Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)

Groundwater continues to be extracted at frightening proportions in India and the fear of severe depletion of groundwater resources in the coming years is real. As if this is not enough, the available groundwater is also deteriorating in quality posing a severe threat to the health of the population.

India drinks water poisoned with uranium

The Himalayas, an important part of the geography of India, extend along the entire Northern and North-Eastern boundary of the country. It spans six Indian States namely, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Sikkim and a major part of Arunachal Pradesh from west to east.

Groundwater, though replenishable, is ultimately a finite resource. Excessive withdrawal leads to depletion of the water stored underground, resulting in serious social, economical and environmental consequences.

Deliberations in the Congress organized by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) at New Delhi on March 22-23, 2011 focused on various issues viz., Integrated Water Resource Management, Artificial Recharge to Groundwater, Water Use

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the Ministry of Water Resources has released a publication entitled “Aquifer systems of India” apart from aquifer atlas for six states viz. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

This document by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) sheds light on ground water scenario of India for the year 2009-10. The major issues discussed in the document are categorised under three broad sections:

It also presents the status of utilisation of groundwater in Karnataka as on March 2009, both on watershed (sub catchment) and taluk wise areas having 2008-2009 as the base year. The methodology is improved as the estimations are carried out on watershed basis for both command and non command separately than apportioned to taluks.

The CGWB under the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, is the national apex agency entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of ground water resources of the country.

Groundwater caters to the demand of ever growing domestic, agricultural and industrial sector of the country and is being indiscriminately exploited by several users. On the other hand, rapid urbanization and land use changes has resulted in reduced natural infiltration or recharge of aquifers.

This has led to various problems related to quantity and quality and issues like the decline in water levels, depletion of groundwater resource and quality deterioration. There is thus an imperative need for augmenting the valuable groundwater resource. Artificial recharge and roof top rainwater harvesting is one such method that can revive this precious resource. Several traditional and scientifically proven artificial recharge and rainwater harvesting techniques have been adopted in different parts of the country. These structures have proven to be viable option for augmenting the groundwater aquifers by making use of surplus surface runoff.

It covers varying groundwater scenarios in the country including the highly developed metros, the hilly region, the coastal cities, the cities tapping unconsolidated and hard rock aquifers. The report briefly describes the administrative set up, status of water supply and demand, groundwater scenario, feasibility of rainwater harvesting and groundwater development strategy.

It is an updated version of an earlier report on “Groundwater in urban environment in India” (2000). Since then, groundwater regime, urban demography and water demand have changed enormously. This report will form a scientific base for an in-depth understanding of urban groundwater system including aquifer geometry, water level behavior and groundwater quality. The possibility of artificial recharge to rejuvenate the urban aquifers has also been discussed.