Groundwater

Featured Articles
November 8, 2020
Breaking down data silos in the water sector
The National Hydrology Project has created a national platform for water data and is working to enhance the technical capacities of agencies dealing with water resources management.
Breakthrough cloud computing facilities and remote sensing applications have helped showthe filling pattern of a water body (tank or reservoir) through freely available satellite imagery at an interval of five days. (Image: Maithan dam, Wikimedia Commons)
December 19, 2019
Parliamentary committee expresses disappointment over slow pace of Namami Gange
Policy matters this week
The Ganga at Varanasi (Source: India Water Portal Flickr Photos)
December 18, 2019
Micro-irrigation and groundwater use
A study from Gujarat finds that micro-irrigation combined with metered power led to a reduction in uncontrolled groundwater extraction by farmers.
Micro-irrigation and its impact on groundwater (Image Source: India Water Portal)
December 13, 2019
Trading in virtual water
A study highlights the need to scale down the export of rice, maize, buffalo meat and other items to conserve groundwater in India.
A farmer uses a hosepipe to irrigate crops at her farm in Nilgiris mountains, Tamil Nadu (Image: Hamish John Appleby for IWMI, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
December 11, 2019
NGT orders 100 percent treatment of sewage entering rivers
Policy matters this week
Polythene bags and solid waste left behind as water recedes in the Ganga river. (Source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
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)
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 . aartikelkar posted 3 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. aartikelkar posted 3 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.
Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan a low impact, high expenditure scheme: CAG
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan had a low impact in making Maharashtra drought free: CAG
Deepening work in progress under the Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan (Source: Ravindra Pomane)
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab: Government
News this week Swati Bansal posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Punjab no.1 in overexploitation of groundwater 
Overexploitation of groundwater highest in Punjab (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
Who is the thirstiest of them all?
A study evaluating the water use efficiency of sugarcane, curry banana and paddy among borewell irrigating farmers finds paddy to be the most inefficient and thirstiest of the three. aartikelkar posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Agriculture uses as high as 85 percent of the available water in India of which the irrigated area accounts for nearly 48.8 percent of the 140 million hectare (mha) of agricultural land, while the remaining 51.2 percent is rainfed.
Paddy, a thirsty crop (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Decision Support Space: A concept
Are we wired to make bad decisions and how can a Decision Support Space (DSSpace) facilitate better decision-making about water systems in India? Amita Bhaduri posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote that he who has a ‘why’ to live can bear almost any ‘how'. A strong reason, motivation (why) and curiosity lead to actions that pave the path (how) to achieve any desired goal.
Decision-making on water is a multifaceted and cognitively overwhelming process (Image: Lolame, Pixabay)
Farm ponds need pondering
While farm ponds have often been depicted as magic wands to deal with water scarcity, experiences in Maharashtra show otherwise. aartikelkar posted 3 months 3 weeks ago

Agriculture and inefficient water use in India
Farm ponds, often touted as magic wands to tackle water scarcity, have raised a number of concerns (Image Source: Ninad Sargar)
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 4 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)
Aqua Foundation’s XIV World Aqua Congress
The conference provides a unique opportunity to learn about the latest trends in best practices, innovative technologies and cutting edge research. Swati Bansal posted 4 months ago

About the conference: 
IUKWC Virtual User Engagement Initiative 2020
The India UK Water Centre welcomes you to a free, online event to engage with new water research tools and methods that could contribute to your operational practice. Swati Bansal posted 4 months 1 week ago

IUKWC has put together a set of interviews with researchers from six Indo-UK projects that provide an overview of their research outputs and how these can support water operations, management and/or decision making.

Fully interactive - interviewees will be available to answer your questions during two hour windows
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