Shri Bansal Releases a Report on Groundwater Overexploitation in India
Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, the Union Minister for Water Resources released a “Report On Deep Wells and Prudence : Towards Pragmatic Action for addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India” here today. Addressing on the occasion, Shri Bansal said that the highly diversified occurrence and considerable variations in the availability and utilization of groundwater in the country makes its management a challenging task. Scientific development and management strategy for ground water has become imperative to avert the looming water crisis. Various issues such as prioritization of areas for development of ground water resources is-a vis its availability, augmentation of groundwater through rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, pricing and sectoral allocation of resources and participation of the stakeholders need to be considered in this regard.
Shri Bansal said that going by the examples of community ground water management initiatives in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, community-based groundwater management offers tremendous scope for sustainable management of groundwater resources of India, especially, in hard rock areas. However, technical, institutional and socio-economic factors that govern the occurrence, availability, development and management of groundwater resources make the process relatively complex. This is more so in case of hard rock terrain and therefore a specific model may not provide optimal solution.
He emphasized that Water Management is going to be significant challenge for our country and it would be important for all stakeholders to work in collaborative process for finding solution. There are certain areas on which World Bank can focus their efforts such as – improving water use efficiency in all sectors including water audit, mass awareness programme and water pricing etc; development of realistic aquifer mapping which is required to know the regional aspects of geology, hydrology and geochemistry of major aquifer systems of the country; and the capacity building of the stakeholders at various levels for ensuring effective and sustainable management of ground water resources.
The report brought out by the World Bank is the outcome of the World Bank Study and Technical Assistance Initiative on Groundwater Management in India, conceived to identify management strategies for promoting sustainable groundwater use in India within a systematic, economically sound and politically feasible framework. The initiative is also aimed at providing focused technical support for enhancing the outcomes of ground water management interventions under the World Bank-financed projects in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Need for enforcement of existing measures, supported by innovative approaches such as expansion of community based management have been advocated for sustainable management of ground water resources. Dedicated ground water departments and their strengthening in states are also recommended.
World Bank Study and Technical Assistance Initiative on Groundwater Management in India conceived to identify management strategies for promoting sustainable groundwater use in India within a systematic, economically sound and politically feasible framework and further to provide focused technical support for enhancing the outcomes of ground water management interventions under the World Bank-financed projects in the states.
Analysis Framework of the World Bank report deals with: Regulatory measures; Economic instruments; Tradable groundwater rights; Community management of groundwater; Pragmatic approaches for managing overexploited aquifers in India; Building capacity and adjusting the role of state groundwater institutions. Analysis Framework also include the Community-based groundwater management; Sector policy interventions and coordination; Promoting conjunctive use in agriculture; Integrating groundwater in urban water supply planning; Technical and political solutions to agricultural power pricing; and Targeted regulation of groundwater use.
Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, the Union Minister for Water Resources released a “Report On Deep Wells and Prudence : Towards Pragmatic Action for addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India” here today. Addressing on the occasion, Shri Bansal said that the highly diversified occurrence and considerable variations in the availability and utilization of groundwater in the country makes its management a challenging task. Scientific development and management strategy for ground water has become imperative to avert the looming water crisis. Various issues such as prioritization of areas for development of ground water resources is-a vis its availability, augmentation of groundwater through rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, pricing and sectoral allocation of resources and participation of the stakeholders need to be considered in this regard.
Shri Bansal said that going by the examples of community ground water management initiatives in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, community-based groundwater management offers tremendous scope for sustainable management of groundwater resources of India, especially, in hard rock areas. However, technical, institutional and socio-economic factors that govern the occurrence, availability, development and management of groundwater resources make the process relatively complex. This is more so in case of hard rock terrain and therefore a specific model may not provide optimal solution.
He emphasized that Water Management is going to be significant challenge for our country and it would be important for all stakeholders to work in collaborative process for finding solution. There are certain areas on which World Bank can focus their efforts such as – improving water use efficiency in all sectors including water audit, mass awareness programme and water pricing etc; development of realistic aquifer mapping which is required to know the regional aspects of geology, hydrology and geochemistry of major aquifer systems of the country; and the capacity building of the stakeholders at various levels for ensuring effective and sustainable management of ground water resources.
The report brought out by the World Bank is the outcome of the World Bank Study and Technical Assistance Initiative on Groundwater Management in India, conceived to identify management strategies for promoting sustainable groundwater use in India within a systematic, economically sound and politically feasible framework. The initiative is also aimed at providing focused technical support for enhancing the outcomes of ground water management interventions under the World Bank-financed projects in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Need for enforcement of existing measures, supported by innovative approaches such as expansion of community based management have been advocated for sustainable management of ground water resources. Dedicated ground water departments and their strengthening in states are also recommended.
World Bank Study and Technical Assistance Initiative on Groundwater Management in India conceived to identify management strategies for promoting sustainable groundwater use in India within a systematic, economically sound and politically feasible framework and further to provide focused technical support for enhancing the outcomes of ground water management interventions under the World Bank-financed projects in the states.
Analysis Framework of the World Bank report deals with: Regulatory measures; Economic instruments; Tradable groundwater rights; Community management of groundwater; Pragmatic approaches for managing overexploited aquifers in India; Building capacity and adjusting the role of state groundwater institutions. Analysis Framework also include the Community-based groundwater management; Sector policy interventions and coordination; Promoting conjunctive use in agriculture; Integrating groundwater in urban water supply planning; Technical and political solutions to agricultural power pricing; and Targeted regulation of groundwater use.
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