Groundwater Management in India:Physical, Institutional and Policy Alternatives

Groundwater constitutes a vital natural resource for sustaining India’s agricultural economy and meeting the country’s social, ecological and environmental goals. It is a unique resource, widely available, providing security against droughts and yet it is closely linked to surface-water resources and the hydrological cycle. Its availability depends on geo-hydrological conditions and characteristics of aquifers, from deep to alluvium, sediment crystalline rocks to basalt formations; and agro-climate from humid to subhumid and semi-arid to arid. Its reliable supply, uniform quality and temperature, relative turbidity, pollution-safe, minimal evaporation losses, and low cost of development are attributes making groundwater more attractive compared to other resources. It plays a key role in the provision of safe drinking water to rural populations. For example, already almost 80% of domestic water use in rural areas in India is groundwater-supplied, and much of it is being supplied to farms, villages and small towns. Inadequate control of the use of groundwater, indiscriminate application of agrochemicals and unrestrained pollution of the rural environment by other human activities make groundwater usage unsustainable, necessitating proper management in the face of the twin demand for water of good quality for domestic supply and adequate supply for irrigation, ensuring equity, efficiency and sustainability of the resource. Groundwater irrigation has overtaken surface irrigation in the early 1980s, supported by well energization. It is estimated that there are about 24 million energised wells and tube wells now and it is driven by demand rather than availability, evident through the greater occurrence of wells in districts with high population densities. Apart from aquifer characteristics, land fragmentation and landholding size are the factors that decide the density of wells. The ‘rise and fall’ of local economies dependent on groundwater can be summarized as: the green revolution of 1980s, groundwaterbased agrarian boom, early symptoms of groundwater overdraft, and decline of the groundwater socio-ecology. The social characteristics and policy interventions typical of each stage provide a fascinating insight into the human-resource dynamics. This book is a compilation of nine research papers discussing various aspects of groundwater management. It attempts to integrate knowledge about the physical system, the socio-economic system, the institutional set-up and the policy environment to come out with a more realistic analysis of the situation with regard to the nature, characteristics and intensity of resource use, the size of the economy the use generates, and the negative socioeconomic consequences. Complex variables addressed in this regard focusing on northern Gujarat are the stock of groundwater available in the region, its hydrodynamics, its net outflows against inflows, the economics of its intensive use (particularly irrigation in semi-arid and arid regions), its criticality in the regional hydroecological regime, ethical aspects and social aspects of its use. The first chapter by Dinesh Kumar and Singh, dwells on complex groundwater socio-ecology of India, while emphasizing the need for policy measures to address indiscriminate over-exploitation of dwindling resources. The chapter also explores the nature of groundwater economy and the role of electricity prices on it. The next chapter on groundwater issue in north Gujarat provides a description of groundwater resource characteristics followed by a detailed analysis of the groundwater depletion and quality deterioration problems in the region and their undesirable consequences on the economy, ecosystem health and the society. Considering water-buyers and wellowning farmers individually, a methodology for economic valuation of groundwater in regions where its primary usage is in agriculture, and as assessment of the groundwater economy based on case studies from north Gujarat is presented in the fourth chapter. The next chapter focuses on the extent of dependency of milk production on groundwater, which includes the water embedded in green and dry fodder and animal feed. The study made a realistic estimate of irrigation water productivity in terms of the physics and economics of milk production. The sixth chapter analyses the extent of reduction in water usage, increase in yield and overall increase in physical productivity of alfalfa with the use of the drip irrigation system. The chapter also provides a detailed synthesis of the costs and benefits associated with the use of drip irrigation systems. A linear programmingbased optimization model with the objective to minimize groundwater use taking into account the interaction between two distinct components – farming and dairying under the constraints of food security and income stability for different scenarios, including shift in cropping pattern, introduction of water-efficient crops, water- saving technologies in addition to the ‘business as usual’ scenario is presented in the seventh chapter. The results show that sustaining dairy production in the region with reduced groundwater draft requires crop shifts and adoption of water-saving technologies. The eighth chapter provides evidences to prove that the presence of adequate economic incentive would encourage farmers to adopt water-saving irrigation devices, based on the findings of market research with reference to the level of awareness among farmers of technologies and the factors that decide the adoption of water-saving technologies. However, now the marginal cost of using electricity for agricultural pumping is almost zero. The economic incentives are strong and visible only when the farmers are either water-buyers or have to manage irrigation with limited water from tube-well partnerships. The ninth chapter explores the socio-economic viability of increasing the power tariff and inducing groundwater rationing as a tool for managing energy and groundwater demand, considering the current estimate of the country’s annual economic loss of Rs 320 billion towards electricity subsidy in the farm sector. The tenth chapter suggests private tradable property rights and development of water markets as the institutional tool for achieving equity, efficiency and sustainability of groundwater use. It identifies the externalities for local groundwater management and emphasizes the need for managing groundwater by local user groups, supported by a thorough analysis of groundwater socio-ecology in India. An institutional framework for managing the resource based on participatory approach that is capable of internalizing the externalities, comprising implementation of institutional and technical alternatives for resource management is also presented. Major findings of the analyses and key arguments in each chapter are summarized in the concluding chapter. Case studies of the social and economic benefits of groundwater use, where that use could be described as unsustainable, are interesting. The benefits of groundwater use are outlined and described with examples of social and economic impacts of groundwater and the negative aspects of groundwater development with the compilation of environmental problems based on up-to-date research results. This publication with a well-edited compilation of case studies is informative and constitutes a useful publication for students and professionals.

Soil and Groundwater Pollution from Agricultural Activities

This book introduces the major agricultural activities in India and their impact on soil and groundwater. It lists the basic aspects of agricultural activities and introduces soil properties, classification and processes, and groundwater characteristics, movement, and recharge aspects. It further discusses soil and groundwater pollution from various sources, impacts of irrigation, drainage, fertilizer, and pesticide. Finally, the book dwells upon conservation and management of groundwater and soil.

Causality analysis of groundwater dynamics based on a Vector Autoregressive model in the semi-arid basin of Gundal (South India)

Causal relationships existing between observed levels of groundwater in a semi-arid sub-basin of the Kabini River basin (Karnataka state, India) are investigated in this study. A Vector Auto Regressive model is used for this purpose. Its structure is built on an upstream/downstream interaction network based on observed hydro-physical properties. Exogenous climatic forcing is used as an input based on cumulated rainfall departure. Optimal models are obtained thanks to a trial approach and are used as a proxy of the dynamics to derive causal networks. It appears to be an interesting tool for analysing the causal relationships existing inside the basin. The causal network reveals 3 main regions: the Northeastern part of the Gundal basin is closely coupled to the outlet dynamics. The Northwestern part is mainly controlled by the climatic forcing and only marginally linked to the outlet dynamic. Finally, the upper part of the basin plays as a forcing rather than a coupling with the lower part of the basin allowing for a separate analysis of this local behaviour. The analysis also reveals differential time scales at work inside the basin when comparing upstream oriented with downstream oriented causalities. In the upper part of the basin, time delays are close to 2 months in the upward direction and lower than 1 month in the downward direction. These time scales are likely to be good indicators of the hydraulic response time of the basin which is a parameter usually difficult to estimate practically. This suggests that, at the sub-basin scale, intra-annual time scales would be more relevant scales for analysing or modelling tropical basin dynamics in hard rock (granitic and gneissic) aquifers ubiquitous in south India. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of pit-toilet leachate on groundwater chemistry and role of vadose zone in removal of nitrate and E-coli pollutants in Kolar District, Karnataka, India

Assessment of chemistry of groundwater infiltrated by pit-toilet leachate and contaminant removal by vadose zone form the focus of this study. The study area is Mulbagal Town in Karnataka State, India. Groundwater level measurements and estimation of unsaturated permeability indicated that the leachate recharged the groundwater inside the town at the rate of 1 m/day. The average nitrate concentration of groundwater inside the town (148 mg/L) was three times larger than the permissible limit (45 mg/L), while the average nitrate concentration of groundwater outside the town (30 mg/L) was below the permissible limit. The groundwater inside the town exhibited E. coli contamination, while groundwater outside the town was free of pathogen contamination. Infiltration of alkalis (Na+, K+) and strong acids (Cl-, SO4 (2-)) caused the mixed Ca-Mg-Cl type (60 %) and Na-Cl type (28 %) facies to predominate groundwater inside the town, while, Ca-HCO3 (35 %), mixed Ca-Mg-Cl type (35 %) and mixed Ca-Na-HCO3 type (28 %) facies predominated groundwater outside/periphery of town. Reductions in E. coli and nitrate concentrations with vadose zone thickness indicated its participation in contaminant removal. A 4-m thickness of unsaturated sand + soft, disintegrated weathered rock deposit facilitates the removal of 1 log of E. coli pathogen. The anoxic conditions prevailing in the deeper layers of the vadose zone (> 19 m thickness) favor denitrification resulting in lower nitrate concentrations (28-96 mg/L) in deeper water tables (located at depths of -29 to -39 m).

Application of Artificial Neural Networks and Particle Swarm Optimization for the Management of Groundwater Resources

Ground management problems are typically solved by the simulation-optimization approach where complex numerical models are used to simulate the groundwater flow and/or contamination transport. These numerical models take a lot of time to solve the management problems and hence become computationally expensive. In this study, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) models were developed and coupled for the management of groundwater of Dore river basin in France. The Analytic Element Method (AEM) based flow model was developed and used to generate the dataset for the training and testing of the ANN model. This developed ANN-PSO model was applied to minimize the pumping cost of the wells, including cost of the pipe line. The discharge and location of the pumping wells were taken as the decision variable and the ANN-PSO model was applied to find out the optimal location of the wells. The results of the ANN-PSO model are found similar to the results obtained by AEM-PSO model. The results show that the ANN model can reduce the computational burden significantly as it is able to analyze different scenarios, and the ANN-PSO model is capable of identifying the optimal location of wells efficiently.

Influence of anthropogenic contamination on groundwater chemistry in Mulbagal town, Kolar District, India

Geochemical studies are performed to examine the impact of leachate infiltration from on-site sewage disposal systems on the groundwater chemistry in Mulbagal town, Kolar District, Karnataka State, India. The leachate infiltration imposed nitrate concentrations ranging from 4 mg/L to 388 mg/L in the groundwater samples; it was observed that 79% of the samples exhibited nitrate concentrations in excess of drinking water permissible limit (45 mg/L). The average (of 43 measurements) E. coli levels in the groundwater samples corresponded to 189 MPN/100 mL and 55% of the samples tested exhibit pathogen contamination. Results also showed that the groundwater in the study area is characterized by acidic pH, large calcium + magnesium ion and Na/Cl ratios of < unity causing majority of the ground water samples to classify as Ca-Mg-Cl type and Na-Cl type. Saturation index (SI) computation using Visual MINTEQ program showed that the groundwater samples are under-saturated with respect to calcite. The theoretical SI values (of calcite) however suggested that the groundwater samples ought to be over-saturated with calcite. Under-saturation of the groundwater samples with calcite is attributed to increased dissolution of the mineral in the acidic environment of the groundwater.

Improved modeling of groundwater recharge in agricultural watersheds using a combination of crop model and remote sensing

For improved water management and efficiency of use in agriculture, studies dealing with coupled crop-surface water-groundwater models are needed. Such integrated models of crop and hydrology can provide accurate quantification of spatio-temporal variations of water balance parameters such as soil moisture store, evapotranspiration and recharge in a catchment. Performance of a coupled crop-hydrology model would depend on the availability of a calibrated crop model for various irrigated/rainfed crops and also on an accurate knowledge of soil hydraulic parameters in the catchment at relevant scale. Moreover, such a coupled model should be designed so as to enable the use/assimilation of recent satellite remote sensing products (optical and microwave) in order to model the processes at catchment scales. In this study we present a framework to couple a crop model with a groundwater model for applications to irrigated groundwater agricultural systems. We discuss the calibration of the STICS crop model and present a methodology to estimate the soil hydraulic parameters by inversion of crop model using both ground and satellite based data. Using this methodology we demonstrate the feasibility of estimation of potential recharge due to spatially varying soil/crop matrix.

Characterization of groundwater chemistry under the influence of lithologic and anthropogenic factors along a climatic gradient in Upper Cauvery basin, South India

Hydrogeological and climatic effect on chemical behavior of groundwater along a climatic gradient is studied along a river basin. `Semi-arid' (500-800 mm of mean annual rainfall), `sub-humid' (800-1,200 mm/year) and `humid' (1,200-1,500 mm/year) are the climatic zones chosen along the granito-gneissic plains of Kabini basin in South India for the present analysis. Data on groundwater chemistry is initially checked for its quality using NICB ratio (<+/- 5 %), EC versus TZ+ (similar to 0.85 correlation), EC versus TDS and EC versus TH analysis. Groundwater in the three climatic zones is `hard' to `very hard' in terms of Ca-Mg hardness. Polluted wells are identified (> 40 % of pollution) and eliminated for the characterization. Piper's diagram with mean concentrations indicates the evolution of CaNaHCO3 (semi-arid) from CaHCO3 (humid zone) along the climatic gradient. Carbonates dominate other anions and strong acids exceeded weak acids in the region. Mule Hole SEW, an experimental watershed in sub-humid zone, is characterized initially using hydrogeochemistry and is observed to be a replica of entire sub-humid zone (with 25 wells). Extension of the studies for the entire basin (120 wells) showed a chemical gradient along the climatic gradient with sub-humid zone bridging semi-arid and humid zones. Ca/Na molar ratio varies by more than 100 times from semi-arid to humid zones. Semi-arid zone is more silicaceous than sub-humid while humid zone is more carbonaceous (Ca/Cl similar to 14). Along the climatic gradient, groundwater is undersaturated (humid), saturated (sub-humid) and slightly supersaturated (semi-arid) with calcite and dolomite. Concentration-depth profiles are in support of the geological stratification i.e., not approximate to 18 m of saprolite and similar to 25 m of fracture rock with parent gneiss beneath. All the wells are classified into four groups based on groundwater fluctuations and further into `deep' and `shallow' based on the depth to groundwater. Higher the fluctuations, larger is its impact on groundwater chemistry. Actual seasonal patterns are identified using `recharge-discharge' concept based on rainfall intensity instead of traditional monsoon-non-monsoon concept. Non-pumped wells have low Na/Cl and Ca/Cl ratios in recharge period than in discharge period (Dilution). Few other wells, which are subjected to pumping, still exhibit dilution chemistry though water level fluctuations are high due to annual recharge. Other wells which do not receive sufficient rainfall and are constantly pumped showed high concentrations in recharge period rather than in discharge period (Anti-dilution). In summary, recharge-discharge concept demarcates the pumped wells from natural deep wells thus, characterizing the basin.

Modeling the vulnerability of an urban groundwater system due to the combined impacts of climate change and management scenarios

Climate change impact on a groundwater-dependent small urban town has been investigated in the semiarid hard rock aquifer in southern India. A distributed groundwater model was used to simulate the groundwater levels in the study region for the projected future rainfall (2012-32) obtained from a general circulation model (GCM) to estimate the impacts of climate change and management practices on groundwater system. Management practices were based on the human-induced changes on the urban infrastructure such as reduced recharge from the lakes, reduced recharge from water and wastewater utility due to an operational and functioning underground drainage system, and additional water extracted by the water utility for domestic purposes. An assessment of impacts on the groundwater levels was carried out by calibrating a groundwater model using comprehensive data gathered during the period 2008-11 and then simulating the future groundwater level changes using rainfall from six GCMs Institute of Numerical Mathematics Coupled Model, version 3.0 (INM-CM. 3.0); L'Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace Coupled Model, version 4 (IPSL-CM4); Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate, version 3.2 (MIROC3.2); ECHAM and the global Hamburg Ocean Primitive Equation (ECHO-G); Hadley Centre Coupled Model, version 3 (HadCM3); and Hadley Centre Global Environment Model, version 1 (HadGEM1)] that were found to show good correlation to the historical rainfall in the study area. The model results for the present condition indicate that the annual average discharge (sum of pumping and natural groundwater outflow) was marginally or moderately higher at various locations than the recharge and further the recharge is aided from the recharge from the lakes. Model simulations showed that groundwater levels were vulnerable to the GCM rainfall and a scenario of moderate reduction in recharge from lakes. Hence, it is important to sustain the induced recharge from lakes by ensuring that sufficient runoff water flows to these lakes.

Bearing Capacity of Foundations with Inclined Groundwater Seepage

The ultimate bearing capacity of strip foundations in the presence of inclined groundwater flow, considering both upward and downward flow directions, has been determined by using the lower bound finite-element limit analysis. A numerical solution has been generated for both smooth and rough footings placed on frictional soils. A correction factor (f gamma), which needs to be multiplied with the N gamma-term, has been computed to account for groundwater seepage. The variation of f gamma has been obtained as a function of the hydraulic gradient (i) for various inclinations of groundwater flow. For a given magnitude of i, there exists a certain critical inclination of the flow for which the value of f gamma is minimized. With an upward flow, for all flow inclinations, the magnitude of f gamma always reduces with an increase in the value of i. An example has also been provided to illustrate the application of the obtained results when designing foundations in the presence of groundwater seepage.

Constraining complex aquifer geometry with geophysics (2-D ERT and MRS measurements) for stochastic modelling of groundwater flow

Stochastic modelling is a useful way of simulating complex hard-rock aquifers as hydrological properties (permeability, porosity etc.) can be described using random variables with known statistics. However, very few studies have assessed the influence of topological uncertainty (i.e. the variability of thickness of conductive zones in the aquifer), probably because it is not easy to retrieve accurate statistics of the aquifer geometry, especially in hard rock context. In this paper, we assessed the potential of using geophysical surveys to describe the geometry of a hard rock-aquifer in a stochastic modelling framework. The study site was a small experimental watershed in South India, where the aquifer consisted of a clayey to loamy-sandy zone (regolith) underlain by a conductive fissured rock layer (protolith) and the unweathered gneiss (bedrock) at the bottom. The spatial variability of the thickness of the regolith and fissured layers was estimated by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) profiles, which were performed along a few cross sections in the watershed. For stochastic analysis using Monte Carlo simulation, the generated random layer thickness was made conditional to the available data from the geophysics. In order to simulate steady state flow in the irregular domain with variable geometry, we used an isoparametric finite element method to discretize the flow equation over an unstructured grid with irregular hexahedral elements. The results indicated that the spatial variability of the layer thickness had a significant effect on reducing the simulated effective steady seepage flux and that using the conditional simulations reduced the uncertainty of the simulated seepage flux. As a conclusion, combining information on the aquifer geometry obtained from geophysical surveys with stochastic modelling is a promising methodology to improve the simulation of groundwater flow in complex hard-rock aquifers. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modelling the impact of extensive irrigation on the groundwater resources

Drastic groundwater resource depletion due to excessive extraction for irrigation is a major concern in many parts of India. In this study, an attempt was made to simulate the groundwater scenario of the catchment using ArcSWAT. Due to the restriction on the maximum initial storage, the deep aquifer component in ArcSWAT was found to be insufficient to represent the excessive groundwater depletion scenario. Hence, a separate water balance model was used for simulating the deep aquifer water table. This approach is demonstrated through a case study for the Malaprabha catchment in India. Multi-site rainfall data was used to represent the spatial variation in the catchment climatology. Model parameters were calibrated using observed monthly stream flow data. Groundwater table simulation was validated using the qualitative information available from the field. The stream flow was found to be well simulated in the model. The simulated groundwater table fluctuation is also matching reasonably well with the field observations. From the model simulations, deep aquifer water table fluctuation was found very severe in the semi-arid lower parts of the catchment, with some areas showing around 60m depletion over a period of eight years. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Bearing capacity of foundations subjected to groundwater flow

The ultimate bearing capacity of strip foundations subjected to horizontal groundwater flow has been computed by making use of the stress characteristics method which is well known for its capability in solving quite accurately different stability problems in geotechnical engineering. The numerical solution has been generated both for smooth and rough footings placed on frictional soils. A correction factor (fγ) associated with Nγ term, to account for the existence of ground water flow, has been introduced. The variation of fγ has been obtained as a function of hydraulic gradient (i) for different values of soil frictional angle. The magnitude of fγ reduces continuously with an increase in the value of i.

Influence of anthropogenic contamination on fluoride concentration in groundwater: A study of Mulbagal town, Kolar district, Karnataka

Groundwater contamination is a serious concern in India. Major geogenic contaminants include fluoride, arsenic and iron, while common anthropogenic contaminants include nitrate, metals, organics and microbial contamination. Besides, known point and diffuse sources, groundwater c ontamination from inf iltration of pit to ilet leachate is an emerging concern. The study area of this paper is Kolar district in Karnataka that is hot spot of fluoride contamination. The absence of fluoride contamination in Mulbagal town and the alterations in groundwater chemistry from infiltration of pit toilet leachate motivated the author to examine the possible linkages between anthropogenic contamination and fluoride concentration in groundwater of Mulbagal town. Analysis of the groundwater chemistry revealed that the groundwater in Mulbagal town is under saturated with respect to calcite that suppresses the dissolution of fluorite and the fluoride concentration in the groundwater. The slightly acidic pH of the groundwater is considered responsible to facilitate calcite dissolution under saturation.