A

Seminar Report
on

GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT FOR

A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
(Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY in WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT)
By
Sunil Shah
Enrollment No. 15548024

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Dr.Dipak Khare
WRD&M, IIT Roorkee

WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE
April 2016
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE
CANDIDATES DECLARATION
 I hereby declare that the work which is being presented in this Seminar, entitled,
Ground Water Management For A Sustainable Development, in the partial fulfillment of
requirements for the award of the degree of M. Tech. in Water Resources Development,
submitted in the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian
Institute of Technology, Roorkee is an authentic record of my own work carried out during a
period from Jan 2016 to April 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Dipak Khare, Professor,
Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee (IITR), Roorkee, India.

Date: April, 2016

Place: WRD&M, IIT Roorkee (SUNIL SHAH)

ENROLLMENT NO. 15548024

C ERTI F I C ATE

This is to certify that the above statement made by the candidate is correct to the best of my
knowledge.

(Dr. Dipak Khare)

Professor
Department of Water Resources Development and Management
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee 247 677 Date: April, 2016

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Dipak

Khare, Professor, Department of Water Resources Development and
Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, for his valuable
guidance for the completion of my Seminar Report. I am highly obliged
to him for his keen interest and encouragement throughout the writing.
Working under his guidance is a privilege and an excellent learning
experience that I will flourish in my life time.

I am also extremely thankful to all our concerning course coordinators

and to Asst. Prof. Dr.Thanga Raj Chelliah (O. C. Seminar), Department of
Water Resources Development and Management, IIT Roorkee, for his
valuable suggestions on the report.

SUNIL SHAH
Enrolment No: 15548024

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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Ground Water........................................................................................................ 3
1.2 Sustainable Development...................................................................................... 3
There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one
which first appeared in 1987:...................................................................................... 3
2 DIFFERENT ASPECTS RELATED TO GROUND WATER....................................................5
2.1 GROUND WATER DEVELOPMENT........................................................................... 5
2.1.1 Ground-Water Budgets.................................................................................... 5
2.1.2 Hypothetical Examples of How Ground-Water Systems Change in Response to
Pumping................................................................................................................... 8
2.1.3 Field Examples of How Ground-Water Systems Change in Response to
Pumping................................................................................................................. 10
2.2 GROUND WATER RECHARGE............................................................................... 15
2.2.1 Estimation methods...................................................................................... 16
2.2.1(a) Physical..................................................................................................... 16
2.2.1(b) Chemical................................................................................................... 16
2.2.1(c) Numerical models..................................................................................... 16
2.3 AVAILABLE STORAGE AND ABSTRACTION OF GROUND WATER...........................17
2.4 GLOBAL WATER PERSPECTIVE: 1990-2000..........................................................19
2.5 WATER CRISIS...................................................................................................... 20
2.6 GROUND WATER ISSUES...................................................................................... 23
2.6.1 Overdraft....................................................................................................... 25
2.6.2 Subsidence.................................................................................................... 25
2.6.3 Seawater intrusion........................................................................................ 26
2.6.4 Pollution........................................................................................................ 26
3. GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT................................................................................27
3.1 GROUNDWATER AS A GOOD SUPPLEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES.....................27
3.2 GROUNDWATER AND ENERGY............................................................................. 28
3.3 GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT...........................................................................28
3.3.1 Conjunctive and Sustainable Use of Groundwater.........................................29
3.3.2 Water Efficiency In Agriculture......................................................................29
3.3.3 Water Efficiency in Industry...........................................................................30
3.3.4 Water Supply and Distribution.......................................................................30
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 3.3.5 Water Recycling, Reuse and Harvesting........................................................31
3.3.6 Groundwater Legislation and Pollution..........................................................31
3.4 TOOLS TO SUPPORT POLICY DEVELOPMENT........................................................32
4. CASE STUDIES.......................................................................................................... 33
4.1 Case study background....................................................................................... 33
4.2 Groundwater governance.................................................................................... 33
4.3 Methodology........................................................................................................ 33
4.4 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in India..................................................34
4.5 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in Kenya................................................35
4.6 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in South Africa.......................................36
5. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................. 37
6. CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................... 38
REFERENCES:............................................................................................................... 40

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 Chapter 1

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Ground Water
The water below the ground surface lying within the various formations of earth is
known as ground water. Ground water is a precious and the most widely distributed
resource of the earth and unlike any other mineral resource, it gets its annual
replenishment from the meteoric precipitation. The worlds total water resources are
estimated at 1.37x108million ha-m. Of these global water resources about 97.2% is
salt water mainly in oceans and only 2.8% is available as fresh water at any time on
the earth. Out of this 2.8%, about 2.2% is available as surface water and 0.6% as
ground water. Even out of this 2.2% of surface water, 2.15% is fresh water in glaciers
and icecaps and only of the order of 0.01% (1.36 x 10 4 M ha-m) is available in lakes
and reservoirs and 0.0001% in streams; the remaining being in other forms- 0.001% as
water vapor in atmosphere and 0.002% as soil moisture in the top 0.6 m. Out of 0.6%
stored ground water, only about 0.3% (4.11 x 10 4 M ha-m) can be economically
extracted with the present drilling technology, the remaining being unavailable as it is
situated below a depth of 800 m.

Thus ground water is the largest source of fresh water on the earth excluding
the polar icecaps and glaciers. The amount of ground water within 800 m from the
ground surface is over 30 times the amount in all fresh water lakes and reservoirs, and
about 3000 times the amount in stream channels, at any one time.

At present nearly one fifth of all the water used in the world is obtained from ground
water resources. Agriculture is the greatest user of water accounting for 80% of all
consumption. It takes, roughly speaking, 1000 tons of water to grow one ton of grain
and 2000 tons to grow one ton of rice. Animal husbandry and fisheries all require
abundant water. Some only 15% of worlds crop land is irrigated.

1.2 Sustainable Development

There are many definitions of sustainable development, including this landmark one
which first appeared in 1987:

"Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs."
From the World Commission on Environment and Developments
(the Brundtland Commission) report Our Common Future
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).

People concerned about sustainable development suggest that meeting the needs of
the future depends on how well we balance social, economic, and environmental
objectives or needs when making decisions today.

3
Many of these objectives may seem to conflict with each other in the short term. For
example, industrial growth might conflict with preserving natural resources. Yet, in the
long term, responsible use of natural resources now will help ensure that there are
resources available for sustained industrial growth far into the future.

Studying the puzzle raises a number of difficult questions. For example, can the long
term economic objective of sustained agricultural growth be met if the ecological
objective of preserving biodiversity is not? What happens to the environment in the
long term if a large number of people cannot afford to meet their basic household
needs today? If you did not have access to safe water, and therefore needed wood to
boil drinking water so that you and your children would not get sick, would you worry
about causing deforestation? Or, if you had to drive a long distance to get to work
each day, would you be willing to move or get a new job to avoid polluting the air with
your car exhaust? If we dont balance our social, economic, and environmental
objectives in the short term, how can we expect to sustain our development in the
long term?

Some of the more common examples of sustainable development practices are:

Solar and wind energy. Energy from these resources is limitless, meaning we
have the ability to eliminate dependence on non-renewable power sources by
harnessing power from renewable resources.

Sustainable construction. Homes, offices and other structures that incorporate

recycled and renewable resources will be more energy efficient and stand the
test of time.

Crop rotation. Many farmers and gardeners are using this method as a chemical
free way to reduce diseases in the soil and increase growth potential of their
crops.

4
 Water fixtures. Water conservation is critical to sustainable development, and
more and more products are available that use less water in the home, such as
showers, toilets, dishwashers and laundry systems.

The worlds resources are finite, and growth that is unmanaged and unsustained will
lead to increased poverty and decline of the environment. We owe it to future
generations to explore lifestyles and paths of development that effectively balance
progress with awareness of its environmental impact. In order to preserve the future,
we must appreciate the interconnectedness between humans and nature at all levels.
Sustainable development practices can help us do this, and through education and
building awareness, preserving the future is within everyones reach.

2 DIFFERENT ASPECTS RELATED TO GROUND WATER

2.1 GROUND WATER DEVELOPMENT
A ground-water system consists of a mass of water flowing through the pores or cracks
below the Earth's surface. This mass of water is in motion. Water is constantly added
to the system by recharge from precipitation, and water is constantly leaving the
system as discharge to surface water and as evapotranspiration. Each ground-water
system is unique in that the source and amount of water flowing through the system is
dependent upon external factors such as rate of precipitation, location of streams and
other surface-water bodies, and rate of evapotranspiration. The one common factor for
all ground-water systems, however, is that the total amount of water entering, leaving,
and being stored in the system must be conserved. An accounting of all the inflows,
outflows, and changes in storage is called a water budget.

Human activities, such as ground-water withdrawals and irrigation, change the natural
flow patterns, and these changes must be accounted for in the calculation of the water
budget. Because any water that is used must come from somewhere, human activities
affect the amount and rate of movement of water in the system, entering the system
and leaving the system.

Some hydrologists believe that a pre-development water budget for a ground-water

system (i.e. a water budget for the natural conditions before humans used the water)
can be used to calculate the amount of water available for consumption (or the safe
yield). In this case, the development of a ground-water system is considered to be
"safe" if the rate of ground-water withdrawal does not exceed the rate of natural
recharge. This concept has been referred to as the "Water-Budget Myth" (Bredehoeft
and others, 1982). It is a myth because it is an oversimplification of the information
that is needed to understand the effects of developing a ground-water system. As
human activities change the system, the components of the water budget (inflows,
outflows, and changes in storage) also will change and must be accounted for in any
management decision. Understanding water budgets and how they change in
response to human activities is an important aspect of ground-water hydrology;
however, as we shall see, a predevelopment water budget by itself is of limited value
5
in determining the amount of ground water that can be withdrawn on a sustained
basis.

2.1.1 Ground-Water Budgets

Under predevelopment conditions, the ground-water system is in long-term
equilibrium. That is, averaged over some period of time, the amount of water entering
or recharging the system is approximately equal to the amount of water leaving or
discharging from the system. Because the system is in equilibrium, the quantity of
water stored in the system is constant or varies about some average condition in
response to annual or longer-term climatic variations. This predevelopment water
budget is shown schematically in Figure (1A).

We also can write an equation that describes the water budget of the predevelopment
system as:

Recharge (water entering) = Discharge (water leaving)

The water leaving often is discharged to streams and rivers and is called base flow.
The possible inflows (recharge) and outflows (discharge) of a ground-water system
under natural (equilibrium) conditions are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Possible sources of water entering and leaving a

ground-water system under natural conditions
Inflow (recharge) Outflow (discharge)

1. Areal recharge from 1. Discharge to streams,

precipitation that lakes, wetlands, saltwater
percolates through the bodies (bays, estuaries, or
unsaturated zone to the oceans), and springs.
water table.
2. Recharge from losing 2. Ground-water
streams, lakes, and evapotranspiration.
wetlands.

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Figure1. Diagrams illustrating water budgets for a ground-water system for predevelopment and
development conditions.

(A) Predevelopment water-budget diagram illustrating that inflow equals outflow. (B)
Water-budget diagram showing changes in flow for a ground-water system being
pumped. The sources of water for the pumpage are changes in recharge, discharge,
and the amount of water stored. The initial predevelopment values do not directly
enter the budget calculation.

Humans change the natural or predevelopment flow system by withdrawing (pumping)

water for use, changing recharge patterns by irrigation and urban development,
changing the type of vegetation, and other activities. Focusing our attention on the
effects of withdrawing ground water, we can conclude that the source of water for
pumpage must be supplied by (1) more water entering the ground-water system
(increased recharge), (2) less water leaving the system (decreased discharge), (3)
removal of water that was stored in the system, or some combination of these three.

This statement, illustrated in Figure (1B), can be written in terms of rates (or volumes
over a specified period of time) as:

Pumpage = Increased recharge + Water removed from storage + Decreased

discharge.

It is the changes in the system that allows water to be withdrawn. That is, the water
pumped must come from some change of flows and from removal of water stored in
the predevelopment system (Theis, 1940; Lohman, 1972). The predevelopment water
budget does not provide information on where the water will come from to supply the
amount withdrawn. Furthermore, the predevelopment water budget only indirectly
provides information on the amount of water perennially available, in that it can only
indicate the magnitude of the original discharge that can be decreased (captured)

7
under possible, usually extreme, development alternatives at possible significant
expense to the environment.

The source of water for pumpage is supplied by (1) more water entering the ground-
water system (increased recharge), (2) less water leaving the system (decreased
discharge), (3) removal of water that was stored in the system, or some combination
of these three.

Regardless of the amount of water withdrawn, the system will undergo some
drawdown in water levels in pumping wells to induce the flow of water to these wells,
which means that some water initially is removed from storage. Thus, the ground-
water system serves as both a water reservoir and a water-distribution system. For
most ground-water systems, the change in storage in response to pumping is a
transient phenomenon that occurs as the system readjusts to the pumping stress. The
relative contributions of changes in storage, changes in recharge and changes in
discharge evolve with time. The initial response to withdrawal of water is changes in
storage. If the system can come to a new equilibrium, the changes in storage will stop
and inflows will again balance outflows:

Pumpage = Increased recharge + Decreased discharge

Thus, the long-term source of water to discharging wells is typically a change in the
amount of water entering or leaving the system. How much ground water is available
for use depends upon how these changes in inflow and outflow affect the surrounding
environment and what the public defines as undesirable effects on the environment.

In determining the effects of pumping and the amount of water available for use, it is
critical to recognize that not all the water pumped is necessarily consumed. For
example, not all the water pumped for irrigation is consumed by evapotranspiration.
Some of the water returns to the ground-water system as infiltration (irrigation return
flow). Most other uses of ground water are similar in that some of the water pumped is
not consumed but is returned to the system. Thus, it is important to differentiate
between the amount of water pumped and the amount of water consumed when
estimating water availability and developing sustainable management strategies.

The possibilities of severe, long-term droughts and climate change also should be
considered. Long-term droughts, which virtually always result in reduced ground-water
recharge, may be viewed as a natural stress on a ground-water system that in many
ways has effects similar to ground-water withdrawals--namely, reductions in ground-
water storage and accompanying reductions in ground-water discharge to streams and
other surface-water bodies. Because a climate stress on the hydrologic system is
added to the existing or projected human-derived stress, droughts represent extreme
hydrologic conditions that should be evaluated in any long-term management plan.

Consideration of climate can be a key, but underemphasized, factor in ensuring the

sustainability and proper management of ground-water resources.
8
2.1.2 Hypothetical Examples of How Ground-Water Systems Change in
Response to Pumping
Consider a ground-water system in which the only natural source of inflow is areal
recharge from precipitation. The amount of inflow is thus relatively fixed. Further
consider that the primary sources of any water pumped from this ground-water system
are removal from storage, decreased discharge to streams and decreased
transpiration by plants rooted near the water table.

If the above-described ground-water system can come to a new equilibrium after a

period of removing water from storage, the amount of water consumed is balanced by
less water flowing to surface-water bodies, and perhaps, less water available for
transpiration by vegetation as the water table declines. If the consumptive use is so
large that a new equilibrium cannot be achieved, water would continue to be removed
from storage. In either case, less water will be available to surface-water users and the
ecological resources dependent on stream flow. Depending upon the location of the
water withdrawals, the headwaters of streams may begin to go dry. If the vegetation
receives less water, the vegetative character of the area also might change. These
various effects illustrate how the societal issue of what constitutes an undesired result
enters into the determination of ground-water sustainability. The tradeoff between
water for consumption and the effects of withdrawals on the environment often
become the driving force in determining a good management scheme.

In most situations, withdrawals from ground-water systems are derived primarily from
decreased ground-water discharge and decreased ground-water storage. These
sources of water were thus emphasized in the previous example. Two special situations
in which increased recharge can occur in response to ground-water withdrawals are
noted here.

Pumping ground water can increase recharge by inducing flow from a stream into the
ground-water system. When streams flowing across ground-water systems originate in
areas outside these systems, the source of water being discharged by pumpage can
be supplied in part by streamflow that originates upstream from the ground-water
basin. In this case, the predevelopment water budget of the ground-water system does
not account for a source of water outside the ground-water system that is potentially
available as recharge from the stream.

Another potential source of increased recharge is the capture of recharge that was
originally rejected because water levels were at or near land surface. As the water
table declines in response to pumping, a storage capacity for infiltration of water
becomes available in the unsaturated zone. As a result, some water that previously
was rejected as surface runoff can recharge the aquifer and causes a net increase in
recharge. This source of water to pumping wells is usually negligible, however,
compared to other sources.

9
In summary, estimation of the amount of ground water that is available for use
requires consideration of two key elements. First, the use of ground water and surface
water must be evaluated together on a systemwide basis. This evaluation includes the
amount of water available from changes in ground-water recharge, from changes in
ground-water discharge and from changes in storage for different levels of water
consumption. Second, because any use of ground water changes the subsurface and
surface environment (i.e., the water must come from somewhere), the public should
determine the tradeoff between ground-water use and changes to the environment
and set a threshold at which the level of change becomes undesirable. This threshold
can then be used in conjunction with a systemwide analysis of the ground-water and
surface-water resources to determine appropriate limits for consumptive use.

Systemwide hydrologic analyses typically use simulations (i.e. computer models) to

aid in estimating water availability and the effects of extracting water on the ground-
water and surface-water system. Computer models attempt to reproduce the most
important features of an actual system with a mathematical representation. If
constructed correctly, the model represents the complex relations among the inflows,
outflows, changes in storage, movement of water in the system, and possibly other
important features. As a mathematical representation of the system, the model can be
used to estimate the response of the system to various development options and
provide insight into appropriate management strategies. However, a computer model
is a simplified representation of the actual system, and the judgment of water-
management professionals is required to evaluate model simulation results and plan
appropriate actions. We return to the use of models in the final chapter of this report,
"Meeting the Challenges of Ground-Water Sustainability."

Because any use of ground water changes the subsurface and surface environment
(i.e. the water must come from somewhere) the public should determine the tradeoff
between ground-water use and changes to the environment and set a threshold for
what level of change becomes undesirable.

10
2.1.3 Field Examples of How Ground-Water Systems Change in
Response to Pumping
LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK

Long Island is bounded on the north by Long Island Sound, on the east and south by
the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by New York Bay and the East River. Long Island is
divided into four counties--Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. The two western
counties, Kings and Queens, are part of New York City.

Precipitation that infiltrates and percolates to the water table is Long Island's only
natural source of freshwater because the ground-water system is bounded on the
bottom by relatively impermeable bedrock and on the sides by saline ground water or
saline bays and the ocean. About one-half the precipitation becomes recharge to the
ground-water system; the rest flows as surface runoff to streams or is lost through
evapotranspiration (Cohen and others, 1968). Much of the precipitation that reaches
the uppermost unconfined aquifer moves laterally and discharges to streams and
surrounding saltwater bodies; the remainder seeps downward to recharge the deeper
aquifers. Water enters these deeper aquifers very slowly in areas where confining units
are present but enters freely in other areas where confining units are absent. Water in
the deeper aquifers also moves seaward and eventually seeps into overlying aquifers.
Predevelopment water budgets for most of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island
are shown in Figure2.

Over the past three centuries, the island's ground water has been developed through
three distinct phases. In the first, which began with the arrival of European settlers in
the mid-17th century, virtually every house had its own shallow well, which tapped the
uppermost unconsolidated geologic deposits, and also had its own cesspool, which
returned wastewater to these same deposits. Because population was sparse, this
mode of operation had little effect on the quantity and quality of shallow ground water.
During the next two centuries, the population increased steadily, and, by the end of
11
the 19th century, the individual wells in some areas had been abandoned in favor of
shallow public-supply wells.

The second phase began with the rapid population growth and urban development
that occurred during the first half of the 20th century. The high permeability of Long
Island's deposits encouraged the widespread use of domestic wastewater-disposal
systems, and the contamination resulting from increased wastewater discharge led to
the eventual abandonment of many domestic wells and shallow public-supply wells in
favor of deeper, high-capacity wells. In general, pumping these deep wells had only a
small effect on the quantity of shallow ground water and related surface-water
systems because most of the water was returned to the ground-water reservoir
through domestic wastewater-disposal systems.

12
Figure2. Ground-water budget for part of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Long Island,
New York. (Modified from Cohen and others, 1968.)

Block diagram of Long Island, New York and tables listing the overall water budget and
ground-water budget under predevelopment conditions. Both water budgets assume
equilibrium conditions with little or no change in storage.
The third and present phase of ground- water development on Long Island began in
the early 1950's with the introduction of large-scale sewer systems in the more heavily
populated areas. The purpose of the sewers was to prevent domestic wastewater from
entering the aquifer system because contaminants from this source were being
detected in deep public-supply wells. Even though the sewers protect the aquifers
from further contamination, they also prevent the replenishment (recharge) that the
wastewater had provided to the ground-water reservoir through the domestic
wastewater-disposal systems. The wastewater is now diverted to sewage-treatment
plants, whose effluent is discharged to the bays and oceans. The decrease in recharge
has caused the water table in the sewered areas to be substantially lowered, the base
flow of streams to be reduced or eliminated, and the length of perennial streams to be
decreased.

In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, about 200 cubic feet per second of wastewater
(ground water that has been pumped and used) was discharged in 1985 by the three
major sewer districts to the surrounding saltwater bodies (Spinello and Simmons,
1992). As previously noted, the only source of freshwater to the system is
precipitation. Therefore, the water required to balance the loss from the ground-water
system must come primarily from decreases in ground-water discharge to streams and
to surrounding saltwater bodies. Capture of ground-water evapotranspiration, spring
flow, and some surface runoff are also possible, but each of these sources is limited to
a maximum of approximately 25 cubic feet per second. As the flow to the streams
decreases, the headwaters of the streams dry up and the streams become shorter. As
the discharge of ground water to surrounding saltwater bodies decreases, saline
ground water moves landward as saltwater intrusion. Thus, this case is an example in
which the determination of sustainable yields cannot be based solely on
predevelopment water budgets. The specific response of the ground-water system to
development must be taken into account in determining the appropriate limits to set
on ground-water use.

HIGH PLAINS AQUIFER

13
The High Plains is a 174,000-square-mile area of flat to gently rolling terrain that
includes parts of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota,
Texas, and Wyoming. The area is characterized by moderate precipitation but
generally has a low natural recharge rate to the ground-water system. Unconsolidated
alluvial deposits that form a water-table aquifer called the High Plains aquifer
(consisting largely of the Ogallala aquifer) underlie the region. Irrigation water pumped
from the aquifer has made the High Plains one of the Nation's most important
agricultural areas.

During the late 1800's, settlers and speculators moved to the plains, and farming
became the major activity in the area. The drought of the 1930's gave rise to the use
of irrigation and improved farming practices in the High Plains (Gutentag and others,
1984). Around 1940, a rapid expansion in the use of ground water for irrigation began.
In 1949, about 480 million cubic feet per day of ground water was used for irrigation.
By 1980, the use had more than quadrupled to about 2,150 million cubic feet per day
(U.S. Geological Survey, 1984). Subsequently, it declined to about 1,870 million cubic
feet per day in 1990 (McGuire and Sharpe, 1997). Not all of the water pumped for
irrigation is consumed as evapotranspiration by crops; some seeps back into the
ground and recharges the aquifer. Nevertheless, this intense use of ground water has
caused major water-level declines and decreased the saturated thickness of the
aquifer significantly in some areas. These changes are particularly evident in the
central and southern parts of the High Plains.

The southern part of the High Plains aquifer in Texas and New Mexico slopes gently
from west to east, cut off from external sources of water upstream and downstream by
river-carved escarpments, as shown in Figure 3A. Thus, ground-water recharge is due
almost exclusively to areal recharge from precipitation. Although precipitation in the
area is 15 to 20 inches per year, only a fraction of an inch recharges the aquifer due to
high evapotranspiration from the soil zone. During predevelopment conditions,
discharge as seeps and springs along the eastern escarpment equaled recharge.

14
Today, the magnitude of natural recharge and discharge is small compared to
withdrawals for irrigation.

Figure3. Changes in (A) ground-water levels and (B) saturated thickness in the High Plains aquifer from
predevelopment to 1997. (V.L. McGuire, U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 1998.)

Extensive pumping of ground water for irrigation has led to ground-water-level

declines in excess of 100 feet in parts of the High Plains aquifer in Kansas, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. These large water-level declines have led to reductions
in saturated thickness of the aquifer exceeding 50 percent of the predevelopment
saturated thickness in some areas. Lower ground-water levels cause increases in
pumping lifts. Decreases in saturated thickness result in declining well yields. Surface-
water irrigation has resulted in water-level rises in some parts of the aquifer system,
such as along the Platte River in Nebraska.
The predevelopment water budget and a water budget for average developed
conditions in the southern High Plains aquifer during 1960-80 are shown in Figure 3B.
Comparison of these water budgets shows that, due to irrigation return flow, recharge
to the High Plains aquifer increased more than twentyfold from an estimated 24 million
cubic feet per day during predevelopment to about 510 million cubic feet per day
during 1960-80. This increase in recharge (about 486 million cubic feet per day)
together with the decrease in storage (about 330 million cubic feet per day) accounts
for over 98 percent of the total pumpage (about 830 million cubic feet per day). Less
than 2 percent of the pumpage is accounted for by decreases in natural discharge
(about 14 million cubic feet per day).

A long delay between pumping and its effects on natural discharge from the High
Plains aquifer is caused by the large distance between many of the pumping wells and
the location of the springs and seeps that discharge from the ground-water system.
The southern High Plains is perhaps the best known example of significant, long-term

15
non-equilibrium for a regional ground-water system in the United States. That is, water
levels continue to decline without reaching a new balance (equilibrium) between
recharge to and discharge from the ground-water system.

Figure 4.The effects of ground-water withdrawals on the southern High Plains aquifer.
Schematic cross section (A) of the southern High Plains aquifer illustrating that ground-
water withdrawal in the middle of the southern High Plains aquifer has a negligible
short-term effect on the discharge at the boundaries of the aquifer. (Modified from
Lohman, 1972.) (B) Water budgets of the southern High Plains aquifer (all flows in
million cubic feet per day) before development and during development. (Modified
from Johnston, 1989; data from Luckey and others, 1986).
The preceding two field examples illustrate some of the complexities associated with
the use of water budgets to determine the development potential of a ground-water
system. Knowledge of the sources and discharges of water to and from the system and
how they change with continuing development is needed to understand the response
of ground-water systems to development, as well as to aid in determining appropriate
management strategies and future use of the resource.

The examples discussed here illustrate several of the principles summarized by

Bredehoeft and others (1982) in their article on the "water-budget myth" and earlier
by Theis (1940):

Some ground water must be removed from storage before the system can be
brought into equilibrium.

16
 The time that is required to bring a hydrologic system into equilibrium depends
on the rate at which the discharge can be captured.

The rate at which discharge can be captured is a function of the characteristics

of the aquifer system and the placement of pumping wells.

Equilibrium is reached only when pumping is balanced by capture. In many

circumstances, the dynamics of the ground-water system are such that long
periods of time are necessary before even an approximate equilibrium condition
can be reached.

2.2 GROUND WATER RECHARGE

Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process
where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the
primary method that water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in the
vadose zone below plant roots and is often expressed as a flux to the water table
surface. Recharge occurs both naturally (through the water cycle) and through
anthropogenic processes (i.e. artificial groundwater recharge") where rainwater and
or reclaimed water is routed to the subsurface.

Groundwater is recharged naturally by rain and snow melt and to a smaller extent by
surface water (rivers and lakes). Recharge may be impeded somewhat by human
activities including paving, development, or logging. These activities can result in loss
of topsoil resulting in reduced water infiltration, enhanced surface runoff and reduction
in recharge. Use of ground waters, especially for irrigation, may also lower the water
tables. Groundwater recharge is an important process for sustainable groundwater
management, since the volume-rate abstracted from an aquifer in the long term
should be less than or equal to the volume-rate that is recharged.

Recharge can help move excess salts that accumulate in the root zone to deeper soil
layers, or into the groundwater system. Tree roots increase water saturation into
groundwater reducing water runoff. Flooding temporarily increases river bed
permeability by moving clay soils downstream, and this increases aquifer recharge.

Artificial groundwater recharge is becoming increasingly important in India, where

over-pumping of groundwater by farmers has led to underground resources becoming
depleted. In 2007, on the recommendations of the International Water Management
Institute, the Indian government allocated Rs 1800 crore (US$400million) to fund dug-
well recharge projects (a dug-well is a wide, shallow well, often lined with concrete) in
100 districts within seven states where water stored in hard-rock aquifers had been
over-exploited. Another environmental issue is the disposal of waste through the water
flux such as dairy farms, industrial and urban runoff.

17
2.2.1 Estimation methods
Rates of groundwater recharge are difficult to quantify since other related processes,
such as evaporation, transpiration (or evapotranspiration) and infiltration processes
must first be measured or estimated to determine the balance.

2.2.1(a) Physical
Physical methods use the principles of soil physics to estimate recharge. The direct
physical methods are those that attempt to actually measure the volume of water
passing below the root zone. Indirect physical methods rely on the measurement or
estimation of soil physical parameters, which along with soil physical principles; can be
used to estimate the potential or actual recharge. After months without rain the level
of the rivers under humid climate is low and represents solely drained groundwater.
Thus, the recharge can be calculated from this base flow if the catchment area is
known.

2.2.1(b) Chemical
Chemical methods use the presence of relatively inert water-soluble substances, such
as an isotopic tracer or chloride, moving through the soil, as deep drainage occurs.

2.2.1(c) Numerical models

Recharge can be estimated using numerical methods, using such codes as Hydrologic
Evaluation of Landfill Performance, UNSAT-H, SHAW, WEAP, and MIKE SHE. The codes
generally use climate and soil data to arrive at a recharge estimate and use the
Richards equation in some form to model groundwater flow in the vadose zone.

2.3 AVAILABLE STORAGE AND ABSTRACTION OF GROUND

WATER
In recent years, there have been significant advances in what we know about the
worlds groundwater resources. While these advances can be observed at all levels,
the focus here is on the global and regional levels. There has been remarkable
progress in many areas, including the global-level characterization of groundwater
systems, their properties and their conditions. Important recent achievements include:

the consolidated version of the Groundwater Resources Map of the World under
the World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme
(WHYMAP, 2008) (Figure 7)
the outcomes of global-scale hydrological modeling, such as that on worldwide
groundwater recharge with WaterGAP Global Hydrological Model (Dll and
Fiedler, 2008) and with PCR-GLOBWB (Wada et al., 2010)
a global assessment of current groundwater use for irrigation (Siebert et al.,
2010)

18
 a comprehensive monograph on the geography of the worlds groundwater
(Margat, 2008)
rapidly increasing documentation and tools on transboundary aquifers, resulting
from numerous projects .

The total volume of fresh groundwater stored on earth is believed to be in the region
of 8 million km3 to 10 million km3 (Margat, 2008), which is more than two thousand
times the current annual withdrawal of surface water and groundwater combined. This
is a huge volume, but where are these fresh-water buffers located and what fraction
of their stock is available for depletion? Figure above answers the first question by
showing the geographic distribution of the worlds major groundwater basins (shown in
blue on the map and covering 36% of the land area of the continents). This is where
the main groundwater buffers are located. Additional ones, which are less continuous
and smaller, are present in areas with complex hydrogeological structures (shown in
green on the map and covering 18% of the total area). And further, to a lesser
extent, are groundwaters reserves present in the remaining 46% of the land area of
the continents (shown in brown on the map).

The groundwater buffers allow periodic, seasonal or multi-annual dry periods to be

bridged conveniently without the risk of sudden unexpected water shortages. In large
parts of the world, sustainable groundwater development is possible by alternating
storage depletion during dry periods and storage recovery during wet periods.
Groundwater reservoirs are rather insensitive to variations in the length of the dry
periods, and therefore resilient to this aspect of climate variation and climate change.
In principle it is possible to ignore the sustainability criterion and exploit a large part of
the stored groundwater volumes, but in practice it is difficult to do so and often not
attractive, because depletion comes at a cost.

19
Recent outcomes of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mark a
major step forward in assessing groundwater storage variations in some of the worlds
major aquifer systems (Famiglietti et al., 2009; Rodell et al., 2009; Tiwari et al., 2009;
Muskett and Romanovsky, 2009; Moiwo et al., 2009; Bonsor et al., 2010; Chen et al.,
2009). The results of the experiment suggest that satellite mapping of the Earths
gravity field (satellite gravimetry) is a promising innovative technique that can be used
in hydrogeological investigations in the near future. It can be used for monitoring long-
term trends, seasonal variations and change during droughts. Global simulation
models that link the terrestrial and atmospheric components of the hydrological cycle
are likely to become another important tool for enhancing our knowledge of
groundwater regimes, in particular for exploring how they may respond to climate
change (Dll, 2009).

20
2.4 GLOBAL WATER PERSPECTIVE: 1990-2000
Strangely enough, the water profession as a whole neither realized nor appreciated
the seriousness of the global water situation as late as 1990, even though a few
serious scholars have been pointing out the increasing seriousness of the situation
from around 1982. For example, the seriousness of the crisis was not a major issue,
either at the International Conference on Water and the Environment, which was
organized by the UN system in Dublin, or at the UN Conference on Environment and
Development at Rio de Janeiro. Held in 1992, both Conferences are considered
important events for the water sector for the current decade. It is now being
increasingly recognized that the Dublin Conference was poorly planned and organized,
and thus, not surprisingly, it produced very little, if any, worthwhile results.
Furthermore, as the Dublin Conference was expected to make the necessary inputs to
the Rio discussions, water did not receive adequate emphasis at Rio. For all practical
purposes, water was basically ignored at Rio by all the heads of states, whose primary
interests were focused on issues like climate change, biodiversity, and deforestation.
Water, at best, was a very minor issue during the plenary session at Rio. Equally, the
chapter on water in Agenda 21 is the most poorly formulated. Thus, despite the
rhetoric of many international institutions, the impacts of Dublin and Rio Conferences
on water management globally and regionally have not been discernible.

21
 Figure 6: By modeling groundwater abstraction and average groundwater recharge, Wada and others
(2010) have estimated groundwater depletion for most of the globe. West Asia, the central United States,
northwestern India and northeastern China are among the areas showing the most serious groundwater
depletions. Source: Wada and others 2010

2.5 WATER CRISIS

While predicting the future is an extremely hazardous business, one item can be
predicted with complete certainty: the world in the year 2025 will be vastly different
from what it is today, in the same way that the world today is significantly different
from what it was in 1975. Among the main driving forces which are likely to contribute
to these changes are rapidly evolving demographic conditions, technological advances
in all fields, speed and extent of globalization, improvements in human capital, and
national and inter-governmental policies.

Figure 5: The rate of growth in freshwater withdrawal and consumption has been even more rapid than
global population growth. Sources: Shikomanov 1999, US Census Bureau 2011

The water sector is an integral component of the global system, and thus it would
undergo major changes as well during the next 25 years. In fact, water development
and management will change more during the next twenty years than it has during the
past 2000 years. The water profession has generally ignored so far the global forces
outside the water sector that practices. These impacts are likely to increase
significantly in the next quarter of a century. And yet, the water profession has not yet
started to consider seriously the implications of accelerating developments in areas
like globalization, biotechnology, desalination, information and communication, which
are likely to revolutionize water use and management practices in the coming
decades.

22
It is now widely accepted that the world will face a major water crisis in the coming
decades because of increasing scarcities in numerous countries. Many international
organizations have published maps in recent years, all somewhat similar, which show
that more and more countries of the world are becoming rapidly water stressed
because of increasing scarcities.

It is high time to review critically the reliability of such forecasts for many different
reasons. First, the information base on which such forecasts and maps are based is
highly unreliable. Extensive review by the Third World Centre for Water Management
indicates that the national estimates on which the current global figures are based, are
often erroneous (in many cases by several hundred percents), and in other instances,
the facts are totally wrong. For many major countries, like India and China, estimates
of water availability and uses are currently available, but no one has a clear idea about
the accuracy and usefulness of such national statistics. Thus, it is impossible to get
any reasonably reliable picture of the global and regional water situations, which are
based on the aggregation of such incomplete and unreliable national data sets.

Second, water abstraction is at present widely used as a proxy for water use.
Methodologically, this of course is fundamentally wrong. Unlike oil, water is a reusable
resource, which can be used and then reused many times. For example, some
scientists have pointed out that each drop of the Colorado River water is currently
used 6-7 times before it reaches the sea. Also, globally water is being increasingly
reused, both formally and informally, and all the indications are that the extent of
reuse in all countries will accelerate further in the coming decades. Thus, the current
practice of using water abstraction as a proxy for water use is already significantly
erroneous. In about a decade, when reuse becomes even more extensive, this practice
of using water abstraction data would be completely meaningless because of very
serious underestimation of water actually used.

Currently, no reasonable estimates exist for reuse of water, even at the national levels,
let alone for the world as a whole. Some data exists for a very few developed countries
like Japan. In addition, the water profession, regrettably, has not considered reuse as
an important factor in global water availability and use considerations, as a result of
which all the existing forecasts are highly suspect.

Third, private sector and water pricing are likely to play increasingly important roles as
the 2l't century progresses. The net result of these two developments is likely to be
significant advances in demand management, which currently plays a minor role in
most countries of the world. This would mean that within a short period of about a
decade or so, all projections of future water use would have to be significantly revised
downwards because of increasing emphasis on demand management.

Fourth, as water pricing becomes increasingly acceptable, and technology advances

further, it is highly likely that the estimates of groundwater availability would have to
be revised significantly upwards. At present, since water for agriculture, which is the
major user of water, in most countries is virtually free, there has not been much
economic incentive to explore groundwater on a comprehensive basis. Accordingly,
23
the current global and national estimates of usable groundwater are likely to be very
serious underestimates.

In this connection, it is worth noting a possible analogy with oil. In 1973, when energy
crisis hit the world, proven oil reserves amounted to 640 billion barrels. By 1996, the
proven reserves had increased to 1,030 billion barrels. This is in spite of the fact that
the global annual oil consumption increased by 32% during this period. Because of the
energy crisis, as oil prices increased and many oil companies moved from the public to
the private sector, oil exploration economically became an attractive alternative. This,
plus continuous advances in technology, has steadily increased the proven world oil
reserves, even though tremendous amount of oil is used each year.

It is highly likely that in the coming years:

- Water pricing will become more widespread than what it is at present.

Technological advances will make many sources of groundwater that are not
economically exploitable at present, usable in the future. Furthermore, as water prices
increase, there would be more demand for groundwater exploration to increase
supply, which will stimulate accelerated research to develop new technology to
abstract this resource, thus creating a virtual cycle.

- The private sector will play an increasingly important role in water development and
management.

Under the above conditions, the global estimates of economically usable groundwater
are likely to increase significantly.

Thus, the current estimates of the future global water requirements are likely to prove
far too high, and this would have to be revised significantly downwards during the next
decade. Simultaneously, the amount of water that is available for use at present is
seriously underestimated because reuse and recycling are ignored, estimates of
groundwater availability would have to be revised upwards, and technological
advances are making costs of desalination and new non-conventional sources of water
(i.e. rubber bags to transport water over long distances) more and more attractive.
Because of the upward adjustments in water availability and downward revisions in
requirements, one can now be cautiously optimistic of the global water future.

This, of course, does not mean that it would be an easy process for countries to adjust
to the new realities of a rapidly changing global water scene. Equally, many countries
are likely to find it difficult to manage the transformation without discontinuities
because of sociopolitical constraints, institutional inertia, increasing management
complexities and current and past inefficient water management practices. However,
since the "business as usual" will not be a feasible option for the future in nearly all

24
countries, policy-makers, water professionals, and water institutions, whether they like
it or not, would be forced to embrace the new conditions, most probably within the
next 10-15 years. All these and other associated developments are likely to make the
present "gloom and doom" forecasts of a global crisis due to water scarcities
somewhat unlikely in the coming decades.

On the basis of the above analysis and other associated issues, the threat for a global
water crisis because of physical scarcities only, as expected at present, is now
probably overstated. If there is likely to be a crisis in the water sector, it would
probably be due to two reasons, none of which is receiving adequate attention at
present.

The first cause which could contribute to a crisis could be due to continuous water
quality deterioration. Globally, water quality is receiving inadequate attention, even
though it is rapidly becoming a critical issue. While global data on water quantity is
poor, it is virtually non-existent for water quality. Even for major developed countries
like the United States or Japan, a clear picture of national water quality situation
currently does not exist. For developing countries and for countries in transition,
ranging from Indonesia to Nigeria, and Russia to Mexico, existing frameworks and
networks for water quality monitoring are highly deficient, adequate expertise on
water quality management simply does not exist, and laboratories for water quality
assessments suffer very seriously from poor quality control and quality assurance
practices. Furthermore, senior water policymakers in most developing countries
become interested in quality aspects primarily when there are major local crises due to
political and/or media interventions. Sadly, for all practical purposes, water quality is
still receiving only lip service from most senior bureaucrats and politicians of
developing countries and countries in transition.

Not surprisingly, because of the above deficiencies, water quality problems are
becoming increasingly serious in all developing countries. For example, nearly all
surface water bodies within and near urban-industrial centers are now highly polluted.
While data on the existing groundwater quality are extremely poor, it is highly likely
that groundwater is also getting increasingly contaminated near centers of population.

Because of a poor water quality management system, whatever national data

available in developing countries and countries in transition, give mostly an erroneous
picture of the existing water quality conditions. As a general rule, in these countries
the official pictures of water quality situations are mostly rosier than the current
conditions warrant.

2.6 GROUND WATER ISSUES

Groundwater makes up about twenty percent of the world's fresh water supply, which
is about 0.61% of the entire world's water, including oceans and permanent ice. Global
groundwater storage is roughly equal to the total amount of freshwater stored in the
snow and ice pack, including the north and south poles. This makes it an important

25
resource that can act as a natural storage that can buffer against shortages of surface
water, as in during times of drought.

Groundwater is naturally replenished by surface water from precipitation, streams, and

rivers when this recharge reaches the water table.

Groundwater can be a long-term 'reservoir' of the natural water cycle (with residence
times from days to millennia), as opposed to short-term water reservoirs like the
atmosphere and fresh surface water (which have residence times from minutes to
years). The Great Artesian Basin in central and eastern Australia is one of the largest
confined aquifer systems in the world, extending for almost 2 million km2. By
analysing the trace elements in water sourced from deep underground,
hydrogeologists have been able to determine that water extracted from these aquifers
can be more than 1 million years old.

By comparing the age of groundwater obtained from different parts of the Great
Artesian Basin, hydro-geologists have found it increases in age across the basin.
Where water recharges the aquifers along the Eastern Divide, ages are young. As
groundwater flows westward across the continent, it increases in age, with the oldest
groundwater occurring in the western parts. This means that in order to have travelled
almost 1000 km from the source of recharge in 1 million years, the groundwater
flowing through the Great Artesian Basin travels at an average rate of about 1 meter
per year.

Recent research has demonstrated that evaporation of groundwater can play a

significant role in the local water cycle, especially in arid regions. Scientists in Saudi
Arabia have proposed plans to recapture and recycle this evaporative moisture for
crop irrigation. In the opposite photo, a 50-centimeter-square reflective carpet, made
of small adjacent plastic cones, was placed in a plant-free dry desert area for five
months, without rain or irrigation. It managed to capture and condense enough ground
vapor to bring to life naturally buried seeds underneath it, with a green area of about
10% of the carpet area. It is expected that, if seeds were put down before placing this
carpet, a much wider area would become green.

Certain problems have beset the use of groundwater around the world. Just as river
waters have been over-used and polluted in many parts of the world, so too have
aquifers. The big difference is that aquifers are out of sight. The other major problem is
that water management agencies, when calculating the "sustainable yield" of aquifer
and river water, have often counted the same water twice, once in the aquifer, and
once in its connected river. This problem, although understood for centuries, has
persisted, partly through inertia within government agencies. In Australia, for example,
prior to the statutory reforms initiated by the Council of Australian Governments water
reform framework in the 1990s, many Australian states managed groundwater and
surface water through separate government agencies, an approach beset by rivalry
and poor communication.

26
In general, the time lags inherent in the dynamic response of groundwater to
development have been ignored by water management agencies, decades after
scientific understanding of the issue was consolidated. In brief, the effects of
groundwater overdraft (although undeniably real) may take decades or centuries to
manifest themselves. In a classic study in 1982, Bredehoeft and colleagues modeled a
situation where groundwater extraction in an intermontane basin withdrew the entire
annual recharge, leaving nothing for the natural groundwater-dependent vegetation
community. Even when the borefield was situated close to the vegetation, 30% of the
original vegetation demand could still be met by the lag inherent in the system after
100 years. By year 500, this had reduced to 0%, signalling complete death of the
groundwater-dependent vegetation. The science has been available to make these
calculations for decades; however, in general water management agencies have
ignored effects that will appear outside the rough timeframe of political elections (3 to
5 years). Marios Sophocleous argued strongly that management agencies must define
and use appropriate timeframes in groundwater planning. This will mean calculating
groundwater withdrawal permits based on predicted effects decades, sometimes
centuries in the future.

As water moves through the landscape, it collects soluble salts, mainly sodium
chloride. Where such water enters the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, these
salts are left behind. In irrigation districts, poor drainage of soils and surface aquifers
can result in water tables' coming to the surface in low-lying areas. Major land
degradation problems of soil salinity and water logging result, combined with
increasing levels of salt in surface waters. As a consequence, major damage has
occurred to local economies and environments.

Four important effects are worthy of brief mention. First, flood mitigation schemes,
intended to protect infrastructure built on floodplains, have had the unintended
consequence of reducing aquifer recharge associated with natural flooding. Second,
prolonged depletion of groundwater in extensive aquifers can result in land
subsidence, with associated infrastructure damage as well as, third, saline intrusion.
Fourth, draining acid sulphate soils, often found in low-lying coastal plains, can result
in acidification and pollution of formerly freshwater and estuarine streams.

Another cause for concern is that groundwater drawdown from over-allocated aquifers
has the potential to cause severe damage to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
in some cases very conspicuously but in others quite imperceptibly because of the
extended period over which the damage occurs.

2.6.1 Overdraft
Groundwater is a highly useful and often abundant resource. However, over-use, or
overdraft, can cause major problems to human users and to the environment. The
most evident problem (as far as human groundwater use is concerned) is a lowering of
the water table beyond the reach of existing wells. As a consequence, wells must be
drilled deeper to reach the groundwater; in some places (e.g., California, Texas, and
India) the water table has dropped hundreds of feet because of extensive well
27
pumping. In the Punjab region of India, for example, groundwater levels have dropped
10 meters since 1979, and the rate of depletion is accelerating. A lowered water table
may, in turn, cause other problems such as groundwater-related subsidence and
saltwater intrusion.

Groundwater is also ecologically important. The importance of groundwater to

ecosystems is often overlooked, even by freshwater biologists and ecologists.
Groundwater sustains rivers, wetlands and lakes, as well as subterranean ecosystems
within the alluvial aquifers.

Not all ecosystems need groundwater, of course. Some terrestrial ecosystems for
example, those of the open deserts and similar arid environments exist on irregular
rainfall and the moisture it delivers to the soil, supplemented by moisture in the air.
While there are other terrestrial ecosystems in more hospitable environments where
groundwater plays no central role, groundwater is in fact fundamental to many of the
worlds major ecosystems. Water flows between groundwater and surface waters. Most
rivers, lakes, and wetlands are fed by and (at other places or times) feed groundwater,
to varying degrees. Groundwater feeds soil moisture through percolation and many
terrestrial vegetation communities depend directly on either groundwater or the
percolated soil moisture above the aquifer for at least part of each year. Hyporheic
zones (the mixing zone of stream water and groundwater) and riparian zones are
examples of ecotones largely or totally dependent on groundwater.

2.6.2 Subsidence
Subsidence occurs when too much water is pumped out from underground, deflating
the space below the surface and thus causing the ground to collapse. The result can
look like craters on plots of land. This occurs because, in its natural equilibrium state,
the hydraulic pressure of groundwater in the pore spaces of the aquifer and the
aquitard supports some of the weight of the overlying sediments. When groundwater
is removed from aquifers by excessive pumping, pore pressures in the aquifer drop
and compression of the aquifer may occur. This compression may be partially
recoverable if pressures rebound, but much of it is not. When the aquifer gets
compressed, it may cause land subsidence, a drop in the ground surface. The city of
New Orleans, Louisiana is actually below sea level today and its subsidence is partly
caused by removal of groundwater from the various aquifer/aquitard systems beneath
it. In the first half of the 20th century, the San Joaquin Valley experienced significant
subsidence, in some places up to 8.5 meters (28 feet) due to groundwater removal.
Cities on river deltas, including Venice in Italy and Bangkok in Thailand, have
experienced surface subsidence; Mexico City, built on a former lake bed, has
experienced rates of subsidence of up to 40 cm (1'3") per year.

2.6.3 Seawater intrusion

In general, in very humid or undeveloped regions, the shape of the water table mimics
the slope of the surface. The recharge zone of an aquifer near the seacoast is likely to
be inland, often at considerable distance. In these coastal areas, a lowered water table

28
may induce sea water to reverse the flow toward the land. Sea water moving inland is
called a saltwater intrusion. In alternative fashion, salt from mineral beds may leach
into the groundwater of its own accord.

2.6.4 Pollution
Polluted groundwater is less visible but more difficult to clean up, than pollution in
rivers and lakes. Groundwater pollution most often results from improper disposal of
wastes on land. Major sources include industrial and household chemicals and garbage
landfills, industrial waste lagoons, tailings and process wastewater from mines, oil field
brine pits, leaking underground oil storage tanks and pipelines, sewage sludge and
septic systems. Polluted groundwater is mapped by sampling soils and groundwater
near suspected or known sources of pollution, to determine the extent of the pollution
and to aid in the design of groundwater remediation systems. Preventing groundwater
pollution near potential sources such as landfills requires lining the bottom of a landfill
with watertight materials, collecting any leachate with drains and keeping rainwater
off any potential contaminants, along with regular monitoring of nearby groundwater
to verify that contaminants have not leaked into the groundwater.

Groundwater pollution, from pollutants released to the ground that can work their way
down into groundwater, can create a contaminant plume within an aquifer. Pollution
can occur from landfills, naturally occurring arsenic, on-site sanitation systems or
other point sources, such as petrol stations or leaking sewers.

Movement of water and dispersion within the aquifer spreads the pollutant over a
wider area, its advancing boundary often called a plume edge, which can then
intersect with groundwater wells or daylight into surface water such as seeps and
springs, making the water supplies unsafe for humans and wildlife. Different
mechanism have influence on the transport of pollutants, e.g. diffusion, adsorption,
precipitation, decay, in the groundwater. The interaction of groundwater contamination
with surface waters is analyzed by use of hydrology transport models.

The danger of pollution of municipal supplies is minimized by locating wells in areas of

deep groundwater and impermeable soils and careful testing and monitoring of the
aquifer and nearby potential pollution sources.

3. GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT
3.1 GROUNDWATER AS A GOOD SUPPLEMENT OF WATER
RESOURCES
Our mentality of negligence has resulted in ground water contamination in many areas
near significant human activities, and simultaneous overuse and underuse in many

29
different places. This is in spite of the fact that urban and rural areas often depend on
groundwater as the principal source of potable water. Increasingly, however, it is being
realized that:

* Groundwater is an important source of potable water, and hence, its quality must be
suitable for its intended use.

* Quality of groundwater is inextricably linked to what happens on the ground as well

as in the atmosphere. Atmospheric deposition, contaminated rainfall, storm and
agricultural runoff, improperly treated or untreated wastewater and discharge from
municipal and industrial sources, and accidental spills of undesirable materials are all
potential sources of contamination.

* As a general rule, in most countries, availability of data on both groundwater

quantity and quality are significantly less than that for surface water. Reliability of
groundwater data is also less. This, however, is not surprising since the cost of
collecting information on quantity and quality of groundwater is significantly higher
than surface water, and so is the cost of the necessary expertise.

* Globally, mapping of groundwater leaves much to be desired. Even when estimates

of safe yields are available, vast majority of aquifers are not classified by their
qualities or intended uses.

* Regulatory frameworks for groundwater management that exist at present vary

significantly from one country to another, and many times from one state to another,
as in the United States or India. Its legal management is mostly affected through a
series of environmental, water, industrial and agricultural regulations and legislation.
In the United States, at least nine Federal Acts can be identified which have
implications for its use and protection. This is in addition to the Environment Protection
Agency (EPA) policies and regulations as well as those of the states and local
governments. In some countries, multiplicity of overlapping legal requirements, which
sometimes could even be contradictory, as in Mexico, make its management a most
difficult process.

Legal regime for the management of international groundwater bodies, that is, those
bodies that are shared by two or more countries, has been basically a most neglected
subject.

It is clear that during the next millennium, groundwater management must receive
much higher levels of interest than it has been receiving thus far. The present World
Bank meeting is thus an important step in this direction.

There are many critical issues in the area of water management that have not been
receiving adequate attention so far.

30
3.2 GROUNDWATER AND ENERGY
The linkages between groundwater and energy requirements are high. Groundwater
has to be pumped up for use, for which it is necessary to have electricity or diesel.
Electricity demands in many developing countries are increasing now at an annual rate
of 7% to 10%, compounded. Electricity generation and distribution is poorly managed
by the public sector in most developing countries. This, in turn, is affecting
groundwater use since energy is not always available at the appropriate time to pump
up this resource.

Two examples would be given to illustrate this point. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, there were
major riots in May 1999, since the citizens did not have access to water supply for
several days. According to newspaper reports, some 200 people were injured in those
riots. This problem, however, did not occur because of groundwater scarcity since
water tables were at normal levels. This was exclusively because of shortages in
electricity because of poor planning, operation and maintenance practices. Many of
the state electricity boards in India are broke because of heavy subsidies to the
farming sector, poor pricing and cost recovery systems, and improper management.
All these adverse developments in the energy sector would undoubtedly have
discernible impacts on groundwater management practices in the future.

Estimates by the Third World Centre for Water Management indicate that 12% to 13%
of all electricity generated in Mexico is used to pump water up and down. Because
both water and energy sectors are basically controlled by the federal authorities, such
information has not been available in the public domain.

Similarly, as the number of pumps in South and South East Asia has increased
exponentially during the past two decades to facilitate groundwater irrigation, energy
requirements to operate those pumps have gone up as well. Thus, in the future,
groundwater management will increasingly depend upon not only its availability but
also availability of energy to pump it up. Also, in those areas where groundwater
tables are declining due to over pumping, energy requirements for continuing
groundwater use can only increase steadily. Since groundwater cannot be properly
managed without energy, energy availability (including costs) needs to be given
increasing attention in the future

3.3 GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT

Based upon all above mentioned facts we can summarize that day by day the
necessity of water is increasing and together with its mishandling, improper use,
contamination is also increasing. This in turn is focusing to the necessity of its
management incorporating many challenges also.

Management of groundwater system means, making such decisions as:

the total volume that maybe withdrawn annually from the aquifer
31
 the location of pumping and artificial recharge wells and their rates
decision related to groundwater quality

The framework developed for the groundwater management must have the proper
plans and implementation methods for the followings:

CONJUNCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF GROUNDWATER

MAXIMISING WATER EFFICIENCY AND WATER MANAGEMENT
GROUNDWATER LEGISLATION AND POLLUTION

3.3.1 Conjunctive and Sustainable Use of Groundwater

Groundwater is naturally replenished or recharged, through rainfall and surface water.
It provides a cushion for coping with unreliable public supplies and rainfall but it is far
from well managed and in arid regions around the world, aquifers are overexploited.

Groundwater supplies are an important supply of water for agricultural and domestic
use. Groundwater acts as a long-term reservoir for the water cycle and can have
times ranging from just days to 1,000s of years. Throughout the world, significant
numbers of aquifers are being drawn upon at a rate that exceeds the natural recharge.
Our understanding of aquifer yields is limited by their complex interactions with
surface water and connections between numerous aquifers. This is clearly an area for
more research into sustainable practices relating to groundwater withdrawals, the
integrated management of groundwater and surface water systems, and actions to
enhance natural and artificial aquifer recharge.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) is the process of storing excess water
underground when it is available, and recovering that water for use when supplies are
short. This is widely used in the USA and Australia. In the UK, Thames Water is using
ASR as part of its supply technology strategy for London.

3.3.2 Water Efficiency In Agriculture

Managing water use to meet future needs involves making water use more efficient.
As agriculture accounts for around 70% of freshwater abstractions from surface and
groundwater sources, increased efficiency can lead to large savings. The World Bank
notes the need to increase the productivity of water in rain-fed agriculture, which
provides a livelihood for the majority of the worlds poor, generates more than half the
gross value of the worlds crops and accounts for 80% of the worlds crop water use.
Measures such as mulching and conservation tillage help retain soil moisture,
especially if supported by soil conservation measures to manage land cover. Small-
scale rainwater harvesting helps provide an additional source of water for crops.

32
Irrigated agriculture is expected to produce a greater share of the worlds food in the
future as it may be more resilient (in the medium term) to climate change in all but the
most water-scarce basins. There is little scope for increasing the total area under
irrigation, which is projected to increase by only 9% between 2000 and 2050. This
means that there will need to be an increase in the productivity of crops per unit area
and per unit of water applied.

New technologies have the potential to increase water productivity (getting more
crop per drop) but these need to be combined with strong policies, well focused
investments and good institutional arrangements that allow farmers to participate in
decision making and provide them with information and advice on how to get the most
out of new infrastructure and technical developments.

Improved surface irrigation methods such as level furrows, sprinkler and micro
irrigation methods and the use of advanced techniques of irrigation scheduling and
timing can help improve water management at farm level. By monitoring water intake
and growth, farmers can achieve greater precision in water application and irrigating
only when necessary. Remote sensing schemes are beginning to allow farmers to
detect their crops water, taking into account meteorological data as well as soil
moisture and biomass information. More efficient water use is being combined with
more widespread adoption of drought and heat tolerant crop varieties.

3.3.3 Water Efficiency in Industry

As the GDP of a nation grows, the abstraction of water for industrial purposes
increases, from about 10% for low and middle income countries to around 60% for
high GDP countries. Industrial water abstraction globally is estimated to rise to about
24% of total freshwater withdrawal in 2025. Water availability is becoming critical in
the power industry for electricity generation. Water used for cooling by thermal and
nuclear power plants is set to rise throughout the world as new power plants are
commissioned. In some cases, it is not simply the availability of cooling water that is
the issue, but that outflows from power stations can become warm enough to cause
environmental damage on discharge.

Agenda 21, the United Nations Programme of Action from the Earth Summit in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992, urged industry to implement more efficient production processes
hence minimizing or avoiding wastes thereby enables it to play a major role in
reducing impacts on resource use and the environment. This was echoed in the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, Plan of Implementation in 2002.

A proportion of the water abstracted by industry is consumptive, evaporated through

use for cooling or embedded within industrial products, so that it is not available for
use elsewhere in the basin. This proportion can be reduced by applying more efficient
forms of cooling and the condensing and re-use of cooling water. The remainder is
non-consumptive and is returned to surface/groundwater systems following its use in
the production process, typically for washing/cooling and then returned as warm water

33
or for sanitation needs within the manufacturing facility. Water treatment and re-use
on site can significantly reduce water abstraction.

3.3.4 Water Supply and Distribution

Half the worlds populations live in cities and this is projected to rise to 70% by 2050.
Of this, 95% of urban population growth will be in the developing world with small
cities growing most rapidly. Urban growth rates need to be matched by extension of
public health infrastructure (including piped treated water, waste water systems) to
ensure that communities are sustainable and benefit from the economies of scale that
derive from lower per capita costs than in rural areas. Well planned urban
development and related infrastructure are required to provide resilience to water
related risks.

A recent report by the UKs Council for Science and Technology (CST) examined the
core sectors of national infrastructure, including water and made recommendations to
Government. The report found that resilience against climate change is the most
significant and complex longer-term challenge, noting potential impacts on pipe
systems, wastewater treatment works, sewerage and dams. Current Government
policy in the UK is committed to an integrated approach to the improvement of
national infrastructure, including water infrastructure. Assessments of the countrys
long term infrastructure needs over a five to 50 year horizon have been informed by
recent reports on critical infrastructure from the engineering profession.

The national water resources strategy for England and Wales, recently published by
the Environment Agency, notes that water companies have made progress in reducing
and controlling leakage over the last decade but notes that more needs to be done. An
analysis of the application of best practice in finding and repairing leaks, managing
pressure and replacing mains, if applied by all water companies, suggests that leakage
could be reduced by 30 per cent from the level in 2009 (1,000 million liters per day) by
2025.

3.3.5 Water Recycling, Reuse and Harvesting

Recycling water is the process of removing solids and certain impurities from
wastewater and using it again rather than discharging into surface water or the ocean.
The reuse and recycling of water in industrial and domestic settings has the potential
significantly to reduce the consumption of water in these environments. Harvested
rainwater and recycled water can be used for activities such as toilet flushing,
reducing overall domestic water consumption.

Currently, recycled water is used for purposes such as irrigation, dust control and
fighting fires. There is controversy about possible health and environmental effects for
even these uses, let alone for re-use as potable water. In some locations however,
such as Singapore and Namibia, waste water is given superior treatment and is used
indirectly to supplement water sources that will eventually be used to supply potable
water. Even in the UK, Thames Water has been investigating the potential to reuse
water to supplement domestic supplies (indirect potable supply).
34
Industrial recycling of water has the potential for more significant savings of water. It
also puts less pressure on natural water resources and can augment environmental
flows. Given the relatively small proportion of water that is used domestically, the
benefits of carrying out water recycling will be relatively small, though not insignificant
and is increasingly used in the water-scarce Middle East. Harvesting rainwater via
water butts has benefits not just in replacing mains water supplies in houses but also
in reducing quick runoff and thus the risk of flooding.

3.3.6 Groundwater Legislation and Pollution

There is need for legislation for ground water exploitation and regulation to check
indiscriminate draining of ground water resources. Precautions should be taken against
pollution of surface and subsoil waters by enacting legislation.

Water is a national asset available in a finite quantity. One cannot afford to forget that
if one cannot afford to pollute air which is available in unlimited quantities, much less
can one afford to take liberties with the use of the limited asset of water.

3.4 TOOLS TO SUPPORT POLICY DEVELOPMENT

New and better tools are needed to support effective policy development and decision
making and enable the effective and sustainable management of water resources.
These include:

Increasing our knowledge about the worlds water as a system. To manage water
well, it is critical to know how much water is available and how much is being used for
what purpose.

Developing a rigorous analytical framework to facilitate decision-making and

investment into the water sector. This is a prerequisite for the efficient allocation of
water as well as for limiting water consumption to sustainable levels in the face of
significant areas of future uncertainty.

Developing risk-based decision-making techniques to enable adaptation to climate

change impacts as well as responding to the changing needs for food and energy
security of a growing world population.

Developing water system modeling techniques and the monitoring systems and data
collection to validate them.

The nature and scope of these tools is broad. They deal with a spectrum of issues from
the optimization of water resource allocation and the simulation of the reliability of the
balance between supply and demand (under various future planning scenarios) to the
analysis of water needs and water use. The use of risk analysis and risk-based
decision- making techniques is becoming more common, especially to address issues
relating to the security and reliability of water supply, and the implications of
uncertainty in developing sustainable water management plans.

35
In the business sector, there is a growing interest in understanding better the extent to
which an individual, organization or administrative unit is dependent on water and to
what water related risks business is exposed and vulnerable. Water-related risks can
be:

Physical, arising from threats to the reliable availability of sufficient water of an

acceptable quality

Regulatory, associated with the regulation of water abstraction, use and the quality
of water discharged

Risks to the reputation of organizations arising from the increasing competition for
clean water among economic, social and environmental interests.

The water marginal cost curve developed by McKinsey is another potentially powerful
tool for policy and decision makers. The tool estimates, for a range of options, the
incremental availability of water and the cost of each option, and its application in
several parts of the world has indicated that more efficient water use in agriculture is a
fundamental part of the global water security solution. Similar insight is provided by
the analytic techniques applied in the UK by the Environment Agency and water
companies under the Economics of Balancing Supply and Demand water resources
planning process.

4. CASE STUDIES
4.1 Case study background
The World Bank with the support of various partners is undertaking an economic and
sector analysis (ESW)entitled Too Big to Fail: The Paradox of Groundwater
Governance to understand the impediments to better groundwater governance and to
identify the opportunities for ensuring that groundwater becomes a key element of
integrated water resources management (IWRM) in developing countries. The
recommendations from the ESW will guide the Bank in its investments on groundwater
and provide contributions to a GEF-funded global project, Groundwater Governance: A
Framework for Country Action-to be led by FAO and supported by UN water agencies
and other partners.

Five countriesIndia, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa, and Tanzaniawere selected by

the WB as case studies. Each case study reviews and identifies the nature and
characteristics of specified groundwater resources; its use in rural and urban water
supply, industry and irrigation; emerging issues and the best practices; threats; and
knowledge gaps regarding good groundwater governance. The objectives of the case
studies were to (a) describe the groundwater resource characteristics for selected
aquifers, including groundwater use patterns, user profiles, and socioeconomic factors
influencing the use; (b) describe the governance arrangements for managing
groundwater; (c) describe the implementation of these governance arrangements in
the specific aquifers and (d) identify the relevance of these arrangements for
strategies to cope with climate change impacts.

36
4.2 Groundwater governance
In this study, groundwater governance refers to those political, social, economic, and
administrative systems that are explicitly aimed at developing and managing water
resources and water services at different levels of society that rely solely or largely on
groundwater resources. This definition includes all related mechanisms including
financing, knowledge, and technical capacity, and the rights and responsibilities of
sector players (including water users). Bad governance includes any of the following
activities, attitudes, or approaches to groundwater resources management: (a)
inadequate policies, strategies, and legislation relating to groundwater resources and
their management, or the ineffective application of those policies, strategies, or
legislation; (b) inadequate technical and financial capacity to support groundwater
resources management; (c) lack of professional integrity, transparency, and
accountability; (d) failure to enforce laws relating to allocation and groundwater use;
(e) ignoring stakeholders rights to equitable access to groundwater resources; (f)
poorly managed groundwater projects; and (g) inherent corruption in groundwater
management processes, including quiet corruptionlow-level, small-scale corruption
at the service provider/ water user interface.

4.3 Methodology
Concerns about the growing crisis of aquifer depletion prompted the Planning
Commission of India (Planning Commission 2007) to constitute an expert group to
review the issue of groundwater management and suggest appropriate and pragmatic
policy directions. In this context, World Bank assistanceinstead of proposing high-
level legal and policy reformsfocused on the pursuit of pragmatic approaches that
could make incremental improvements largely within the existing institutional
framework, building political support for gradual and realistic institutional
improvements at higher levels by first demonstrating successful interventions at the
local/pilot level.

There is also an urgent need for groundwater quality management. These problems
require scientific understanding of hydro-geological controls for naturally occurring
minerals in the aquifers and the prevailing conditions. At the same time, pragmatic
and urgent measures, similar to the expert groundwater group approach mentioned
above and the recommendations from the International Workshop on Groundwater
Protection must be taken gradually with the available information and within the
existing institutional framework.

Management measures to address intensive abstraction problems can be classified in

terms of supply-side engineering and demand-side interventions, and the
management instruments as macro policy adjustments, regulatory provisions, and
community participation and education (figure1). On the other hand, groundwater
protection (GW-MATE 2002a) requires aquifer and source protection zoning and/or
selective pollution pressure control. Usually multiple measures or instruments will be

37
required at the local level.

4.4 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in India

The situation with groundwater use in India is well described in a number of recent
publications. The problems of over-abstraction in India in both rural and urban settings
are well known, with aquifers being depleted in the hard rock terrain of peninsula
India, in the coastal regions and in the sedimentary aquifers of the Ganges valley. The
report also draws attention to the threat from pollution long before they are
depleted, some aquifers will become unusable because of industrial pollutants, human
wastes, and agricultural chemicals. These problems are not unmanageable. The report
gives examples where far-sighted village councils have taken charge of India,
Groundwater Governance case study over-abstraction and brought it under control;
where polluting industries have reformed their practices and now use their waste
streams for productive purposes and where one municipal corporation has taken the
brave step of attempting to introduce volumetric charging in order to introduce some
38
demand management and to accumulate sufficient finances to develop additional
sources of supply.

In spite of the anarchy in groundwater development in India, this report implicitly

believes that the current problems with groundwater management can be overcome if
governments work with groundwater users rather than attempting to regulate and
control them; if technical solutions are used judiciously where there are clear net
benefits; and if demand management is implemented where opportunities arise. This
will be far from easy it will require a major shift in culture from the top. Barriers
between both national and states bureaucracies and between the powerful water
using sectors (irrigation, industry and urban development) will need to be removed.
Water agency staff will face a major cultural shift from engineering based supply
approaches to water resources protection, wherein they share responsibility and
information with communities of groundwater users. Water users themselves will need
to gain a better understanding of the shared nature of groundwater and the need to
protect it from pollution if they are to be successful managers. All this will require a
completely different approach to governance.

The report provides an outline of how this could be achieved by initially working within
the present legal and administrative framework, while developing a parallel track of
governance reforms. While the way forward can be envisaged from this analysis,
putting it into practice will require a major commitment from the governments of India
with assistance from the international community.

4.5 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in Kenya

With about 17 percent of renewable groundwater resources being used, there is
considerable potential for groundwater to support Kenyas development. Kenya has an
excellent, modern water governance framework. The issues lie in its implementation.
There are overlaps in perceived responsibilities between the Ministry and the
implementing agencies (WRMA, water boards Kenya, Groundwater Governance case
study and water service providers), particularly with respect to data handling and
sharing. The WRMA does not have the trained staff, or the technical or financial
resources, or the right structure to manage aquifers.

Consequently, it is not able to enforce legal provisions for controlling abstractions,

pollution and borehole drilling. Finally, there is a poor level of understanding amongst
both water sector staff and the public about the specific characteristics of groundwater
that affect its management and the connectivity between surface water and
groundwater.

The report provides a comprehensive strategy to develop effective groundwater

management and a pilot groundwater management plan. Kenyas draft Policy for the
Protection of Groundwater provides most of the requirements for improving
groundwater governance, including participation and empowerment of groundwater
users, decentralization of management to local level, integration of surface and

39
groundwater management, improving monitoring and data collection, identifying sites
for MAR, mapping strategic aquifers and conjunctive use opportunities and identifying
groundwater conservation areas.

Consequently the most important action is to accept, adopt and implement this policy.
But there is also a need to take action, and the report proposes that a pilot
groundwater management plan be drawn up for an aquifer such as the Tiwi aquifer to
generate agreement on the actions needed to protect this important resource before it
experiences significant problems. The opportunities provided by the ongoing and
planned preparations of future water supply source master plans for both the Nairobi
area and the Coast region should be seized to direct attention on and address the
groundwater management and governance challenges as part of integrated water
resources management.

4.6 Case Study - Groundwater Governance in South Africa

Groundwater governance at national level

Technical, legal and institutional and operational governance provisions are reasonable
but weak for cross-sector policy coordination

Institutional capacity is weak across all thematic areas except for the technical
provisions.

Groundwater governance at local level

There is similarity in governance provisions for the dolomite aquifers across all
thematic areas with the Steenkoppies dolomite aquifer consistently scoring
higher

Basic technical provisions such as hydrogeological maps and aquifer delineation

with classified typology are in place for all case study aquifers

Other governance provisions across all thematic areas are weak or non-existent

Steenkoppies dolomite compartment scores highest; Bapsfontein dolomite

compartment and Houdenbrak basement aquifer score lowest

Groundwater monitoring is weak and assessment of groundwater resources is

poor, both in terms of quantity and quality (e.g. lack of numerical groundwater
model)

There are fair provisions for water well drilling and groundwater use rights
but provisions to control groundwater abstraction and pollution are weak (poor
compliance monitoring)

40
 Provisions for establishment of aquifer management organizations are weak or
nonexistent

Cross-sector policy coordination is weak

From an operational point of view, a groundwater management action plan

which includes both water quantity and water quality aspects only exists for the
Botleng aquifer but has not been implemented to date

Institutional capacity across all thematic areas is weak or non-existent except

for the Steenkoppies dolomite aquifer where the situation is better.

Climate change adaptation

At national and local level, adaptation measures to climate change are not yet
a consideration in planning. Only at the national level an artificial groundwater
recharge strategy was developed and awaits implementation.

Recommended management measures

Groundwater management measures are recommended at national level and at local

level for each of the case study aquifers to address existing and potential hazards as
well as to improve on the effectiveness of existing groundwater governance provisions
and institutional capacity.

Most critical are considered (i) the integration of the National Groundwater Strategy
into the National Water Resource Strategy (NWRS), Catchment Management Strategies
(CMSs) and other strategies, (ii) strengthening of the groundwater related regulatory
environment and (iii) strengthening of the institutional capacity, both in terms of
existing institutions (DWA) and establishment and operationalising of Catchment
management Agencies (CMAs) and Water User Associations (WUAs). Regarding the
inadequacy of groundwater expertise it is recommended for DWA to develop a
strategy to augment national GW capacity. Furthermore, investigation and
implementation of climate change adaptation measures at local aquifer level are
recommended.

5. LITERATURE REVIEW
Source of ground water is precipitation, such as rain and (melted) snow,
which infiltrates through the unsaturated zone and eventually recharges the
underlying aquifer. Recharge is defined as the accretion (or gradual growth in
size due to external addition (Morris 1969)) of water to the upper surface of the
saturated zone (Winter et al. 1998).

41
 Within the saturated zone, there are 3 scales of flow systems within a flow
network: a local flow system, which is the most near the surface; an
intermediate flow system; and a regional flow system, which is the deepest and
travels the greatest distance (Brunke and Gonser 1997, Winter et al 1998, Fetter
1994).

Local flow pathways are driven by more local topographic features, such as
dips or depressions in the landscape. In local flow pathways, ground water
flows most near the surface and resides within the flow path for the shortest
duration of time. This pathway is most susceptible to changes and is most likely
to be impacted by human activities.

The basin morphology determines the large scale regional flow pathway;
ground water would flow below ground, without surfacing, from mountains to
the outwash plain.

While streams and ground water are not always well connected, when they
are, the interaction zone may be extensive. Current research has suggested
that surface water/ ground water interactions may potentially occur up to 2
kilometers from the stream channel (Stanford 1994, Gibert et al 1997).

The surface water/ ground water ecotone forms a varied habitat that is
important to both aquatic and wildlife communities. Ecotone is a term used to
describe the transition zone between different habitat types (or eco- types).
Prior to the First International Workshop of Land/Water Ecotone in 1988, ecotone
was used as term to describe a terrestrial community transition, such as shrub
land to forest (Gibert et al. 1997).

Compaction of soil particles could force ground water to prematurely rise to the surface,
which would allow solar radiation to warm the water, and would prevent it from passing its
cooling effects onto the stream (Gibert et al. 1994).

6. CONCLUSIONS
Water security has different implications and connotations depending on where in the
world one lives. For everyone however, water is fundamental to being able to live a
healthy and productive life whilst maintaining the natural environment. It is a sobering
reality that, in many places, water is a scarce and contaminated resource. Over one
billion people have no access to clean drinking water; about one third of the worlds
population lack satisfactory sanitation.

The fundamental role that water plays in food security, energy security, economic
growth, maintaining health and reducing poverty, means there is a constant and ever
42
increasing pressure on it as a natural resource. With global population growth
estimated to increase from 6.8 billion today to 8 billion by 2025 and alongside other
drivers such as the potentially damaging effects of climate change, the demand on
water resources is becoming ever more unsustainable in relation to supply.

Although water is only explicitly mentioned in one of the Millennium Development

Goals, it is implicit in the achievement of each of them. The responsibility for water
security does not rest with one group or institution: It is a multi-level issue in which
many people have a duty to participate. The current approach from many institutions
and nations is fragmented. The commonality of water must be recognized and utilized
to improve cooperation in all aspects of water resource management.

Groundwater containing by far the largest volume of unfrozen fresh water on Earth
is an enormously important natural resource. But it is hidden to the eye and until
today poorly known and understood by the general public and most decision-makers.

Hydro geologists and other scientists have made remarkable progress over the last
few decades in collecting information on the worlds groundwater systems, in
understanding their role and functions, in observing changes over time and in
identifying options for enhancing benefits from groundwater as well as threats that
need to be addressed to safeguard the resources sustainability. Gradually it has
become clear to them how strongly the development and state of groundwater
systems are interrelated with other systems and external drivers. It has also become
clear that the value of groundwater is not limited to its abstraction for multiple uses
(provisioning services), but includes a range of valuable in situ services (regulatory
services), such as supporting wetlands, springs, baseflows and the stability of the land
surface. As a result, the management of groundwater resources has evolved into a
multidisciplinary activity that addresses multiple objectives. It does not focus solely on
physical systems and technical measures but pays also significant attention to
demography, socio-economic and governance. Modern groundwater resources
management approaches incorporate the principles of conjunctive management and
integrated water resources management. Adaptive management and water
governance are emerging paradigms.

Globally aggregated values and shares in total water supply are indicators of the
relevance of groundwater, but it is worthwhile looking beyond the volumes of water
used. Without groundwater with its storage buffer many parts of the earths dryer
regions would be uninhabitable as a result of the seasonal lack, or permanent lack, of
fresh water. The supply of water to rural areas that are remote from permanent
streams would be extremely expensive without groundwater. Because of its greater
dependability, the economic returns per unit of water used for irrigation and for other
uses tend to be higher for groundwater than for other sources of water.

On the other hand, the buffer capacity of groundwater systems offers unique
opportunities for the overall reduction of risk and uncertainty regarding water
availability, both now and in the future. Changes to the availability and quality of
groundwater proceed very slowly compared with those of the components of the water
43
cycle that have smaller mean residence times. And, in the case of groundwater, it is
much easier to predict these changes. This buffer capacity allows groundwater to be
used to bridge prolonged dry periods. It also buys time for a smooth adjustment of
overall water use in areas where sustainably available water resources have been
reduced by the intensification of water use in upflow zones or by climate change. In
addition, groundwater that has relatively large mean residence times usually found
at medium to great depths is invulnerable to most disasters and may therefore be an
invaluable emergency resource in situations where public water supplies based on
surface water or shallow groundwater are suddenly disrupted by disasters.

It is not easy to define and implement measures that enable making optimal use of
groundwater and that control its quantity and quality. In the first place, it requires solid
knowledge of local groundwater resources and alternative water resources, the water
demands, the current role of water and potential benefits, socio-economic and political
preferences and realities, conflicts of interest, important drivers of change and many
other factors. Based on this knowledge, an area-specific vision should be developed
and shared among the main groups of stakeholders. This can serve as a basis for
strategic and operational plans, including the corresponding measures. Knowledge and
vision both need to take into account the large spatial and temporal dimensions that
are relevant for groundwater-related issues.

In general, it is the aspiration of countries and water management institutions to

ensure the sustainability of their groundwater resources. Adequate water resources
management measures are needed to achieve this and the expectation is that many
of the corresponding endeavours will be successful.

Finally, the role of cooperation needs to be emphasized. At the local level, it has long
been the experience that field investigations and diagnostic studies benefit
considerably from smooth cooperation between the relevant parties and that the
implementation of measures can only be successful when there is cooperation
between decision-makers, the institutions that are mandated to implement policies,
scientific and technical specialists and stakeholders. But cooperation is equally
effective at the international and global levels. This is demonstrated by the outcomes
of the numerous initiatives undertaken by UNESCO-IHP, IAH, FAO, WWAP, World Bank,
GEF and other international organizations. These bodies amass and disseminate
information and knowledge on groundwater and on how to use and manage it. They
provide legislative and other tools to facilitate the management and governance of
groundwater. They trigger commitment at the highest levels for global priorities (such
as Agenda 21, the MDGs and various UN resolutions) and forge global partnerships to
help achieve the targets. Professionals active in the field of groundwater should be
aware of the role and strength of cooperation and should be keen to ensure that
groundwater is fully incorporated in the initiatives wherever this might be beneficial.

44
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