In India, groundwater has played the pivotal role in fulfilling the demands of domestic, industrial and agriculture sectors. At present the groundwater in India contributes more than 58% drinking water, 52% for agriculture production and 50% for urban and industrial sectors. Indiscriminate development and unscientific management of this resource has led to multiple problems of decline in groundwater level, sea water ingress , in- land salinity, groundwater pollution, land subsidence etc.

The measures that need to be adopted in the country to meet the increased water demand in the new millennium would include exploration of deeper aquifers, groundwater recharge, development of aquifers in flood plains, direct use of saline / brackish water, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in canal command area, creation of groundwater sanctuaries and regulation of groundwater development.

Groundwater development in India
- Important Issues

During the past five decades, there has been phenomenal increase in growth of groundwater abstraction structures in India. Their number has increased from 4 million in 1951 to about 18 million in 1997-99, while in the same period irrigation potential created from Groundwater has increased from 6 to 30 million hectares.

Commensurate with this growth, groundwater development has been intensive in alluvial area of Indo-Ganga-Yamuna plains of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and in parts of hard rock terrain in southern States. Though over-exploitation of the resource in some parts of the country has created serious problems, a large portion of the available resources still remains untapped, particularly in north-eastern areas, where precipitation is high and the demand for irrigation is low and also in eastern States where fragmented nature of land holdings has been a major factor in low development of groundwater.

Adverse Impact of Groundwater Development

· Over-Exploitation-
In many arid and hard rock areas rapid pace of Groundwater development and associated overdraft has resulted in failure of wells and salinity ingress.

· Water Logging-
Large areas in command areas of major irrigation projects suffer from water logging, soil salinity or alkalinity. High intensity of irrigation without adequate drainage has resulted in rapid rise in water table and increased chances of water logging conditions.

· Water Quality Deterioration-

Landward movement of 'sea water - fresh water' interface has resulted into salinity ingress in several areas e.g. Minjur area Tamilnadu, Mangrol-Chorwad area-Porbander belt along Saurashtra coast, east of Neyveli lignite mines( Pondicheri). Over exploitation of groundwater has also resulted into severe arsenic anomaly reported from West Bengal.

Steps to resolve groundwater development constraints

· Development of comprehensive information system about the resource base.
· Setting groundwater quality standards reflecting national priorities.
· Establishment of groundwater protected areas by focusing on notification of protected areas for ' key aquifers', rather than attempting to protect at once, all groundwater resources .
· Groundwater pollution control by identifying sources and extent of pollution and by strict enforcement of remedial measure.
· Extraction control by setting legal limits on pumping or by motivation for efficient use of Groundwater.
· Restriction on subsurface disposal of solid as well as liquid waste
· Land use regulation by restricting use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, housing density, set up of sewage treatment plants, under ground storage tanks pipelines etc.
· Conservation and augmentation of groundwater by enhancing the recharge capabilities of the aquifer using site-suitable techniques.