absolute terms, groundwater is overexploited in the western IGB plains and is underutilized in the east. The spatial and temporal patterns of groundwater development are the result of multiple demand factors: (a) farmer investment, (b) subsidies and markets, and (c) population density; as well as supply factors: (d) sources of groundwater recharge, and (e) energy supply and pricing. This paper examines trends in electricity supply and groundwater development in the Indian portion of the IGB over the 1980 – 1999 period, with contextual reference to groundwater irrigation in Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Principal findings include early-1980...
Indian agriculture is the largest user of rainfall, surface and groundwater resources. Some of th... more Indian agriculture is the largest user of rainfall, surface and groundwater resources. Some of the large river systems feedings the canal systems and the groundwater aquifers, like the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and their several tributaries have their origin in the Himalayas. A large part of the discharge of these river systems is fed through melting of the snow and glaciers. Although there is a lack of adequate scientific evidence on regional scales, a number of recent observational and modelling studies do suggest that the climate is changing. According to IPCC, the most significant consequences of climate change will be its impact on the hydrologic cycle, as already experienced in many parts of the world including India. Changes in precipitation intensity and duration will probably be the main factors altering the hydrologic cycle leading to more floods and droughts. Availability or scarcity of water will vary greatly depending on the region. The impact of climate change...
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Papers by Bharat Sharma