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 28, 2019
Groundwater markets flourish in peri-urban Hyderabad
Groundwater, drawn at rapid rates from peri-urban areas of Hyderabad is now turning into a commodity, controlled and distributed by a few, to meet the needs of the urban elite.
Groundwater in Hyderabad, in peril (Image Source: India Water Portal)
September 25, 2019
India’s deepening water crisis
Making false doomsday claims of a water crisis could support problematic mega solutions, which could lead to more problems.
India's demand for water will exceed supply by a factor of two by 2030, as per a NITI Aayog report (Image: Vinoth Chandar, Flickr Commons (CC BY 2.0))
Scientific closure of abandoned bore wells
How to plug or decommission an abandoned or defunct bore well to prevent contamination in the nearby productive wells Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months ago

Why de-commission defunct or failed bore wells?
Well decommissioning is necessary to permanently fill in and seal a well to eliminate the well as a source of water (Image: Asadwarraich, Wikimedia Commons; CC BY-SA 4.0)
Dealing with droughts
There are many reasons why we see more droughts in India these days. Here is all the information that you need to know droughts better. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 7 months ago

Droughts are one of the most feared natural calamities in India impacting food production, the economy as well as the morale of millions of farmers in a cou
India will see more droughts in the future. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
How to find groundwater in my land
(not verified) posted 10 months ago

Dear Sir,

I have my land but we could not find underground water, despite deep drilling we found no water. Please help in how can I locate groundwater in Kamareddy, Hyderabad.
Digital tool to monitor groundwater
Women in Rajasthan use a groundwater monitoring tool to record water levels and promote water literacy Amita Bhaduri posted 10 months 3 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 1 year 3 months 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)
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 1 year 3 months 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.
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 1 year 5 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)
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 1 year 7 months 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 1 year 8 months 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.
One of the Bhujal Jankaars measuring groundwater levels manually (Image: Basant Maheshwari)
Springing back to life
Jal Jeevan Mission can go a long way to promote springshed management and ensure source sustainability of spring based piped water supply. Amita Bhaduri posted 1 year 9 months ago

Springs are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.
Image: Flickr Commons
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