Mega Integration of Water Cycle and Socio-economics of India
Alternative Futures participated in the 7th International Ground Water Conference held from 11th to 13th of December 2017 in New Delhi. The focus of the three-day event was Ground Water Vision 2030: Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation. The event was organized by the Central Ground Water Board and National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee in association with Association of Global Ground Water Scientists and Texas A&M University, USA.
The conference was aimed at providing a forum to researchers, academics, policymakers, and industrialists among others to present their visions on Ground water management in the face of rising world population and climate change impacts.
G N Kathpalia and Rakesh Kapoor presented a paper on “Mega Integration of Water Cycle and Socio-economics of India” at the conference as part of the session titled “Vision 2030: Preparing for a Water Secure Future”. The paper recommends certain concrete steps that are needed to integrate India’s hydrological cycle with its diverse Socio-economic conditions in a community-driven manner with a special focus on monitoring mechanisms at the local and national level. Although there are problems aplenty as of this moment in the country’s Groundwater management, the paper argues that any new policy should focus on what the situation will be like in 2050 to create a long-term strategy for groundwater management in the country. Such a strategy should also take into account the changes that have taken place in terms of water use over the last three decades. With regard to the issue of Ground water depletion, the paper tries to shed some light on supply side issues such as land-use changes, rapid urbanisation, and groundwater pollution, all of which are seldom discussed at various fora but are destructive practices that affect groundwater infiltration the most.
Both, the paper and the accompanying presentation are available for download below.