(Ground-) water challenges in semi-arid hard-rock regions of India

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

Perrin Jérôme, Ahmed Shakeel

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, IFCGRwww.ifcgr.net

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

India is the country in the world using the highest quantity of groundwater

Annual groundwater use (km3)

No of groundwater extraction/structure

% population dependant on groundwater

India 150 19 55-60Pakistan 45 0.5 60-65China 75 3.5 22-25Iran 29 0.5 12-18Mexico 29 0.07 5-6USA 100 0.2 <1-2

1. The context

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

85% of rural water supply schemes rely on groundwater sources (World Bank 2009)

Groundwater is a vital resources in rural areas (irrigation+domestic) and rural population represents 72%

of the country population (2001 national census)!

1. The context

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

The shallow hard-rock aquifers represent around 65% of India’s overall aquifer surface area (World Bank 2009)

The main “hard-rock states” account for close to 13 millions irrigation wells, more than twice the number

of states in alluvial plains (Shah 2009)

1. The context

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

Evolution of groundwater use for irrigation and electricity consumption in Andhra Pradesh (W. B. 2009)

1980-81 1998-99 2004-05

Number of irrigation wells 1.06 x 106 1.40 x 106 1.74 x 106

Groundwater irrigated areas 1.12 x 106 ha 1.76 x 106 ha 2.48 x 106 ha

Power consumption for pumping 920 GW-h 10,220 GW-h 12,240 GW-h

Since 1980, ten time more electricity consumption for only two times more irrigation

1. The context

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

-Overexploitation of the groundwater resource

-Deterioration of the groundwater quality

-Increasing energy consumption for pumping

Emerging challenges:

-Climate change an additional stress on the resource

-Increasing demand due to country development and population growth

2. The challenges

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

The Hindu 18 Aug 2009

2. The challenges

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

The Hindu 04 March 2009

2. The challenges

IFCGR set-up in November 1999

Joint collaboration between

National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), India

And

BRGM (French Geological Survey), France

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

3. An Indo-French initiative

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

Semi-arid climate

Main experimental sites

IFCGR research focusHard rock aquifers of Southern India:•semi-arid context•limited groundwater resources•high demand for agriculture

3. An Indo-French initiative

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

Maheshwaram experimentalwatershed:40 km S of HyderabadArea= 54 km2

3. An Indo-French initiative

Monitoring:-groundwater level-groundwater quality-met. station-land use

Main co-funded projects carried out at IFCGR:

Asia ProEco EC-funded project: SUSTWATER (2006-2008) – Development of a Decision Support Tool for groundwater resource sustainable management (DST-GW)Partners: BRGM, NGRI, Charles Univ.(CZ), IWMI, AP Groundwater Dept, AP Rural Development Dept.

ANR (French research agency) MOHINI (2008-2011) – integrated modeling of groundwater resources in hard-rock: vulnerability to global changesPartners: BRGM, NGRI, Univ. Strasbourg, Univ. Rennes, Univ. Montpellier, Itasca

ANR SHIVA (2009-2012) – Socio-economic assessment of the rural vulnerability of water users under stressors of global changes in hard-rock areas of South IndiaPartners: BRGM, NGRI, IFP-Pondichery, IRD, IISc, CSH-Delhi, CESS-Hyderabad, SIRS

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

3. An Indo-French initiative

1. Rural water management: coupling agronomical, hydrological, climatic, socioeconomic models for the regional context

Improved water resources management Decision Support Systems

2. Groundwater quality assessment: agricultural-related contaminants, salinisation, geogenic contaminants

How to simulate future trends according to scenarios of water use, agricultural practices, global changes, etc.

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

4. Some open key scientific questions

3. Assessing energy efficiency in groundwater pumping (water-energy nexus)

Development of methods for monitoring and coupled modeling (energy consumption, groundwater use)

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

4. Some open key scientific questions

4. How to better transfer key scientific findings related to water resource management to relevant institutions (government, policy-makers, rural communities, etc.)

THANK YOU

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

About 15% of India’s food production is currently dependent on unsustainable groundwater use (World Bank 2005)

If current trends continue, within 20 years 60% of all aquifers will be in critical conditions (World Bank 2005)

NGRI

Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research

IFCGR

According to the World Bank and Ministry of Water Resources(1998) , the contribution of groundwater to

India’s GDP is around 9%

1. The context

“The most conservative estimate put the economic value of groundwater irrigation in 2002 at US$8 billion

per year (…)” (Shah 2007)