Reasons for Depletion of Groundwater

Ground water is the water that seeps through rocks and soil and is stored below the ground. The rocks in which groundwater is stored are called aquifers. Aquifers are typically made up of gravel, sand, sandstone or limestone.

India has sufficient ground water for all?

According to the reports, day by day India lost its ground water and it declined rapidly. If we don’t take action on it, we pay big amount.

There are following reasons for depletion of Groundwater.

• Increased demand for water for domestic, industrial and agricultural needs and limited surface water resources lead to the over-exploitation of groundwater resources.

• There are limited storage facilities owing to the hard rock terrain, along with the added disadvantage of lack of rainfall, especially in central Indian states.

• Green Revolution enabled water intensive crops to be grown in drought prone/ water deficit regions, leading to over extraction of groundwater.

• Frequent pumping of water from the ground without waiting for its replenishment leads to quick depletion.

• Subsidies on electricity and high MSP for water intensive crops is also leading reasons for depletion.

• Water contamination as in the case of pollution by landfills, septic tanks, leaky underground gas tanks, and from overuse of fertilizers and pesticides lead to damage and depletion of groundwater resources.

• Inadequate regulation of groundwater laws encourages the exhaustion of groundwater resources without any penalty.

• Deforestation, unscientific methods of agriculture, chemical effluents from industries, lack of sanitation also lead to pollution of groundwater, making it unusable.

("The health of our waters is the principle measure of how we live on the land.")

(Image source:- Goggle image)

Solution to regenerate Groundwater

• There should be restrictions to cut off the access to groundwater in areas identified as "critical" and "dark zones", where the water table is overused or very low.

• There is a need to treat water as common resource rather than private property to prevent its overexploitation

• Problems and issues such as water logging, salinity, agricultural toxins, and industrial effluents, all need to be properly looked into.

• Research and scientific evaluations should be done before forming any policy.

• Water depletion can be controlled by reducing electricity subsidies.

• Another way of efficiently using groundwater is by encouraging farmers to adopt micro-irrigation techniques such as drip irrigation and micro-sprinklers. Government has initiated schemes like DRIP programme, more drop per crop, Krishi Sinchai Yojana to ensure economical water use practices in agriculture.

• Bottom-up approach by empowering the local community to become active participants in managing groundwater.

• Creating regulatory options at the community level such as panchayat is also one among the feasible solutions.

So, here are some reasons and solutions to how we regenerate Groundwater helps us for regenerating. If you have any new information, please share your information with us through comments. Get involved in water education! Learn more about groundwater and share your knowledge with others.