Date: 28/03/2023

Relevance: GS-2: Government Policies, Governance and related issues.

Relevance: GS-3: Water Resources and its conservation.

Key Phrases: Groundwater, Mapping of the groundwater resource, Jal Shakti Ministry, Dynamic Ground Water Resource Assessment, 2022, Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) and the National Project on Aquifer Management (NAQUIM), Sustainable Development Goal, Jal Jeevan Mission.

Context:

• Recently, four more states (Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) have been found to be water-stressed to add to the seven (Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) already on a Central list amid a growing crisis over groundwater extraction, primarily for irrigation.
• A rapidly growing economy and population are straining the country’s groundwater resources.
  • Therefore, the governance of groundwater resources has become an important issue in the country.

Key Highlights:

• As per the World Bank report, India is the largest groundwater user in the world.
• There is no central law governing the use of groundwater and various States have their own laws on regulating its extraction that is deployed in a perfunctory manner.
• India, with nearly 18% of the world’s population, occupies about 2.4% of the total geographical area and consumes 4% of total water resources.

Importance of Groundwater:

• Groundwater is the backbone of India’s agriculture and drinking water security in rural and urban areas, meeting nearly 80% of the country’s drinking water and two-thirds of its irrigation needs.
• Widespread use of groundwater for agricultural production in a setting of economic growth has resulted in India becoming the largest groundwater extractor in the world.
• Groundwater plays an important role in increasing food and agricultural production, providing safe drinking water and facilitating industrial development in India.
• It contributes fresh water to meet the requirements of nearly 65% of irrigated area, which caters to nearly 85% of rural drinking water and 50% of urban drinking water needs.
• Groundwater is pivotal to India’s water security.

Efforts for Better Governance of Ground Water:

• The central government is working to achieve the goal of sustainable groundwater management in collaboration with States and Union Territories.
  • In this process, certain important efforts have been identified such as
    • A reduction in groundwater extraction to below 70%.
    • Increasing the network of groundwater observation wells.
    • Installing digital water level recorders for real-time monitoring.
    • Periodic monitoring of groundwater quality.
    • Aquifer mapping and data dissemination.
    • Having better regulation of groundwater extraction by industries.
    • Promoting participatory groundwater management and periodic groundwater resource assessment.
• Creation of Jal Shakti Ministry (By merging the erstwhile Ministries of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation along with Drinking Water and Sanitation) to give impetus to the management of water resources with a special focus on demand and supply management.
• Realising the importance of community participation, the Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched subsequently to transform Jan Shakti into Jal Shakti through asset creation, rainwater harvesting (‘Catch the Rain’ campaign) and an extensive awareness campaign.
• Some Initiatives have also been taken for the effective management and regulation of groundwater, examples being the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABY) and the National Project on Aquifer Management (NAQUIM).
  • NAQUIM, envisages the mapping of subsurface water-bearing geological formations (aquifers) to help gather authentic data and enable informed decision-making.
    • Around 24 lakh square kilometres of the country have been mapped from the available mappable area of nearly 25 lakh sq. km. The remaining area is likely to be mapped by March 2023.
    • A heliborne-based survey (state-of-the-art technology), has been used along with traditional exploratory methods for rapid and accurate aquifer mapping.
• Increasing the Monitoring Stations:
  • There are around 65,025 monitoring stations in India, which include 7,885 automated stations.
  • The numbers are set to go beyond 84,000; in this, the number of automated stations will rise to over 35,000, with a special focus on identifying high groundwater-extracting industrial and urban clusters and groundwater stressed regions.
• Dynamic groundwater assessments will be done annually now and a groundwater estimation committee formed to revise the assessment methodology.
• A software, ‘India-Groundwater Resource Estimation System (IN-GRES)’, has also been developed.

Way Forward:

• Poor land use policies in India have resulted in loss of smaller wetlands and degradation of most wetlands that ultimately pushed groundwater levels very low.
  • Most of the wetlands are treated as wasteland by local administrations and encroached for other land-use purposes that need to be immediately stopped.
• Communities will have to manage their groundwater resources better with the help of various government agencies and non-governmental organisations.
• In the context of climate change, as uncertainties will increase in connection with groundwater resources, efforts must be made to find solutions that are essential for sustainable development.
• A draft National Water Policy has recommended a shift in usage from water-guzzling crops and prioritising recycling over freshwater for industrial purposes.
• Water ought not to be considered a free, private resource but one whose costs must be measured and borne equitably.
• While water remains a politically contentious subject in India, the climate crisis should inspire consensus across the political spectrum on disincentivizing wasteful consumption of this precious resource.

Conclusion:

• The government’s interventions in enabling a positive impact on the overall groundwater scenario in India reflect the spirit of cooperative federalism in managing this precious resource.
• As the fastest-growing economies, India will need adequate groundwater resources to manage anthropogenic pressures.
  • It is important to ensure source sustainability to provide safe drinking water to all rural households by 2024, under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

Source: Live-Mint

Mains Question:

Q. What is the importance of groundwater in India? Also, suggest some measures for improvement in the governance of groundwater. (250 Words).