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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rohini Nilekani dreams of making invisible water visible

Rohini Nilekani dreams of making invisible water visible

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published Published on Aug 11, 2018   modified Modified on Aug 11, 2018
-Livemint.com

The capricious nature of groundwater has resulted in so much exploitation and overuse that we now have a consistent crisis. Presenting a roadmap for groundwater governance and information transparency using technology

India is a groundwater civilization. Almost all Indians use groundwater, directly or indirectly, each day. This tradition goes back more than 2,000 years. India is criss-crossed with the most elegant wells that tap into the shallow aquifer. The oldest wells yet discovered, in Sarnath and Lothal, date back to the Harappan age. Hill dwellers across the Himalayas and the Western and Eastern Ghats have used springs, nature’s way of bringing groundwater to the surface, since time immemorial.

Being near a water source can determine lives, livelihoods and prosperity. While all water is eventually connected, groundwater, unlike surface water, is nearly ubiquitous. It is replenishable, it is almost free and it can be pulled out as needed, without spending on overground storage systems. This makes it a perfect resource for lifeline use, for farming, and for any other demand.

Yet groundwater is also invisible and capricious. It can fool you into believing there is an infinite Patalganga flowing beneath your feet. Depending on which of the many hydrogeological zones of India you tap into, the water can either be easy to reach or incredibly difficult to suck out.

If you live above the hard rock aquifers of the basalt and granite geological zones of peninsular India, you might find the water beneath you to be an escape artist, unless you learn to harness it. If you inhabit the Indo-Gangetic floodplains of northern India, you will find the water easier to access but also easier for anyone to contaminate.

In most cases, if you are in a discharge zone, your well might be the first beneficiary of a good monsoon. If you are in a recharge zone, you might be an unwitting philanthropist for a neighbour’s well.

This invisible and capricious nature of groundwater has resulted in so much exploitation and overuse that we now have a very visible and consistent crisis.

Surveys by the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) and other agencies, including the Indian and US space agencies Isro and Nasa, paint a frightening picture. At the very least, a third of groundwater blocks are described as semi-critical, critical or overexploited. Since 85% of India’s drinking water needs and 65% of the country’s irrigated agriculture depends on groundwater, this means we are heading for some serious social and economic consequences.

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Livemint.com, 10 August, 2018, https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/7ztndZVQNjFd9HVtfn9vnI/Rohini-Nilekani--Making-invisible-water-visible.html


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