Virtual National Seminar on \u201cResilience of Groundwater Resources for
\nAccommodating Changing Climate Scenarios\u201d Organized By International
\nAssociation of Hydrogeologist Indian National Chapter (IAH-INC)
\non February 27-28, 2021
\nInaugural Speech
\nby Shri B. N. Navalawala, Advisor to Hon\u2019ble Chief Minister of Gujarat<\/p>\n
Chairman, Co-chairman, Rapporteur, Keynote speakers, Panelists and Moderators of different Technical Sessions of the Seminar.
\nFirst of all, I profusely congratulate the organizers for organizing two days\u2019 virtual
\nNational Seminar on \u201cResilience of Groundwater Resources for accommodating
\nchanging climate scenarios\u201d. Also, I take immense pleasure as well as extend my
\nsincere thanks to the organizers for inviting me as the Chief Guest of the inaugural
\nfunction of this seminar. It is a great honour to be here today.
\nThis Seminar is being organized by Indian National Chapter of the International
\nAssociation of Hydrogeologist (IAH). IAH is the largest association of groundwater
\nprofessionals globally having branches in more than 160 countries. It is very
\nheartening to know that the Indian National Chapter is one of the strongest national
\nchapter of IAH in the world and are involved in so many activities like Conferring
\nAwards, regularly arranging Seminars and Talks, issuing e-Journal on Hydrogeology
\nand above all has become a rallying point and voice for groundwater professional in
\nIndia. I wish that INC-IAH will flourish more in coming days.
\nThousands of years old, our vedic scriptures such as Vedas, Upvedas & Purans make
\nspecial mention, extensively and frequently, about water as one of the five basic
\nelements (\u092a\u0902\u091a \u0924\u0924\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0935) vital for the living world (\u0938\u091c\u0940\u0935 \u0938\u0943\u0937\u094d\u091f\u093f), while stating that ‘\u091c\u0932 \u0939\u0940
\n\u091c\u0940\u0935\u0928\u092e\\\u2019.Water is the most essential resource now for major economic and societal
\nheadway anywhere in the world. India occupies 4% of the land but holds 16% of world
\npopulation, thus water resource- its spatiotemporal availability and increasing
\nwithdrawal with time. Climate change and contamination of water are among the
\nkey factors that are responsible for producing additional stress in last couple of
\ndecades on water resources.
\nGroundwater is a critical resource for food security, providing 40% of the world\u2019s
\nirrigation. Millions of farmers depend on groundwater irrigation to help produce 40%
\nof the world\u2019s agricultural production. Post green revolution in India,
\n2
\noverexploitation of groundwater, mainly due to intensive irrigation, has posed
\nserious problems for groundwater management in India. Food grain self-reliance has
\ncome largely at the cost of reckless groundwater exploitation, which has resulted in
\nto water insecurity.
\nSuch water crisis is going to be further exacerbated due to growing demand for food
\ngrains; which is projected to be 450 million matric tonnes by the year 2050. At the
\nsame time, the availability of water for agriculture is likely to go down further
\n(proportionally) as a result of fast increasing use of water by the industry and
\ndomestic consumers. As such, this calls for optimizing the efficiency for Water
\nResources Management for agriculture.
\n\uf0d8 Overexploitation paves the way for many collateral hazards like, decline of
\nwater tables, dwindling yield of wells, seawater ingress in coastal aquifers, rising
\ngroundwater pollution etc. As per the latest estimation by CGWB (2017) in
\nabout 17%, area of the country the annual extraction is more than annual
\nrecharge, falling in overexploited category.
\n\uf0d8 Dramatic regional aquifer depletion is observed, particularly in the northern
\nregions such as Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, where the Green Revolution
\ntook root and much of the national grain production comes from.
\n\uf0d8 If we still continue with recklessness through unplanned and un-sustained
\nextraction of groundwater, the crisis would further aggravate. Groundwater
\ndepletion is becoming a global threat to food security, yet the ultimate impacts
\nof depletion on agricultural production and the efficacy of available adaptation
\nstrategies remain poorly quantified. Various studies suggest that, given current
\ndepletion trends, cropping intensity may decrease by 20% nationwide and by
\n68% in groundwater-depleted regions.
\n\uf0d8 Even if surface irrigation delivery is improved as a supply-side adaptation
\nstrategy, which is being widely promoted by the Indian government, cropping
\nintensity will decrease, become more vulnerable to inter-annual rainfall
\nvariability, and become more spatially uneven. Since, groundwater and canal
\nirrigation are not substitutable, additional adaptation strategies will be
\nnecessary to maintain current levels of production in the face of groundwater
\ndepletion.
\n\uf0d8 Climate change is acting as a force multiplier; it is enhancing groundwater’s
\ncriticality for drought-proofing agriculture and simultaneously multiply the
\nthreat to the resource. Extreme events in rainfall reduces the recharge to
\ngroundwater since flash floods in place of gradual runoff badly affect recharge.
\n3
\n\uf0d8 Of late, the dialogue on water and the environment has significantly shifted
\ntowards ways in which the environment can not only be conserved but to be
\nmanaged to meet human needs on sustainable basis and with a focus on
\nworking with nature to produce co-benefits for both people and nature. Naturebased (friendly) Solutions for Water has significantly contributed to such
\ndialogue.
\n\uf0d8 The option of building more surface water reservoirs is increasingly limited
\nmainly due to environmental concerns and rehabilitation issues. The fact is that
\nthe most cost-effective and viable sites have already been used. In addition,
\nincreasing temperatures lead to increased water loss through evaporation. As
\npart of this shift, groundwater and the subsurface environments that contain it,
\ni.e. aquifers are increasingly seen as strategic and integral resources for
\nproviding water supplies and other natural ecosystem services that support
\nhuman development and resilience.
\n\uf0d8 Following to population growth, progressively increasing demands for
\ngroundwater and climate alongwith environmental changes have made the
\ncurrent situation more complex. As such, it is now critically important to
\nenhance, manage and sustain services, derived from nature-based
\ninfrastructure of aquifers, through managing and optimizing underground
\nwater storage to enhance resilience in dry periods or seasons of uncertain and
\nvariable climate.
\n\uf0d8 Deterioration in groundwater quality due to various causes is another serious
\nissue. A contaminated groundwater, even it is available in plenty, cannot be
\nconsidered as a utilizable resource. The deadly arsenic contamination is
\nincreasing day by day and now being reported from 163 districts of 21 states.
\n\uf0d8 Besides, high salinity, fluoride, nitrate and iron are common water quality
\nissues. Many researchers argue that contamination is rising as the
\noverexploitation of resource is expanding.
\nFor protection, conservation and management of ground water resources in the
\ncountry the Govt. of India in the Ministry of Water Resources has drafted Model
\nGround Water (Sustainable Management) Bill, 2016 and circulated to the states\/UT\u2019s
\nfor implementation with a view to overcome the below listed four main obstacles in
\nachieving sustainable management of this resource:
\ni. Overbearing power of landowners on access to and control over groundwater
\nleads to failure of regulation in tackling over-exploitation, contamination and
\nprotection on a larger scale,
\n4
\nii. Direct links between rights to ground water and land ownership excludes the
\nvast number of landless people from a direct access to this resource,
\niii. Existing groundwater legal regime fails to incorporate many legal
\ndevelopments and Supreme Court pronouncements that have taken place
\nover the past few years, and
\niv. Existing groundwater legal regime fails to integrate the fundamental right to
\nwater that has been a part of Indian Law for past few decades.
\nFor effective implementation of the Ground Water (SM) Bill 2016, it is critically
\nimportant to address certain key issues namely;
\ni. Delinking of land rights from water rights and the possible legal alternatives
\nand likely consequences of such separation,
\nii. Right to water to be recognized as a fundamental right under Article (21) of
\nthe constitution,
\niii. Prioritization of uses with the right to drinking water, being the highest should
\nbe recognized under law,
\niv. Comprehensive understanding of legal regimes in which environmental and
\nother multiple use values would be required for incorporating in any new
\nlegal regime.
\nRealizing the criticality of groundwater resources, Government of India has also
\ninitiated several schemes to address various issues as under:
\n\uf076 National Aquifer Mapping Programme is going on for detailed mapping of
\naquifers since 2012,
\n\uf076 Atal Bhujal Yojana has been initiated to encourage the stake holders to save
\ngroundwater,
\n\uf076 PMKSY- ground water has been initiated to develop further assured irrigation
\nby extracting untapped groundwater,
\n\uf076 Jal Jeevan Mission to supply tap (piped) water in all rural households, where
\ngroundwater based supply plays a major role.
\n\uf076 In MGNREGA, the largest poverty alleviation programme in the world, major
\nwork components are related to rain water harvesting and artificial recharge.
\nIncreased awareness among the various stakeholders and political and
\nadministrative determination, through various measures will create significant
\nimpact.
\n5
\nThe seminar is well versed with four technical sessions, covering the whole gamut of
\ngroundwater as resource, from its exploration, monitoring, assessment and
\nmanagement, contamination, and also impact on groundwater resource by climate
\nchange. It is heartening to see that a session is devoted on community-based
\nmanagement of the resources. I hope that the inclusive concluding session would
\nsynthesize all deliberations in four technical sessions and pave a way for formulating
\nthe pragmatic recommendations from this seminar. I congratulate in advance all the
\nexpert speakers as well as the panelist of this virtual seminar. I wish a grand success
\nof this seminar and sincerely thank again for giving me this opportunity to share my
\nthoughts with the galaxy of experts of groundwater management who are present
\nhere.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Virtual National Seminar on \u201cResilience of Groundwater Resources for Accommodating Changing Climate Scenarios\u201d Organized By International Association of Hydrogeologist Indian National Chapter (IAH-INC) on February 27-28, 2021 Inaugural Speech by Shri B. N. Navalawala, Advisor to Hon\u2019ble Chief Minister of Gujarat Chairman, Co-chairman, Rapporteur, Keynote speakers, Panelists and Moderators of different Technical Sessions of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[24,54],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/allgujaratnews.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/navalawala.jpg?fit=1024%2C623&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUKPQ-c2m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46276,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46274\/revisions\/46276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}