Impact Evaluation of Interventions for Groundwater Recharge

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.

In general, Chhattisgarh state is underlain by hard rocks with limited groundwater potentials. But decline of rainfall in most parts of the state is limiting surface water resources too. Agriculture is mostly rainfed, paddy being the main crop in the state. Groundwater is the main source of irrigation and a major source of drinking water. Cavernous limestones/dolomites form the most potential aquifers yielding up to 50 lps as in Bastar, Baloda Bazar and Bilaspur districts. Proposal for construction of energized irrigation dug/bore wells under PMKSY-HKKP-GW scheme in 109 blocks (stage of extraction within 60%) of 7 aspirational districts will enhance ground water irrigation of 7467 ha land. The stage of extraction has already escalated from 5.11% (1990) to 44.43% (2017) which will be escalated further with ongoing and future development programs. The State should undertake conservation of groundwater through regulation, protection and augmentation of the water resources by implementing rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, along with adoption of rainfed agriculture, drip or sprinkler irrigation, pricing policy for commercial ground water extraction, exploration and planned development of yet unknown aquifers through exploratory drilling aided by remote sensing, geophysics . Based on declining groundwater level trends areas totalling 16,410 sq. km have been demarcated for rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge creating sub-surface ground water storage potential of 1030.11 MCM and an additional irrigation potential of 148430 ha. Further, groundwater pollution from geogenic and anthropogenic sources like high fluoride, arsenic, uranium, sulphate, nitrate as in Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bilaspur, Raipur and Kwardha districts is also a potential threat to the utilisable resources.This paper attempts at a holistic overview of sustainable development and management of ground water resources of the state considering the huge hydrogeological, geophysical and chemical database in the state.

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

Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Greater Mumbai districts of Maharashtra form the Konkan Coastal belt of Maharashtra. In the coastal areas the immediate effect of high groundwater development is often sea water intrusion. Although there were sporadic studies by earlier workers (Umrikar et al., 2007, Gupta et al. 2010) into some reported isolated cases of seawater intrusion in the coastal areas, this has been a maiden attempt to decipher the extent of seawater intrusion in the entire coastal tract of Maharashtra.The area is underlain by Dharwarian meta-sediments (Lower Precambrian age), Deccan Trap lava flows (Upper Cretaceous to Lower Eocene age), Laterites (Pleistocene age) and Coastal alluvial deposits (Recent to Sub-Recent age). Groundwater occurs under phreatic condition in the Coastal and riverine alluvium, laterites and weathered/fractured rocks. The area has been covered by systematic hydrogeological surveys, reappraisal Surveys and groundwater monitoring by CGWB. in these formations depth to water levels range from 0.6 m bgl to 8.07 m bgl. Groundwater is mildly alkaline with pH range of 6.9 to 9.0. Electrical conductivity ranges from 61 to 29370 ?S/cm at 25?C. Only two Samples from Dapoli in Raigad district show EC values higher than 3000 ?S/cm at 25?C. In general, water quality is good and suitable for domestic use and irrigation. In order to confirm the sea water intrusion, ionic ratios like Na:Cl, and Cl:CO3 + HCO3, were computed. From the analysis it is found that about 2 to 10 km wide coastal belt and the inland tidal backwaters are affected by salinity intrusion. It is revealed that about 55% of the analysed samples have indicated salinity ingress. The extent of sea water intrusion is more in the southern part progressively diminishing towards northern area. The maximum effect is observed in Sindhudurg district followed by Ratnagiri, Raigad, Palghar and Greater Mumbai.Over-exploitation of groundwater in pockets and diminishing seaward freshwater flow in the rivers are the major reasons for sea water ingression. Regulation of groundwater development in the coastal area and areas adjacent to estuaries, maintaining adequate stream flow, stopping of riverbed sand mining, construction of tidal regulators at suitable places and creation of fresh water barrier through rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge are essential to control further sea water intrusion in the area.

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.