Depleting underground water

H C Katoch
Two third portion of the earth surface is covered by water. Out of the total water available on earth surface only 2.5% water is potable, while 97.5% is salty.   Three fourth of drinking water is in the form of snow and glaciers. One fourth of the water is, thus available for drinking. This is available in the form of streams, wells, Bowlies and springs.
The availability of drinking water, thus, differs from country to country, State to State & place to place. Its availability to population in particular area depends upon the sources of both surface and underground water. Some areas have access to surface water, while other areas are dependent upon ground water. Where the recharge of the ground water is less and exploitation is more, the areas go dry and it becomes drought prone.
People’s Science Institute organized a training workshop on Ground water Management for Voluntary Organisations at Dehradun recently that was participated by NGOs from different states of the country. The purpose was to train the volunteer sector to take up this task in their respective states. It was startling to note that the underground water resources are rapidly depleting and there is hardly any awareness to recharge these sources which are in the form of tube wells, dug wells, hand pumps, wells, bowlies and springs.
Spring shed management
Spring is a natural source of groundwater. Mountain springs emanating naturally from unconfined aquifers are the primary source of water for rural households in the Himalayan region. Due to the impacts of climate change o n precipitation patterns such as rise in rainfall intensity, reduction in its temporal spread, and a marked decline in winter rain, coupled with other anthropogenic causes, the problem o f dying springs is being increasingly felt across this region.
Unlike wells, which may be owned and controlled privately; springs are generally community-owned and community-managed. Thus, they give a sense of a “common” resource i.e. groundwater shared through a common mechanism, i.e. the spring.
Decreasing spring discharge has become a matter of concern throughout the Himalayan region. The decrease in spring-discharge implies either or both of two scenarios – firstly, the  recharge to the system which feeds the springs (mountain aquifers) has reduced; secondly, the storages of these mountain aquifers are tapped by artificial means such as wells. The recharge areas of these springs are site specific, depending on the rock type and rock structure. Despite the complexity of spring hydrogeology, geomorphology remains the prime factor on which conventional watershed approaches for spring recharge are being promoted in the Himalayan region. A systematic process of identifying the type of springs and characterizing them on the basis of their type, discharge quantities, seasonal factors and water quality is the way forward towards improved spring-water management in the Himalayan region. In the same vein, the socio-economic and administrative units are extremely crucial in the management of  springs as ‘commons’. A recharge site, for instance, may be located within forest land, private land, common land, revenue land etc. The strategies adopted for the purpose of spring recharge will vary depending on these locations, the type of spring, dependent population etc., and calls for a scientific approach that includes all the above considerations.
Underground water- need for recharge
There is unabated exploitation of underground water without caring for its recharge simultaneously so that the flow of water remains constant for future. Our Public Health Engineering Department has only one objective to find the source and tap its potential. Even Economic Reconstruction Agency aided with funds from Asian development Bank has also dug tube wells to feed the urban population. It is observed that the tube well when dries another one is attempted at a different place. The pressure of population growth has further raised the demand for more water which is met through both surface water and ground water. Thus there is a heightened need for recharging the underground water area.
The Government has been working for channelising the surface water for water conservation through different approaches like watershed development through intervention like check dams gully plugging, provision of vegetative cover etc. There does not seem any target for underground water recharge on scientific pattern.
There is another problem that attracts attention is the pollution /contamination of water that flows from household consumption like kitchen, bathing, washing of clothes that goes as drain water and absorbed in the soil which finally percolates  to the ground thus polluting the ground water. The industry further adds to this problem where the chemicals released by different processes of manufacture of industrial goods infiltrate and mix with the ground water. Thus the ground water quality becomes harmful for human life.
A different scenario exists in the villages where a household keeps the animals, his toilet, handpump and sewerage system in the same compound and the material released both by the human beings and animals finally percolates in the same area thereby contaminating the underground water especially the recharge area of hand pumps dug in his compound. There is no awareness of checking the quality of water.
The State has to plan for this venture, especially the mapping of the area and study of the geological features in relation to the spring shed areas for their recharge. We may go for on pilot basis especially for those areas which have severe problem of drinking water and water for irrigation. We have some examples of the areas treated by the community members in the country and they have come out successful in their venture. There is need for spreading awareness amongst the public and prepare Para Workers in such areas by giving them proper training. This can be attempted on pilot basis.
(The author is former Director in Planning Deptt)

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