– Revive and reform State groundwater departments/directorates and make
them more accountable to catalyse decentralized groundwater management
and governance.
– Aquifer mapping to groundwater management—enduring partnerships with
academic and research institutions, as also civil society organizations.
– Build capacity on the equitable, efficient and sustainable management of
aquifers in India.
– A deeper knowledge of grass-roots realities on groundwater in different parts
of the country will be possible for policy makers and people in governance
only through a deeper engagement with communities, themselves a diverse
set of stakeholders in groundwater management and governance.
A one-size-fits-all approach of groundwater management and governance
becomes irrelevant under India’s aquifer and socio-economic diversity. Table 4
provides a synthesis of the relevance of individual elements of the protocol of
groundwater management to the six broad aquifer settings in India. The synthesis
uses their hydrogeological features, the main threats to the aquifer systems and the
most relevant protocols that will require to be prioritized through a potential
groundwater governance lens.
6 Conclusion
The consequences of unrecognized large-scale groundwater dependency are evident
in the form of aquifer depletion, groundwater contamination and drying up of
rivers. Restoring aquifers requires a strategic combination of managing groundwater resources while establishing a robust system of decentralized groundwater
governance (Kulkarni et al. 2015; Joshi et al. 2019). The process of ensuring a
seamless integration of efficient and equitable groundwater management to sustainable groundwater governance must firstly include demystified science leading to
the development of knowledge, data, skills and understanding of groundwater
resources at any given location. Such understanding will lead to the decision
support to a variety of stakeholders, especially when the stakeholders participate in
the building up of the knowledge and understanding on groundwater.
Based on such decision-making, co-operation between stakeholders can evolve
and must be supported through robust systems of governance that include socially
normative regulation backed by formal legislation, which together will define the
institutional structure of groundwater governance in India.
Framing groundwater governance as the governance of aquifers is important so
as to instil confidence and belief in managing groundwater resources as Common
Pool Resources (CPR). In doing so, groundwater management must become
inclusive of the need to shift the focus of plans and practices from ‘sources’ of
groundwater to the ‘resource’. Lastly, creating a pro-active policy environment that
embraces community participation in developing the understanding on groundwater
Catalysing Groundwater Governance Through People’s …
17
them more accountable to catalyse decentralized groundwater management
and governance.
– Aquifer mapping to groundwater management—enduring partnerships with
academic and research institutions, as also civil society organizations.
– Build capacity on the equitable, efficient and sustainable management of
aquifers in India.
– A deeper knowledge of grass-roots realities on groundwater in different parts
of the country will be possible for policy makers and people in governance
only through a deeper engagement with communities, themselves a diverse
set of stakeholders in groundwater management and governance.
A one-size-fits-all approach of groundwater management and governance
becomes irrelevant under India’s aquifer and socio-economic diversity. Table 4
provides a synthesis of the relevance of individual elements of the protocol of
groundwater management to the six broad aquifer settings in India. The synthesis
uses their hydrogeological features, the main threats to the aquifer systems and the
most relevant protocols that will require to be prioritized through a potential
groundwater governance lens.
6 Conclusion
The consequences of unrecognized large-scale groundwater dependency are evident
in the form of aquifer depletion, groundwater contamination and drying up of
rivers. Restoring aquifers requires a strategic combination of managing groundwater resources while establishing a robust system of decentralized groundwater
governance (Kulkarni et al. 2015; Joshi et al. 2019). The process of ensuring a
seamless integration of efficient and equitable groundwater management to sustainable groundwater governance must firstly include demystified science leading to
the development of knowledge, data, skills and understanding of groundwater
resources at any given location. Such understanding will lead to the decision
support to a variety of stakeholders, especially when the stakeholders participate in
the building up of the knowledge and understanding on groundwater.
Based on such decision-making, co-operation between stakeholders can evolve
and must be supported through robust systems of governance that include socially
normative regulation backed by formal legislation, which together will define the
institutional structure of groundwater governance in India.
Framing groundwater governance as the governance of aquifers is important so
as to instil confidence and belief in managing groundwater resources as Common
Pool Resources (CPR). In doing so, groundwater management must become
inclusive of the need to shift the focus of plans and practices from ‘sources’ of
groundwater to the ‘resource’. Lastly, creating a pro-active policy environment that
embraces community participation in developing the understanding on groundwater
Catalysing Groundwater Governance Through People’s …
17