Groundwater

Featured Articles
July 5, 2022
Poisoned waters, threatened lives
Studies reveal that children are the most vulnerable to the health risks associated with groundwater contamination due to nitrate and fluoride, highlighting the need for urgent remedial measures.
POisoned waters, dangerous outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)
April 26, 2022
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
February 13, 2022
Poisonous encounters, fatal outcomes!
A study provides new evidence that drinking water contaminated with arsenic can lead to still births, recurrent pregnancy loss and infertility among women.
A well in Rajasthan (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
August 29, 2021
Poisoned waters, deadly outcomes!
A study shows that high arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bihar is linked with increase in cancer cases. Districts located near the Himalayan river basins have more people with cancer.
Drinking water in Bihar, linked to cancer (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
August 26, 2021
Poisonous encounters: Nitrate contamination of groundwater in Rajasthan
This study from Rajasthan found that anthropogenic factors led to nitrate contamination of groundwater. High nitrate levels in drinking water posed major health risks to children.
A well in Rajasthan (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
July 29, 2021
Demystifying groundwater for collective action
Experiences from participatory groundwater management efforts in Maharashtra
Unless work on managing the demand is undertaken, the notion of ‘infinite’ groundwater will be hard to address. (Image: Rucha Deshmukh, ACWADAM)
Arsenic removal in groundwater
Use of low-cost Biosand filters and ceramic pot filters such as JalKalp and MatiKalp developed by Sehgal Foundation are greatly effective and promising options in providing sustainable solutions for arsenic removal in the country.
Lalit Mohan Sharma
Yashi Gautam
Posted on 12 Aug, 2022 11:14 PM

Safe drinking water, a global concern

The safety and accessibility of drinking water is a global concern. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 80 percent of diseases are waterborne. Contamination from the geological formations (termed geogenic contamination) is the major source of groundwater contamination.
Arsenic contamination of groundwater, a growing probelm in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Poisoned waters, threatened lives
Studies reveal that children are the most vulnerable to the health risks associated with groundwater contamination due to nitrate and fluoride, highlighting the need for urgent remedial measures.
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 05 Jul, 2022 11:58 PM

Non carcinogenic health effects of groundwater contamination are equally challenging as the carcinogenic risks.
POisoned waters, dangerous outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Fluoride contamination of groundwater in Punjab, a growing concern
Fluoride contamination of ground water is on the rise in the Malwa region of Punjab threatening the health of the population. Urgent remedial measures are needed.
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 16 Jun, 2022 02:05 PM

Nearly 85 percent of the Indian population consumes groundwater and this groundwater can get polluted because of a number of contaminants - with fluoride being an important one.

Fluoride contamination of groundwater - a grave risk to health
Groundwater contamination in Punjab, a growing problem (Image for representation only, Source: India Water Portal)
Enabling better water governance
There is a need to bring in a paradigm shift towards democratisation of water
Subrat Singh
Posted on 18 May, 2022 02:41 PM

When UNICEF brought borewell rigs to India in early 1970s to help deal with water shortage, little did we know that it would become a tool for privatising the groundwater in the decades to come. Today, this practice of treating groundwater as a private resource has led to over-exploitation and an increase in mineral contamination as we drill into deeper aquifers in search of water.
Rice farmer irrigating from a shallow well to complement irrigation water from the Nagarjuna irrigation scheme in Krishna river basin, Andhra Pradesh (Image: François Molle, Water Alternatives)
Napo Jal Bachao Kal campaign - the pre-monsoon groundwater monitoring 2022 exercise commences
Before the monsoon sets in, 1000s of Indians in rural communities head out to measure the wells in their villages
Foundation for Ecological Security (FES)
Posted on 12 May, 2022 09:22 AM

Starting May 15, 2022 Mamatha from Andhra Pradesh, and Rameshwar from Maharashtra, equipped with a mobile phone and a measuring tape, will be joining several others heading to their fields and neighbouring villages to measure wells.
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)
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Eshwer Kale
Marcella D'Souza; Sarita Chemburkar
Posted on 26 Apr, 2022 11:10 PM

Excessive dependence and unregulated use of groundwater is draining India dry with 84 percent of groundwater being used for irrigation and 90 percent for drinking in rural areas.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
JJM coverage low in rural households of several large states: Parliamentary panel
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 06 Apr, 2022 03:38 PM

Several large states have low coverage of JJM in rural households: Panel expresses displeasure
Drinking water provision in rural school and hygiene (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
18,691 water bodies out of 9.45 lakh encroached upon: Jal Shakti Ministry
News this fortnight
Swati Bansal
Posted on 23 Mar, 2022 02:04 PM

Out of 9.45 lakh water bodies identified, 18,691 encroached upon, informs Jal Shakti Ministry
A Johad in Nanduwali Nadi region (Image source: Farhad Contractor via IWP Flickr Albums)
Delhi, sinking?
Rampant groundwater extraction in some areas of Delhi is leading to a dangerous fall in groundwater levels and increasing the risk of land subsidence, making the city prone to floods and water logging.
Shagun Garg
Mahdi Motagh
J. Indu
Vamshi Karanam
Posted on 18 Mar, 2022 10:28 AM

Delhi is facing the risk of land subsidence. And uncontrolled and illegal groundwater extraction is to blame!

What is land subsidence
The rapidly urbanisisng Delhi (Image Source: Lokantha at English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons)
Need for demand-side management: From the lens of participatory groundwater management
To successfully implement PGWM, there is a need to understand groundwater science from a community perspective.
Jaya Shukla
Posted on 16 Mar, 2022 07:27 AM

The word Kachch is derived from the Gujarati word ‘Kachha’, meaning tortoise, from which the drought-prone district of Kutch gets i
Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT) is a professional voluntary organization based at in the arid region of Kutch. One of its core areas of work is the implementation of innovative projects like community aquifer management. (Image: Vikalp Sangam)
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