Recharge groundwater to keep taps flowing, say experts

India should invest in mapping the country's aquifers and take steps to aid groundwater recharge to check a looming water crisis, experts said.

With 40 per cent of the country under the impact of consecutive failed monsoons, water rationing could become a norm in many parts of the country in the coming summer, they warned.

According to a recent Central Water Commission report, water levels in the Maharashtra reservoirs are 58 per cent below normal. Alarming, as the summer is forecast to be long and dry.

India's water crisis has been brewing for long. A 2007 report of an Expert Group on Groundwater Management and Ownership of the Planning Commission showed that in 2004, as much as 28 per cent of all blocks showed alarmingly high levels of groundwater use.

The mid-term appraisal of the 11th five-year Plan (2007-08 to 2012-13) also noted nearly 60 per cent of all districts had problems with either the quantity or quality of groundwater.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, network of organisations and individuals working in the sector, says the government should first acknowledge that groundwater is the country's 'water lifeline' and policies could then be framed.

  Nearly two-third of India's irrigation needs - 80 per cent of rural water supply and 55 per cent of urban and industrial water usage - are met through ground water.

"Groundwater is the lifeline and if we want to sustain that, we need to first understand the recharge systems such as rivers, wetlands etc, and device methods to enhance and protect them. Second, we need to enhance groundwater resources through artificial means. Third, groundwater use should be curtailed through regulation. For this, a national water aquifer map and budgeting are needed," said Thakkar.

An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing rock, from which groundwater is extracted.

The Union water resources ministry has undertaken a programme to map all aquifers over 1.4 million square km of area by 2022, with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore, to ensure sustainable extraction.

Once the water in each district or block is known, a plan can be chalked to regulate usage for all purposes.

A recent report by WaterAid shows India has more numbers living without access to safe drinking water than economically poorer African nations such as Nigeria, Ethiopia and Congo.

Nearly 140,000 children die every year in the country due to diarrhoea.