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Ground water has been the mainstay for meeting the domestic water needs. Besides 80 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population, it fulfills the irrigation needs of half of irrigated agriculture. The ease and simplicity of its extraction has played an important role in its development. This has, however, resulted in haphazard and indiscriminate use of the ground water in many parts of the country resulting in deterioration of its quality with depressing reservoirs.
Ground Water situation is not very good in restricted pockets of about 300 districts in 20 States. The annual recharge of water is far less than what is consumed. The situation is more alarming in urban areas due to population pressure and industrial growth. This in turn has led to increased water consumption. The rapid pace of urbanization has also resulted in reduction of recharge to aquifers. The increased demand of water for agriculture especially because of change in cropping pattern has further contributed to the decline in ground water levels in the country. For example paddy and cash crops consume large quantities of water that puts a lot of pressure on ground water resources.
The annual availability of ground water in the country has been assessed as 432 billion cubic metres (BCM) every year. After keeping a provision of 71 BCM per year for domestic, industrial and other uses, the available ground water resource for irrigation is 361 BCM per annum. Out of this, the present net draft is assessed as 150 BCM every year and level of ground water development as 41per cent.
The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) monitors ground water levels through out the country through a network of 14,739 National Hydrograph Monitoring stations. The water levels in Hydrograph stations are monitored four times in a year i.e. pre-monsoon (May), monsoon (August) post-monsoon (November) and winter season (January).
For the country as a whole there is still a large balance of ground water potential. There are, however, certain pockets in different assessment units where ground water, development has reached a critical stage. There are 673 over-exploited blocks/talukas/watersheds where stage of ground water development is more than 100 per cent. Water levels shows declining trend in both pre and post-monsoon period over the long term. Further, there are 425 dark blocks/talukas/watershed where stage of ground water development is between 85 per cent - 100 per cent with water levels showing declining trend in both pre and post-monsoon period over the long term.
The artificial recharging can ease the ground water situation because it helps in protecting water resources and assures a constant supply of water. The CGWB has undertaken several initiatives in promoting awareness about the need for protection of rainwater wastage. Water conservation campaigns have been carried out keeping in view the various target groups like youth, children, women, farmers and villages, policy and opinion makers. The Board has been emphasizing that the States should make roof-top rainwater harvesting mandatory in urban areas by amending building byelaws. Provision of roof-top rainwater harvesting system has been made mandatory in Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi for specified categories of buildings in these States. The CGWB also provides technical guidance to State agencies, institutions, individuals and industries on the design of rainwater harvesting structures.
Under the directions of Supreme Court, a Central Ground Water Authority(CGWA) was constituted in January, 1997 for the purpose of regulation and control of ground water management and development. The Authority has been vested with several powers under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 for issuing directions and taking measures in respect of matters relating to ground water. The Authority is vested with the powers to regulate and control management and development in ground water in the country and to issue necessary regulatory directions for the purpose.
The CGWA has notified 11 areas across the country for control and regulatory use of the ground water. Three of these areas are in NCT of Delhi (South, South-West districts and Yamuna Flood Plains), two in Haryana (Faridabad/ Ballabgarh and Gurgaon town), one each in Punjab (Ludhiana), Diu, Rajasthan (Jhotwara block of Jaipur), Gujarat (Gandhinagar), West Bengal (Haldia) and Uttar Pradesh (Ghaziabad).
The CGWA has conducted about 200 mass awareness programmes to popularize the concept of rain water harvesting. It has also conducted over 100 training courses throughout the country with the objective to propagate innovative and economical techniques for rain-water harvesting including roof-top rain water harvesting in urban environment. It can be hoped that the situation will improve considerably in the years to come. At present, the need of the hour is the people’s participation along with the government’s efforts in the task of recharging ground water resources.
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