As per 2011 census, about 62% of the population of Kerala depend on ground water from dug wells and bore wells/ tube wells as drinking water source. Majority of these dug wells gets dried -up during the summer months, causing seasonal water scarcity which affects public water supply. The increasing demand of water year after year has also resulted in pressure on the aquifer systems in the state. Hence, estimation of ground water resource is an important exercise towards the scientific management. Judicious and planned development of ground water has become necessary to ensure its long-term sustainability. This requires scientific estimation of the availability of this resource and the current status of its utilization. In practice, it is periodically assessed and refined based on the approved methodology and as per the updated data inputs. The National Water Policy (NWP) of Government of India also insists periodical assessment of the ground water resources on a scientific basis taking into consideration all the components related to development and management of the ground water resources in any given terrain/area. In this paper, the summary of ground water resources of Kerala, estimated jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Ground Water Department (SGWD) as on 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017 is presented and a comparison of the changed scenario during these estimates are discussed. All possible criteria have been considered to assess various components of the ground water resources as realistically as possible based on the data available and the data provided by various agencies. As per the computations, there is a steady increase the number of semi-critical blocks during the period from 2009 to 2017. Correspondingly, the number of safe blocks is decreasing during the same period. Further, the area irrigated from ground water sources has shown a whopping increase from 2012 hectares during 1960-61 to 122478 hectares during 2016-17 which shows remarkable dependence of ground water for irrigation. The net annual ground water availability is steadily decreasing during the last decade and the stage of ground water development/extraction has touched to 50 percent as per the 2017 estimates. The exercise of ground water resource estimation is expected to provide an insight to proceed further in developing this natural resource on a sound scientific background in the state. Water managers and planners need to look widely for the optimal ways to improve water management and water supplies for sustainability.
Ground Water Resources of Kerala: Prospects and Development Strategies
₹100.00
As per 2011 census, about 62% of the population of Kerala depend on ground water from dug wells and bore wells/ tube wells as drinking water source. Majority of these dug wells gets dried -up during the summer months, causing seasonal water scarcity which affects public water supply. The increasing demand of water year after year has also resulted in pressure on the aquifer systems in the state. Hence, estimation of ground water resource is an important exercise towards the scientific management. Judicious and planned development of ground water has become necessary to ensure its long-term sustainability. This requires scientific estimation of the availability of this resource and the current status of its utilization. In practice, it is periodically assessed and refined based on the approved methodology and as per the updated data inputs. The National Water Policy (NWP) of Government of India also insists periodical assessment of the ground water resources on a scientific basis taking into consideration all the components related to development and management of the ground water resources in any given terrain/area. In this paper, the summary of ground water resources of Kerala, estimated jointly by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and State Ground Water Department (SGWD) as on 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017 is presented and a comparison of the changed scenario during these estimates are discussed. All possible criteria have been considered to assess various components of the ground water resources as realistically as possible based on the data available and the data provided by various agencies. As per the computations, there is a steady increase the number of semi-critical blocks during the period from 2009 to 2017. Correspondingly, the number of safe blocks is decreasing during the same period. Further, the area irrigated from ground water sources has shown a whopping increase from 2012 hectares during 1960-61 to 122478 hectares during 2016-17 which shows remarkable dependence of ground water for irrigation. The net annual ground water availability is steadily decreasing during the last decade and the stage of ground water development/extraction has touched to 50 percent as per the 2017 estimates. The exercise of ground water resource estimation is expected to provide an insight to proceed further in developing this natural resource on a sound scientific background in the state. Water managers and planners need to look widely for the optimal ways to improve water management and water supplies for sustainability.
Publication Mode |
Online |
---|---|
Publication Author |
K. R. Sooryanarayana, K. Balakrishnan, R. G. Krishnan, V. K. Vijesh |
Publication Language |
English |
Publication Type |
Conference Paper |
Publication Year |
2021 |
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