Deep Aquifers

Featured Articles

December 4, 2019

Looking back into history to understand droughts

The 2015-2018 drought, the longest, but less severe of droughts experienced by India raises alarm on the negative effects of future droughts on water security in the country.

India will see more droughts in the future. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

October 25, 2019

Mapping Pune’s aquifers

Groundwater use has doubled in Pune. Comprehensive mapping of groundwater resources and better management and governance is the need of the hour.

Groundwater, an exploited resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)

October 1, 2019

From droughts to floods: India’s tryst with climate extremes

Deconstructing the traditional narrow engineering based policy discourses around floods and droughts and connecting them to social and cultural realities is the need of the hour in India.

Water talk Series at Mumbai (Image Source:Tata Insitute of Social Sciences)

September 30, 2019

The Water Future Conference in Bangalore: Towards a Sustainable Water Future

The recently concluded 4 day conference in Bangalore looked at the current state of global water resource challenges & future pathways to achieve the SDGs, while ensuring equity in access to all.

Charles Vorosmarty, Chair, COMPASS Initiative, Water Future at the opening plenary on advanced water system assessments to address water security challenges of the 21st century.

September 13, 2019

How to restrict crops to geographically sustainable areas: The case of arecanut in Tumkur

Arecanut farmers in Karnataka are reeling from dipping groundwater levels and infrequent water supply for irrigation. In this article, some solutions are proposed.

Young arecanut trees grown in drylands of Tumkur region (Gubbi Taluk, Hodalur Village) Pic Credit: Chandana Eswar

September 9, 2019

How local democracy is solving water issues in southern Rajasthan

People come together to dig community ponds in Dungarpur, to fight water scarcity.

Community pond in Doja after the first pre-monsoon rain. Pic credit: Rajat Kumar

Digital tool to monitor groundwater

Women in Rajasthan use a groundwater monitoring tool to record water levels and promote water literacy Amita Bhaduri posted 1 month 2 weeks ago

According to a 2006 report by the Inter-Agency Task Force, titled ‘Gender, Water and Sanitation’

Women use an open source groundwater monitoring tool that enables collection of water level data of wells and its collation on a web platform for easy access by all. (Image: FES)

Groundwater recharge needs grassroots solutions: A study of two techniques in Kerala

Although groundwater is emerging as a critical issue and has managed to encourage new government schemes, a generic solution of rainwater recharge cannot be applied across different regions. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 1 week ago

In Kerala, around half the urban population and 80% of the rural population depend on open wells on their domestic water needs. But in the last decade, the majority of observatory wells recorded an average annual decline of half a meter.

Rainwater is captured from the rooftop of the community hall and diverted to the sump before it is pumped into the open well. (Image by Authors)

Water wisdom of the Gonds of Garha Mandla

A peek into history shows how the Gonds of Garha Mandla managed their water needs with great ingenuity and wisdom by constructing and maintaining water tanks . Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 6 months 1 week ago

The Gond dynasties mainly flourished in the Central highlands of India. This region includes Sagar, Bhopal, and nearly half of Narmada valley, including the flanks of Vindhya and the Satpuda mountain ranges of southern Madhya Pradesh. The principal states of the Gonds were Garha-Mandla (1300 to 1789), Devgarh, Kherla and Chanda.

Kolatal, a traditional tank in Garha region of Jabalpur (Image Source: K. G. Vyas)

Where does the water in a well come from?

In the water sector, the focus on fixing demand and supply is taking us away from the real problem - the unnoticed groundwater dependencies in ever-expanding urban India. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 6 months 2 weeks ago

The environment versus development debate has increasingly become more polarised, with discussions in the public domain revealing a stark contrast of views. Development has increasingly come to symbolise ‘doing something’ and ensuring ‘visible outputs’, largely in the form of infrastructure.

An open well in Maharashtra (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos) Image used for representational purposes only.

Uttarakhand: Reaching the unreached

PSI addresses the shortage of safe drinking water in remote Uttarakhand villages through a participatory community-based approach to springshed management. Amita Bhaduri posted 7 months ago

People in remote hamlets left out by previous schemes like Swajal and Sector Wide Approach Program of the Uttarakhand Jal Nigam and Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan longed for household-level piped water supply for drinking and domestic purposes.

Women trudged long distances daily to fetch water for their basic household needs in Rupail (Image: People's Science Institute)

Drying veins of Ganga: Can we have ‘Nirmal Ganga’ with dying tributaries?

There is an urgent need to prioritise uninterrupted river flow over unpolluted flow in the Namami Gange programme. Amita Bhaduri posted 7 months 2 weeks ago

India’s Himalayan rivers have been a cradle of civilisational development and a centre for faith and culture for ages. Ganga being a fertile basin has been a significant contributor to our agricultural economy as well as our river-based agrarian development.

The Baand river is nearly dry even when the region saw above normal monsoon this year. Much of the riverbed is encroached by farms. (Image: Adeel Khan and Praharsh Patel)

Understanding Atal Bhujal Yojana through the program guidelines

The program envisages promoting panchayat led groundwater management and behavioural change with a primary focus on demand-side management. Amita Bhaduri posted 8 months ago

Groundwater fulfills the drinking water requirements of nearly 85% and 50% of the rural and urban Indian population, respectively. 65% of the total irrigated area utilizes groundwater. It also caters to the water needs of the industrial sector in India.

Community participation is expected to facilitate bottom-up groundwater planning process to improve the effectiveness of public financing and align implementation of various government programs on groundwater in the participating states (Image: Water Alternatives, Flickr Commons)

Pumping groundwater to harnessing rainfall: A tale of two states

Saurashtra, and Vidarbha and Marathwada have similar climatic and aquifer characteristics. Why do the latter suffer from droughts when Saurashtra has been able to improve its groundwater levels? Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 9 months 2 weeks ago

Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge for India

Groundwater decline in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)

Need to protect the unique geological features in the Upper Ken basin

An attempt to document the geological features, water potential, and traditional wisdom around them in the Upper Ken basin. Amita Bhaduri posted 10 months 1 week ago

Kathayi, a scheduled tribe (ST) dominated village in the midst of the forested stretches of Shahnagar block in Panna district faces acute water scarcity during the 3-4 summer months. Through the government schemes, three wells and two hand pumps were installed in this 75 household village in the last 10-15 years, but most of them are dysfunctional now.

Panghata Kund in village Aloni, Panna (June 2014, after initial monsoon) (Image: Seema Ravandale)

Developing an effective participatory groundwater monitoring program at village level

Issues in groundwater management and recharge have been dealt with in a series of booklets as a part of the MARVI project. Amita Bhaduri posted 10 months 4 weeks ago

The ‘Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention’ (MARVI) project is being undertaken since February 2012 with the overall aim to improve the security of irrigation water supplies and enhance livelihood opportunities for rural communities in India.