Foreword

The high reliability of rural and urban settlements on groundwater in India and the individualistic nature of groundwater usage make groundwater management and governance extremely challenging. Groundwater resources development in India, even today, has progressively become synonymous with increasing the accessibility of the resource through more and more sources and meeting the growing demand through the infrastructure of distribution. Management of groundwater becomes selflimiting when the focus is on exploration for new sources, without understanding resource behaviour. On the other hand, experience has shown that bringing aquifers to the centre stage of groundwater management is important. The concept of aquifers changes the way in which communities begin to perceive groundwater and becomes the first step in developing socioecological resilience to groundwater-related vulnerability. Building resilience to groundwater-related vulnerability further includes developing a governance mechanism that strikes a balance between supply management and demand regulation through an understanding of the resource, i.e., the aquifer.Aquifer systems in India are highly diverse and complex because of the variation in their inherent properties such as storativity, transmissivity and groundwater quality. Aquifer vulnerability is a consequence of not only how the rampant exploitation and contamination of groundwater occur, but also how different aquifers react to these fluxes. Moreover, irrespective of the scales of groundwater accumulation and movement, micro-level analysis of aquifers becomes imperative because of the atomistic nature of groundwater access and use. A systematic hydrogeology-based approach that requires delineating aquifers, understanding the dynamics of groundwater and mapping the demand and dependence of community on the resource holds the key to decentralized groundwater governance in India. Such an approach can be undertaken through participatory monitoring, decision support and action.The inherently heterogeneous nature of aquifers and communities in western and central India demand a strategic application of mapping, characterizing and managing local aquifers through a participatory groundwater management protocol. This nuanced approach beginning with aquifers as both a resource and a system, ensures equitable, efficient and hence, the sustainable management and governance of aquifers in this region.

Water is essential for sustenance of life on earth. But the problem is unequal distribution of water in space and time. Ancients developed innovative ways to manage water resources to meet their essential needs like drinking water supplies and irrigation. Many parts of India, especially Rajasthan have been practicing water conservation and rainwater harvesting since historical times. Arwari water shed in Alwar district of Rajasthan has brought to focus traditional techniques of integrated water management with community participation. This paper attempts to briefly present the water management scenario in India since Vedic times.

As per the assessment of the dynamic ground water resource in Gujarat the utilsable ground water resources have been assessed as 24905 MCM, after providing for natural discharge (March 2021). The annual ground water draft is 13296 MCM. The Stage of ground water development works out to be about 53%. However, this is not uniform across the state. The stage of development is exceedingly high in North Gujarat and Kachchh regions. Highly intensive development of ground water in these areas has resulted in over - exploitation leading to the decline of ground water levels, deterioration in the ground water quality and sea water intrusion in the coastal areas. The paper presents existing scenario of various supply and demand side interventions implemented in the state with their impact. Recommendations for various interventions necessary for sustainable ground water management have been made with particular emphasis on use of scientific inputs from the supply as well as demand side interventions to the community participation in planning, implementing and monitoring.

Madhya Pradesh is endowed with sufficient surface water. This water is available to the state thorough perennial rivers Narmada, Son, Tapti, Chambal, and Wainganga. These rivers also have numerous perennial tributaries. The total surface water availability in the Chambal, Betawa, Ken catchment is 45 cubic km; 29.29 cubic km in the Son catchment; 52.43 cubic km in the Mahanadi river catchment; 40.83 cubic km in the Narmada catchment and 4.53 cubic km in Wainganga and Pench catchment. Madhya Pradesh received erratic precipitation during the last five years . So it does not have sufficient surface water. The need is for proper management of available surface water resources including systematic monitoring and water conservation techniques. Involvement of Panchayats and other stakeholders is essential to augment surface water bodies through tanks and other rainwater impounding structures. It is time that the stake holders should be aware of the availability of resources for future use, and benefits of conjunctive use of surface and groundwater.

Air, Solar energy, Land, and Water are the four life support systems of which, only ?Water? is amenable for its development and management to meet human needs of water. Water Resource Development structures had to be compatible to the characteristics of ?Water Resource?. With the advancement of civilization, ingenuity of man prompted him to evolve different types and sizes of infrastructure to meet changing patterns and increasing magnitude of water demand. It also stressed the need to have an integrated approach in such development. Subsequently as a soft option, improvement in management of infrastructure was the next logical step. As the issue of complexities in the competing and conflicting demands on water surfaced prominently, need for taking a holistic approach towards them was thought of and there emerged the viable solution in the form of better governance of water resources. An attempt has been made here in below to present evolution of all these developments by citing a case study of Maharashtra State in the Peninsular India. It mentions at the end a ?Vision Statement? for the future development of the State in the water sector and an outline of future planning and policies which need to be adopted. In conclusion it states a framework of desirable actions to be taken in future, to transform the ?Vision? into a reality.