Groundwater situation in urban India: Overview, opportunities and challenges – A report by CAREWATER

The paper by Carewater INREM Foundation presents the current status and potential threat of groundwater use in urban centres of India and the conceptual picture of how different geographical factors contribute to vulnerability in terms of urban groundwater. It seeks to explore the causal relationship between the physical environment and urban groundwater use through a spatial analysis.

It identifies cities already undergoing or under the threat of  scarcity of groundwater in near future. A procedure is outlined to evaluate this vulnerability based on various factors such as (a) level of current dependence on groundwater for overall urban water use, (b) level of groundwater development in surrounding block/district, (c) average distance to external sources of water, (d) level of development of river basin, (e) hydro-geological factors e.g. specific yield. A combination of these factors has helped the authors to identify the current hotspots and future attractors of excess or imported water in  the various river basins.

The national-level analysis of data on urban water supply reveals strong spatial variation in the dependence on groundwater and finds that:

• In the peninsular and primarily hard rock regions, cities show high dependence (average around 80%) on external sources of water, whereas, the alluvial aquifer cities are more dependant on local groundwater (average 75%). The size of a city is also a strong indicator of how much surface water it can import. As the city grows in population size, its dependence and also ‘say’ on imported water increases.
• On a macro-scale, it can be concluded that the level of dependence on groundwater is greater for smaller sized towns which have lesser power to demand and have lesser economic strength to pay for water sources that are located at distant places.
• Negotiating for external sources of water is difficult for the smaller towns, even though they are witnessing rapid growth and have to depend upon local water sources. In the regions where groundwater is over-exploited, urban centres are competing with irrigators for water.
• A limit on growth for both irrigation and urban development can be imposed in the vulnerable areas based on the factors identified in the study.
• In addition, many of these locations are surrounded by high industrial polluting units which degrade the quality of groundwater apart from existing contamination. Proper treatment of urban wastewater for re-use in irrigation, industries and recharging of urban aquifers, is one of the options to manage such competing uses.
• In the context of possible inter-basin water transfers, water-starved urban centers could attract the arriving water.
• Integration of the factors viz., hydrogeology, location within or outside canal command area, rainfall and recharge, population size, proximity to water bodies, urban outgrowths, and utilization of wastewater would help planners in designing sustainable urban water supply and sanitation systems.  

Download the report here: