Research Papers

This paper published by the Sehgal Foundation presents a case

This paper describes the current groundwater situation and warns that the unsustainable use of groundwater stands to significantly impact a host of hydrological, ecological and other natural resources and services, including freshwater bodies, and aquatic, riparian, transitional, and terrestrial ecosystems. Baseflow will decrease and wetlands will disappear, streams and rivers will degrade, channel erosion will increase, and wildlife habitat will be reduced. Other impacts include drying up of wells, salt-water intrusion in coastal areas, and land subsidence.

The case study is on integrated water management in village Ghaghas, Haryana, which is replicable in general, though micro conditions in villages would be different. Often the failure of water management structures is due to lack of design for silt management.

In the absence of groundwater instrumentation networks in India, the knowledge of local well drillers about the location, quality, etc of groundwater aquifers is invaluable. 

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Author Sunderajan Krishnan argues that the apparent duality between formal science and one based on traditional wisdom and observations is an illusion and decision making on groundwater management has a lot to gain from traditional knowledge sources.

This PhD dissertation by Jenny T Gronwall for Linkoping University's Tema Institute looks at issues of drinking water access in Bangalore through the framework of human rights, analyzing three interlinked dimensions: the right to water as a human right; water in terms of property rights; and water rights. 

The paper by Carewater INREM Foundation on the groundwater situation in urban India provides an overview besides dealing with the opportunities and challenges. Groundwater plays a fundamental role in shaping the economic and social health of many urban centres of India.

This paper by Priya Sangameswaram in the Economic and Political Weekly deals with equity in watershed development in Hivre Bazar in Western Maharashtra.

This report by FoRWARD deals with the reorientation of the watershed development programme in India. The government is apparently committing larger resources for watershed development and plans to bring most of the dryland, degraded lands under the coverage of the programme over the next 25 years or so.

The normative framework underlying the review “Understanding watershed development” requires a “normative framework” embracing the notions of “watershed” and “watershed development’, and how they are translated into practice. Such translation may also be based upon additional assumption about what is possible and desirable, and how to bring these changes about.