Shallow Aquifers

These are some of the questions which led Tarun Jayaram, the film-maker to explore traditional water systems in the country. From the documentary’s opening moments, the director engages us with a beautifully shot array of footages ranging from pilgrims taking a holy dip of Ganges to beautiful baolis and tankas of Rajasthan to the ancient town of Hampi in Karnataka, while establishing how rivers have been an integral part of Indian culture and how its rich tradition of harvesting rainwater needs to be re-established to deal with the present day water crisis. Over the refreshing images and soothing audio, it advocates the need for community participation in rejuvenating the traditional methods of rainwater harvesting. 

Groundwater is a natural replenishable resource. It is an important source for various purposes, including drinking, irrigation and industrial, due to insufficient surface water supply and frequent failure of monsoon. Identification of groundwater zones depends upon many factors such as distribution of rainfall, runoff, grain size of soil, topographic features, type of landform, drainage conditions, lithological characteristics, land use practices, depth to groundwater level and environmental constraints, which are not uniform in any area. 

Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

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.

The CGWB has been monitoring groundwater levels on a quarterly basis during January, April/ May, August and November through a network of about 15000 observation wells located all over the country. This data is used for assessment of groundwater resources and changes in the regime consequent to various development and management activities.

 It is widely held that surface irrigation is becoming increasingly irrelevant in India’s irrigation landscape in spite of increased investments, and therefore future investments in irrigation should be diverted for well irrigation.

Jalyatra - Exploring India's traditional water management systems, by Nitya Jacob is an ecological travelogue that looks at links between water, society and places It describes in detail what existed, how it fitted into the socio-cultural milieu and was appropriate for the local climate and geography. It then examines reasons for their decline, as indeed most have, in recent decades.

While recording the dismal state of traditional systems, the author stumbles upon small initiatives that have brought about significant transformation across regions. It refers to noisy hidrums and gharaats, the river-run flour mills of Uttaranchal, the technologies whose potential has yet to be fully realised. It looks at water harvesting structures of southern India—the eris and ooranis. However, it admits that the average person is singularly uninterested in protecting the environment.

Jalyatra captures the efforts of NGOs and enlightened individuals striving to revive these systems. It makes the case for a mass movement to revive traditional water management systems, especially village ponds, across the country as the way to ensure water security in India. In Chambal, the author meets Brij Mohan Gujjar, dacoit turned water conservationist, who is doing valuable work on the check dams designed to control the flow of water in the ravines; and in Shillong, Lan Potham shows him the uses of the easily available bamboo to construct the shyngiar which irrigates his areca nut plantation.

Introduction

 A welcome and important document, it brings up-to-date our understanding of the rapidly changing groundwater situation in Bangalore.

Growth of bore wells during February 2009 to January 2010 in Bangalore city