Tushaar Shah

The field research study conducted by Carewater INREM Foundation attempts to establish the impacts of groundwater contamination with fluoride and arsenic in India. It maps the affliction severity, the medical cost and wage loss through a multi-location study in some villages in the States of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal.

The discussion paper by Carewater INREM Foundation on possibility of revival of dug wells in hard rock India through recharge is based on a field study across ten districts of the country. The study seeks to understand how localized governance of groundwater in hard rock areas is to be pursued through pricing (water, energy), legal regulation and community institutions. Water supply augmentation and demand management are both to be taken care of, directly through regulation or through indirect instruments such as pricing.

A workshop on groundwater was organised by ACWADAM and Arghyam Trust in Pune in May 2009, that brought together several experts in the field, and explored diverse topics such as the importance of scale in groundwater resource planning and management, importance of aquifer typologies, participatory processes of groundwater management, groundwater regulation and groundwater linkages with watershed development, markets and policy matters.

The attempt of the workshop and research papers presented, was to highlight contemporary issues in groundwater management, and to look at it through the multiple lenses of hydrogeology, sociology, economics, livelihoods, environment, disasters and so on.

Once it is known that the system of administration and management of water resources has grown in a manner which is not conducive to productivity and efficiency, then what options are we left with? How do we analyze the state of the system, so that the critical points are identified and improved upon?

Arsenic and fluoride are the two main natural contaminants of groundwater in India. The related diseases due to prolonged exposure are arsenicosis and fluorosis, prevalent in many arid villages of India.

This document on the study conducted by IWMI on the Carewater site aimed at understanding the economic and social burden experienced by people afflicted with contamination of water due to higher percentages