Managing groundwater resources in rural India : the community and beyond

The use ofgroundwaterinIndiahasgrownenormouslysincethe1960s.Today,
groundwater provides a critical source of domestic and irrigation water, and
also underpins efforts toreduce vulnerability, support livelihoods and sustain
food security.Thisreflectsthefact thatgroundwater canbeaccessedrelatively
easily and cheaply andprovides a reliable, and usually high quality, source of
supply.
In many areas of India, however, there is
increasing evidence that the intensity of
groundwaterexploitationisnotsustainable-as
a resultofsustainedperiodsofabstractionthat
exceed long-term rainfall recharge or cause
significant localised dewatering of aquifers -
andthatwellyieldsaredecreasing.Thereduced
access to groundwater may disproportionately
affect poorer households - for example assetpoor
farmers locked into the groundwater
economy - and those dependent on shallow,
communitywellsfortheirdrinkingwater.
Addressing the problem of groundwater
overdraft in India is a subject of major debate.
Conventional wisdom prescribes a mix of
regulatory and economic reforms to control
groundwater use and balance demand and
supply. Implementing such reforms, however,
andcreatingmanagement organisations withthemandate,reachandcapacity
to influencethedecisionsof millionsofgroundwaterusers, isahugechallenge.
Against this background,
is an attractive idea, particularly in the context of
political and administrative decentralisation, and the shift towards more
bottom-upplanningprocesses.