Munich Personal RePEc Archive

Ground Water Management: Need for

Sustainable Approach

Menon, Sudha Venu

ICFAI BUSINESS SCHOOL

15 October 2007

Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6078/
MPRA Paper No. 6078, posted 04 Dec 2007 09:23 UTC
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Ground Water Management: Need for Sustainable Approach

Sudha Menon

Groundwater constitutes about 89% of the total fresh water resources in the planet. But in
recent years, due to over exploitation of ground water and erratic nature of monsoon,
there has been depletion of ground water across the world. Depletion of ground water has
reached to the extent that it is virtually impossible to get the water table back. Even
though there is a possibility of recharge of water from the other areas, the process is very
slow and may take one year to replenish one meter. In view of this management of
ground water has become one of the most significant issues in recent times. Added to it,
there are also environmental problems such as aqua for mining, salt water intrusion,
stream base flow reduction etc. For several reasons the efficient management of ground
water resources through market mechanism has become difficult.
Against this context the present article attempts to analyze the need for sustainable
ground water management in India. The article also briefly discusses the concept of
sustainable ground water management, factors affecting ground water availability,
different approaches towards developing and using available ground water with out
adversely affecting the hydro-geological balance. Further, the paper highlights strategies
for sustainable groundwater management, including development of aquifers, rainwater
harvesting and artificial recharge methods. The article offers some relevant policy
recommendations for sustainable groundwater management in India.

Significance of Groundwater Management

Sub-Surface water, or groundwater, is fresh water located in the pore space of soil and
rocks. It is also water that is flowing within aquifers below the water table1. It has been
estimated that out of about 790 billion cubic meter of water that seeps into the soil, about
430 billion cubic meter remains in the top soil layers, and produces soil moisture which is
essential for growth of vegetation. The remaining 360 billion cubic meters percolates into
the porus strata and represents the actual enrichment of underground water. Out of this
the water that can be extracted economically is only about 255 cubic billion meters. Thus
sustainable groundwater management plays significant role in overall development of a
country.
Groundwater is the primary source of water for drinking and irrigation. It is a unique
resource, widely available, providing security against droughts and yet closely linked to
surface water resources and the hydrological cycle. Its reliable supply, uniform quality
and temperature, relative turbidity and pollution free, minimal evaporation losses, and
low cost of development are attributes making groundwater more attractive when
compared to other sources. Yet, at the same time population and economic growth have

1
www.wikipedia.org
 2

led to ever more demands on the world's groundwater resources and in many countries
there are already significant impacts due to inadequately-regulated groundwater pumping
and/or from pollution due to inadequate management. Especially in developing countries,
these trends can lead to large socioeconomic costs, often for the poor2.
With rapid growth in population, urbanization, industrialization and competition for
economic development, groundwater resource has become vulnerable to depletion and
degradation. Management of this valuable resource is determined by its accessibility and
utilizability in terms of quantity and quality. Due to imbalance between demand and
availability, management approaches are facing various ethical dilemmas. For an
effective, efficient and sustainable groundwater resources development and management,
the planners and decision makers have future challenges to assess the inextricable logical
linkages between water policies and ethical consideration. Ground water being a hidden
resource is often developed without proper understanding of its occurrence in time and
space. Thus ground water management on scientific lines is the key for sustainability of
this vital resource.

Groundwater Management in India: Major Issues

Ground water and its proper use assume great significance for a country like India.
Unfortunately there is no accurate survey of ground water resources but, according to
the estimate of National Commission for Commission on Agriculture, India's
groundwater resources would be about 300 million hectare meters or about 10 times the
annual precipitation. The annual exploitable potential is put at 45 million hectare meters.
With the introduction of the new agricultural strategy in the early 1960s, there was an
increasing use of tube-wells. Though in 1960, only one per cent of the net irrigated land
received tube-well irrigation, by 1988 about 27% of the net irrigated area got the benefit
of tube-well irrigation. By 2001, demands for industrial water also raised about 151
billion liters per day. The government initiatives to popularize deep bore wells for
getting more water has lead to water tables to go down and. At the same time there was
not much interest and initiative in favor of recharging the groundwater. Groundwater
being a dynamic and replenisable resource has to be estimated primarily based on the
component of annual recharge which could be subjected to development by means of
suitable structures and which could be depend on the hydro-geological and climatic
conditions.

In India, data on ground water levels are not widely published or made available outside
government organizations. Extraction and recharge estimates are also unreliable. As a
result, discussions on ground water depletion are always based on unrealistic data.
However, it is a fact that falling water tables and depletion of economically accessible
ground water reserves have serious socio-economic consequences in an agrarian country
like India. Competition between rural and urban users is increasing and leads to conflict
over ground water usage. Falling water tables also increase division among communities.
Poor farmers are forced to abandon irrigation as falling water tables limit access to those
who can afford to deepen wells. Deep wells need more electricity and thus lead to
2
www.worldbank.org/groundwater
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increase in energy related economic cost also. More over depletion of water tables will
pose a threat to food security. Assured irrigation is important for food production. As
water tables decline, poor farmers find it difficult to meet the huge energy requirement
for deepening wells which ultimately lead to decline in food production. Therefore it is
needless to point out there is an urgent need for conservation of this vital resource for the
preservation of environmental security and sustainable agricultural development.

Approaches to groundwater Management

The issue of groundwater management is multidimensional, related to reliable assessment

of available water, its supply and scope for augmentation, distribution, reuse/recycling,
its existing depletion, pollution, and its protection from depletion and degradation.
However, like surface water resource management, not much concerted efforts have been
made for management of the hidden complex underground water resources.

The two generally acceptable approaches towards groundwater management are the
following:
Optimal yield: This method allows for the deliberate short-term controlled use of storage
between recharge events.
Controlled over exploitation: This approach recognizes that some permanent depletion
in storage may be necessary to promote socioeconomic development where recharge is
very limited.
The management options of groundwater in urban areas are generally based on the
patterns of groundwater use, and the responsibility remains largely with municipal supply
utilities, as well as with individuals. Rural users generally abstract groundwater
themselves through wells that they own and control. However, large-scale, publicly
funded tube-well development tend to be supply driven; legal and regulatory provisions
at national level cannot be policed adequately; and, enhancement of indirect recharge
may work for shallow groundwater circulation, but recovery of deeper systems requires
sophisticated injection and alternative sources of high-quality water3.

From among these characteristics, two broad types of management approaches for
groundwater emerge: (i) approaches encompassing tools such as power pricing, subsidies
for efficient technologies, economic policies that discourage water intensive crops, etc.
and (ii) approaches dealing with specific aquifers on the basis of command and control
management through a resource regulator. Whichever approach is adopted, the
development and management of these resources must be based on an adequate
knowledge of a clear aggregate status/situation of groundwater aquifer system and its
replenishment. In the context of the impact of climate variability and spatial variability in
drought, two major gaps in groundwater management emerge, with significant
implications for sustainable development (i) inability to cope with the acceleration of
degradation of groundwater systems by over-abstraction, and effective resource depletion

3
P.S.Datta, Groundwater Ethics for its sustainability, Current Science, September, 2005.
 4

through quality changes (pollution, salinity), and (ii) failure to resolve competition for
groundwater and aquifer services between sectoral uses and environmental externalities4.

Strategies of Groundwater Management

Understanding the importance of groundwater resources and the growing demand for it
makes it impertinent to search for effective strategies for managing the groundwater. For
an effective supply side management, it is essential to have full knowledge of hydro-
geological controls that govern the yield and behavior of ground water levels under
abstraction stress, the interaction of surface and ground water in respect of river base
flow and changes in flow and recharge dates due to their exploitation. Ground water
management policies there fore will need to address a multitude of issues including
Management of supplies to improve water availability in time and space
Management of demands including efficiency of water use, sectoral interaction
with economic activities etc.
Balancing competing demands and preservation of the integrity of water
dependent eco system.

In demand side management socio economic dimension plays an important role involving
managing the users of water and land. Mere regulatory interventions like water rights and
permits and economic tools of water pricing etc cannot be successful unless the different
user groups are fully involved. For effective management of groundwater resources there
is a need to create awareness among the different water user groups and workout area
specific plans for sustainable development. Thus ground water management not only
requires proper assessment of available resources and understanding of interconnection
between surface and groundwater system, but also actions required for proper resource
allocation and prevention of the adverse effects of uncontrolled development of ground
water resources5. Sustainable development and management of groundwater requires the
following strategies:
1. Scientific Development of Ground water

Scientific development of ground water involves a proper understanding of the local

groundwater availability, its behavior and demand centric development with scientific
planning. The need for scientific development of groundwater under different hydro-
geological conditions involves the following elements:

Development of Deep aquifers: In many parts of the country deep aquifers are not fully
utilized or developed which lead to under utilization of available groundwater resources.
This under utilization from deep aquifers in some of the states including Haryana, U.P
and Punjab, has resulted in a near stagnant condition at depths and provided the
necessary time factor for the deterioration in quality of ground water. It is evident that the
deeper aquifers in alluvial areas are not fully developed in upper reaches and the
unutilized groundwater in confined aquifers ultimately is lost to the saline aquifers

4
Ibid.
5
Dr. Saleem Romani, Ground water Management:A key for sustainability, CESS papers, 2005.
 5

adjacent to the basin boundary. This development of deep aquifers is important for
development and management of groundwater for sustainable use.

Development of ground water in non- developed areas: Policy makers often pay
attention to the regions where groundwater development has great potential and neglect
other areas with hidden potential. In India, the eastern and northeastern region is yet to
develop groundwater properly. Naturally, small farmers find it difficult to increase
agricultural production due to non availability of water. There is wide scope for
development of groundwater in these areas which often faces floods during rainy
seasons6.

Development of Flood plain aquifers: Flood plains are good reservoirs of ground water.
Thus sustainable management of flood plain aquifers offers excellent scope for its
development and additional requirement of water. The development of groundwater in
Yamuna flood plain Area in Delhi is an example of scientific management of water
resources. Over development of shallow aquifers in flood plains creates the necessary
sub-surface space for augmentation of groundwater from the river flows during the
monsoon. Induced management is an effective management tool to meet the gap of
demand and supply in areas adjacent to rivers with active flood plains. Thus proper
development of flood plain aquifer is impertinent for groundwater development and
management7.
Development of groundwater in Water logged areas: The water logged areas in canals
command offer scope for ground water development by lowering the water table up to 6
meters or more. The inferior quality of water can be mixed with canal water in a
proportion acceptable for irrigation. Thus additional water for irrigation can be created
and more over the lower water table will help in rainfall recharge in the area that will
help in improvement of soil and water quality8.

Development of groundwater in Canal Commands: One of the effective strategies for

sustainable ground water management is to use surface water in one area and utilize the
recharge by development of groundwater in areas adjacent to canal commands. This
would result not only in proper utilization of available water resources but also the
pumpage from groundwater storage will provide a sub-surface drainage to the areas,
which are likely to be water logged.

Apart from these development of groundwater in coastal areas also needs to be addressed
for the proper utilization of water resources.

2. Artificial Recharge of Groundwater

Another effective strategy is augmentation of available groundwater resources through

rain water harvesting and artificial recharge. It is estimated that annually about 36.4BCM
of surplus surface runoff can be recharged to augment the ground water. In rural areas,

6
Ibid.
7
ibid.
8
Dr. Saleem Romani, Ground water Management:A key for sustainability, CESS papers, 2005
 6

techniques of artificial recharge by modification of natural movement of water through

suitable civil structures like Percolation tanks, Check dams, Nala Bunds, Gully Plugs etc.
have been found feasible. The roof top rainwater harvesting structure is also feasible both
by augmenting the groundwater storage as well as by storing it in specially built tanks9.

3. Regulation of groundwater Development

One of the important strategies for sustainable management of groundwater is regulation

of groundwater development in critical areas. Over development of groundwater
resources is increasingly being recognized as a major problem. The tendency towards
over development of groundwater resources is rooted in the rapid spread of energized
pumping technologies, resource characteristics, demographic shifts and government
policies. There is very little efforts to check the over exploitation and regulation of
ground water resource. At present the only actual management is by limiting NABARD
funds in blocks classified as grey and dark. Gujarat has passed a ground water
management Act for regulating and controlling use of groundwater. However it is not
easy to implement the legislations with out people’s support and awareness creation.

4. Ensuring water for agriculture

The major challenge is proper prioritization of water resource allocation without affecting
the water tables and agricultural productivity. Thus any sustainable strategy should rely
on the assessment of the actual water to be allotted for domestic use, agriculture and
maintaining eco system balance. More specifically, it should focus on a cost effective
analysis of using water for different use, adept and improver water productivity, irrigation
efficiency and post harvest processing. Some of the effective approaches, which can be
applicable in India, include:

1. Encourage the non-sensitive ground water users to switch from exploitation of

high quality aquifer to bad quality groundwater for major groundwater use.
2. Restrict withdrawal of abstraction rights from industries that have not installed
water-efficient technologies.
3. Provide subsidies for improving the efficiency of irrigation water use in peri-
urban areas in exchange for groundwater abstraction rights.

4. Checking Contamination of Ground Water

There is urgent need to check the contamination level of groundwater the groundwater
protection from pollution can be ensured by several ways including:
1. Preparing vulnerability maps, based on distribution of travel times, chemical
parameters, types of topsoil, sub soil and land use.
2. Delineating and prioritizing areas of high groundwater vulnerability for main
sewerage extension.
3. Locating of landfill facilities to areas of low ground water vulnerability
9
ibid.
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4. Restricting residential development served by inciting sanitation

5. Restricting the disposal of industrial discharges to the ground in vulnerable areas
through introduction of discharge permits and appropriate charging to encourage
recycling and reduction.

Limitations of Existing Approaches

Though there exists various strategies for sustainable management of groundwater
resources, it often fails to create any positive impact on the sustainable use due to number
of reasons. Due to absence of any pricing mechanism and strict regulation, indiscriminate
groundwater exploitation, its wasteful utilization and land disposal of wastes continued.
Research on ground water use in socio- economic context being relatively small, the
highly technical knowledge of the aquifer systems is of relatively little use for practical
management purpose. Most of the hydro-geological and groundwater development
research has been fragmented, technocratic and relates to groundwater flow and
remediation. For practical management practices, it is impertinent to examine people’s
indigenous adaptive strategies, climate change response etc. However in the present
scenario less attention has been paid to these areas. For valuation of groundwater, key
elements that may be necessary to consider are: (i) The strategic value of groundwater
located near ‘high-value’ uses such as urban or prime agricultural areas, as opposed to
aquifers located in less strategic locations and (ii) aquifers with high-quality water that is
not vulnerable to pollution and the types of uses.

Need for Sustainable Approach

Food security and environmental security are the principal global issues of 21st century.
Despite the phenomenal advances made in agricultural technology, there are several
regions of the country where food production has either not kept place with the increase
in population or has barely kept pace with the increase in population. Although stagnation
and decline in agricultural production can be due to political and social reasons,
degradation of soil and water resources and lack of appropriate technology to address the
basic issue of resource mobilization and management may be the primary factors
responsible for low agricultural productivity. Water scarcity and poor water quality are
major concern in numerous countries, which mainly depend on agriculture for livelihood
of the people. Fresh water availability is already a major factor in sustainable use of
resources. The water scarcity is further accentuated by ground and surface water
pollution. UNDP warns that world soils and land resources have an important impact on
the potential risk of enhanced green house effect. So it is impertinent to note that
sustainable water management plays a pivotal role in food security and environmental
security in the present era characterized by increasing conflicts over water resources.

The various strategies on ground water management clearly shows that successful
management of groundwater needs an interdisciplinary and holistic approach
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incorporating all stakeholders, technocrats, hydro-geological conditions, local specific

environmental issues, indigenous methods of water conservation and usage etc. To
make groundwater management sustainable there should be effective policy framework
considering all the multidimensional aspects of the issues of water scarcity and over
exploitation. There is a need for proper legislation to make rainwater harvesting
mandatory to public and private buildings especially in urban areas. Secondly, there
should be awareness creation about the significance of recharging ground water among
public through various media. Thirdly, all users of water should conduct a water audit to
see how water can be saved and used. Fourthly, waste water can be effectively recycled
and reused in facilitating ecological activities. Finally any scheme will not succeed in
sustaining scarce resources unless the people and the local governments are motivated
and trained. With community participation and adopting locally available techniques
water conserving structures can transform the lives of millions. Thus taking into account
all the constraints related to proper management and protection of ground water source
vis-à-vis the action needed to be taken at different levels, a multipronged integrated
approach with a well conceived mix of professional, technical administrative and legal
steps and community participation would pay the way for achieving the need for laying a
strong ecological foundation for ensuring sustainable management of ground water
resources.

References

1. www.wikipedia.org
2. www.worldbank.org/groundwater
3. P.S.Datta, Groundwater Ethics for its sustainability, Current Science, September,
2005
4. Dr. Saleem Romani, Ground water Management:A key for sustainability, CESS
papers, 2005
5. Velayutham, M., In 50 Years of Natural Resource Management Research (eds
Singh, G. B. and Sharma, B. R.), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New
Delhi, 3. The Citizen’s Fifth Report: State of India’s Environment, Part-II
Statistical Database (eds Agarwal, A., Narain, S. and Sen, S.), Centre for Science
and Environment, New Delhi, 1999.
6. Proceedings of the Seminar on Artificial Recharge of Groundwater, December,
1998, Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, New Delhi,
1998.
7. Chandrakumar and Mukundan, Water Resource Management, Sarup& Sons,
2006.
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