SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT

Groundwater Status of Karnataka - 2013

The development of groundwater has played a vital role in India’s socio-economic development. Groundwater contributes to nearly 65% of the total irrigated area of the country and nearly 85% of the rural drinking water supply. Groundwater is characterized by ‘High Dependence and Low Attention’ on account of ease of availability and ownership, leading to rapid depletion of groundwater resources. There is, therefore, an urgent need for improving groundwater governance and management in the country. The limited groundwater resources in the country are under threat due to indiscriminate use. Intensive and unregulated groundwater pumping in many areas has caused a rapid and widespread decline in groundwater levels. The challenge of groundwater availability is compounded by issues like pollution from poor sanitation, mining, industry and agriculture-related activities (pesticides and fertilizers), together with naturally occurring contaminants (especially arsenic and fluoride).

As per the 2013 Dynamic Ground Water Resources Estimation carried out by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Government of India and the Ground Water Directorate (GWD) of Government of Karnataka, 43 Blocks in the state have been categorized as ‘Over exploited’, 14 blocks as ‘Critical’, 21 blocks as ‘Semi-Critical’ and 98 blocks as ‘Safe’. Further, the stage of groundwater development in overexploited blocks is in the range of 103% to 210%. The irrigated area coverage in the state during 2017-18 indicates high dependence on groundwater. The source wise irrigation details are given in Table no.1.

There has been considerable depletion of groundwater leading to decline in the groundwater levels. The decadal water levels variation for the periods 2007 and 2017 is given in Fig-1.

Sustainable Groundwater Management

Presently, there is a significant need of a scheme which is exclusively aimed at groundwater resources management through community participation, though this is addressed indirectly by some of the ongoing schemes like MGNREGA, PMKSY, etc. Through various interventions, taken up as part of the Central and State Government Schemes have succeeded in replenishment of groundwater resources to some extent and consequent rise in groundwater levels in some areas, significant improvement is limited in the existing groundwater management practices or

the status of groundwater resources at Block/District levels in substantial part of the country. This could be due to various reasons including lack of scientific data/knowledge and hydrogeological inputs in various interventions, improper location of recharge/ harvesting structures, focus on issues other than groundwater, lack of attention to prioritization of the area, lack of community involvement in planning, execution and maintenance of schemes etc.

There are, however, some instances where community and stakeholders’ participation in groundwater management has been able to make a significant impact on the groundwater regime. But, most of these initiatives do not have strong institutional backing and are mostly personality- driven and localized. Therefore, an appropriate scheme/programme has to be designed with the principal objective of strengthening the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and bringing about behavioural changes at the community level through awareness programmes and capacity building for fostering sustainable groundwater management in the stressed blocks.

The convergence shall further trigger incentives to various State Government programmes for suitable investments powered by a strong database, scientific approach and community participation. Sustainable groundwater management ensures convergence among ongoing schemes, such as MGNREGA, IWMP, PMKSY, NRDWP, DDUGJY, and other schemes of State Governments, including those of the Forest Department, Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department, Sericulture Department etc.

Sustainable groundwater management will encourage behavioural changes and community engagement in groundwater management at the

Gram Panchayat level. This participatory approach is crucial for addressing groundwater challenges in the long term. In fact, this is the first scheme of its kind which will involve community-based planning; monitoring, sharing and use of groundwater data; capacity building of all stakeholders to de-mystify the complex science of groundwater; community-led groundwater management and other demand-side measures which are adequately supported by supply-side interventions, etc.

Sustainable groundwater management involves supply-side and demand-side interventions (construction of check dams, artificial recharge structures, drainage treatment, sprinkler/drip irrigation, separation of electric feeder to agriculture pump sets etc.) included in the water security plans. These shall be designed to complement on-farm and catchment area treatment, which will be derived from science-based, GP-level Water Security Plans (with rigorous water budgeting) to be developed in a participatory manner and aggregated to form a sub-catchment/watershed plan, as far as possible, for target area identified by the State.

Skill development is the key to successful participatory and sustainable groundwater management. This shall have a primary focus on capacity building and skill development at

different levels of stakeholders and shall, therefore, help in employment generation and poverty alleviation. It is envisaged that appropriate training shall be imparted to different groups with extensive focus at village, community and panchayat levels. The approach aims to provide water-related information to stakeholders by establishing a required framework (institutions and information systems) to promote new and innovative approaches in the planning, design and implementation of management actions to address groundwater depletion. The existing institutional framework of State government shall also be strengthened and utilized for the implementation of this approach.

Groundwater governance in the country is fragmented as the ownership of groundwater is governed by the archaic Easement Act, 1882. Various measures adopted for regulating and managing groundwater have so far proved to be insufficient and ineffective as they are mostly top-down, without the involvement of local communities. Groundwater is to be treated as a common pool resource where local communities can play a significant role in its governance. For sustainable management of groundwater, it is imperative that machinery and mechanism are in place for providing adequate information and knowledge and encouraging community participation. Thus, Sustainable groundwater management is a unique approach with a focus on community participation.

Karnataka state enacted “The Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2011 and Rules, 2012” for the regulation and control of development and management of groundwater.

It is envisaged to adopt the participatory process and convergence approach among various line departments to achieve a sustainable groundwater management. The line departments to be involved in the process are listed below:• Minor Irrigation & Groundwater Development Department (MI & GDD)• Groundwater Directorate, MI & GDD

• Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Dept. • Agriculture Department • Horticulture/ Sericulture Department• Energy Department• Karnataka Urban Water Supply & Drainage Board (KUWSDB)• Forest Department• Water Resources Department• CGWB, South Western Region (SWR), GoI, Bengaluru

The framework for sustainable groundwater management is given as Fig-2.

Advanced Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ACIWRM)

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