Groundwater Development and Management in Maharashtra State, India

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.

Among the challenges faced by the world today in the area of health care, water is the greatest challenge, and this is particularly true for the developing countries. A large proportion of the world?s population relies on ground water as primary source for drinking and domestic use. In recent years, due to increase of population, urbanization, industrialization, use of chemical fertilizers, pesticide in agriculture, there is over increasing threat to surface and ground water quality. The indiscriminate use of ground water for irrigation and other purposes has resulted in sharp decline in ground water table and in changes in the natural geochemistry of ground water. In the largest areal state of the country i.e. Rajasthan higher concentration of all the three hydrochemical parameters viz. salinity, nitrate and fluoride in ground waters have adversely affected the lives of people in general and their socio-economic status in particular. Ground water of western, north-eastern parts of Rajasthan are facing problem of salinity, nitrate and fluoride, whereas central and southern parts are generally facing an acute problem of fluoride. Therefore, immediate action for mitigating the problems at government, semi-government or social levels are required for the welfare of countrymen.

Rajasthan is the largest state of India covering an area of 3,42,239 sq.km and represents 10.5% of the country?s geographical area. On the other hand it has only 1.15% of total surface water and 2.6% of dynamic groundwater resources of the country?s resources due to arid climatic conditions. Surface water availability is restricted to command areas of canal system; hence groundwater is the only dependable source in major part of the state. Groundwater quality deterioration with depth coupled with low and erratic rainfall has generated constraints as regards availability and development potential of groundwater resources. Over exploitation of groundwater has caused mining of groundwater, which has set in declining trend in water level and threatening depletion of limited available fresh groundwater resources at an alarming rate. Management of groundwater resources in this context is an extremely complex proposition. The highly uneven distribution of groundwater and its utilization make it impossible to have single management strategy for Rajasthan as a whole. Any strategy for scientific management of groundwater resources should involve a combination of supply side and demand side measures depending on the regional setting and local geology and also on use of saline water. There are saline water tracts in various parts of the state. Recently conservation of water through crop diversification and use of saline water in several parts of the state has gained momentum.

Gujarat State is located in the western part of India, it is well known for entrepreneurship of its peoples. Water resources in the state are very much unevenly distributed. There are very high rainfall areas in the southern part of state, whereas the northern and western parts face desert like climate. Hydrogeologically there are diverse aquifer systems. Some form prolific aquifer system like alluvial formations of North and Central Gujarat plains. There are also hard rock formations like Granites, Deccan Basalts which form poor aquifers. Due to frequent and persistent droughts water resources management has been a challenge in northern and western parts of the state. Total annual availability of water in the state is estimated at 51 BCM/ out of which surface water contribution is 38 BCM, whereas groundwater accounts for 13.58 BCM. The groundwater plays a very important role in agriculture as well as water supply in this drought prone state. The total annual Groundwater Recharge has been assessed as 22.37bcm and Annual Extractable Ground Water Resources as 21.25bcm. The Annual Ground Water extraction has been assessed as 13.58bcm and Stage of Ground Water extraction as 64%. There are 248 assessment units (talukas) out of which 25 Talukas have been categorized as ?Over- exploited?, 5 are ?Critical?, 11 are ?Semi-Critical?,194 as ?Safe? and 13 saline talukas in the state. A well-planned strategy is required for management of water resources in the state. Number of water conservation and augmentation measures have been taken up in the state in the form of Sujalam Suflam Yojna, Sauni Yojna, Participatory irrigation management, ATAL-JAL, Hydrology Project, Interlinking of Rivers to name a few. Further steps suggested for conservation and sustainable use of ground water can be augmentation of groundwater resources through Artificial Recharge, revival of ponds, reuse and recycling of wastewater, protection of water sources from pollution, conjunctive use of surface and ground water, etc

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.

Gujarat Alluvial plains are well known for prolific aquifer system but due to overexploitation of groundwater in North Gujarat districts, the ground water levels have shown a declining trend, which entails higher water lifting cost in addition to the increasing investment in deepening of wells. As natural recharge of groundwater is not commensurate with groundwater extraction, the groundwater levels have dipped more than 190 m below ground level at some places of North Gujarat. In such areas, it is felt that artificial recharge of groundwater has much scope in water conservation and augmentation. Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has given a new dimension to the groundwater sustainability in North Gujarat through harvesting of the surplus runoff and storing the same in the sub-surface reservoir adopting artificial recharge techniques.The present paper deals with the various activities undertaken by the Central and State Governments to arrest the groundwater level from further decline and also maintain the quality of groundwater. Based on the Pilot studies in the UNDP assisted project during the years 1980-85 in the Gujarat State, CGWB has advocated for artificial recharge of groundwater by spreading channel and injection methods to counteract the impact of overexploitation in the North Gujarat. In the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) of Ministry of Water Resources (now Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation), Government of India, demonstrative artificial recharge structures have been constructed by the State Government in the Saraswati river bed at Madhu Pavdi check Dam in Sidhpur, Patan district, Due to non availability of surplus water in the North Gujarat Region, Government of Gujarat launched an ambitious inter basin water transfer program known as Sujalam Sufalam Yojana. In this Sujlam Suphalam Yojana one major unlined recharge canal named as Sujlam Suphalam spreding canal has been constructed with a length of 332 km from Mahi to Banas River which diverts of surplus flood waters of Kadana Reservoir and the Narmada to the water deficit areas. In the Lift Irrigation scheme, nine reservoirs of North Gujarat region are planned to be filled by laying pipelines utilising surplus flood water of Narmada.