Introduction
The editors are happy to continue the dialogue that was started with the first volume
of the book. It has indeed been an enriching experience in expanding the coverage
on the issue of water governance and management in the second volume. The two
volumes together present a rainbow of aspects that influence water resources
development, governance and its management. We have been fortunate enough to
have yet another set of enlightened authors to do justice to the additional aspects
covered in the second volume.
The authors touch upon several administrative, planning, environmental and
financial aspects of water governance in the seven chapters, often highlighting
specific areas that require attention.
In the first chapter, Himanshu Kulkarni et al. take up the issue of communitybased groundwater management model, suggesting that participation of people
should remain the backbone in this pursuit.
India’s groundwater usage is the largest in the world. Nearly, all sectors, especially rural domestic water and water in agriculture, have large-scale dependencies
on groundwater resources. Groundwater exploitation, without due consideration to
the concept of aquifers as common pool resources, has led to the dual problem of
groundwater depletion and contamination, besides depletion in river flows.
Competition over groundwater resources has slowly emerged as a complex problem
across India’s diverse aquifer typology, sometimes leading to conflict. The rise in
the number of wells across the small land holdings in India has meant that
groundwater extraction occurs at high granularity, making it difficult for large-scale
data and information to capture the reality of problems of the ground.
The authors feel that the existing groundwater governance mechanisms, mainly
in the form of institutional frameworks including legislation, are not robust enough.
These mechanisms, they feel, limit the impacts of processes such as participatory
groundwater management. Given the enormity of the problem in India, and the size
of the country too, the authors argue that the one-size-fits-all approach of
groundwater management and governance would become irrelevant under the
country’s aquifer and socio-economic diversity.
v
The editors are happy to continue the dialogue that was started with the first volume
of the book. It has indeed been an enriching experience in expanding the coverage
on the issue of water governance and management in the second volume. The two
volumes together present a rainbow of aspects that influence water resources
development, governance and its management. We have been fortunate enough to
have yet another set of enlightened authors to do justice to the additional aspects
covered in the second volume.
The authors touch upon several administrative, planning, environmental and
financial aspects of water governance in the seven chapters, often highlighting
specific areas that require attention.
In the first chapter, Himanshu Kulkarni et al. take up the issue of communitybased groundwater management model, suggesting that participation of people
should remain the backbone in this pursuit.
India’s groundwater usage is the largest in the world. Nearly, all sectors, especially rural domestic water and water in agriculture, have large-scale dependencies
on groundwater resources. Groundwater exploitation, without due consideration to
the concept of aquifers as common pool resources, has led to the dual problem of
groundwater depletion and contamination, besides depletion in river flows.
Competition over groundwater resources has slowly emerged as a complex problem
across India’s diverse aquifer typology, sometimes leading to conflict. The rise in
the number of wells across the small land holdings in India has meant that
groundwater extraction occurs at high granularity, making it difficult for large-scale
data and information to capture the reality of problems of the ground.
The authors feel that the existing groundwater governance mechanisms, mainly
in the form of institutional frameworks including legislation, are not robust enough.
These mechanisms, they feel, limit the impacts of processes such as participatory
groundwater management. Given the enormity of the problem in India, and the size
of the country too, the authors argue that the one-size-fits-all approach of
groundwater management and governance would become irrelevant under the
country’s aquifer and socio-economic diversity.
v