GROUND WATER CONDITION IN INDIA- A BRIEF OVERVIEW

1. INTRODUCTION

2. GROUND WATER CHARACTERISTICS

3. GROUND WATER RESOURCE OF INDIA

4. GROUND WATER DEMAND

5. SCARCITY OF GROUND WATER

6. CAUSES OF GROUND WATER DEPLETION

7. EFFECTS OF GROUND WATER DEPLETION

10

8. REMEDIES

10

9. GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION

13

10. GROUND WATER QUALITY CONTROL

18

11. CONCLUSION

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Ground Water is a Precious National Resource, Protect it, Preserve it and don't pollute it. Save
Ground Water - Save Humanity.
India is endowed with a rich and vast diversity of natural resources, water being one of them. Its
development and management plays a vital role in agriculture production. Integrated water
management is vital for poverty reduction, environmental sustenance and sustainable economic
development. National Water Policy (2002) envisages that the water resources of the country
should be developed and managed in an integrated manner.

1. INTRODUCTION:
The importance of groundwater for the existence of human society cannot be overemphasized.
Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in both urban and rural India. Besides, it is an
important
source
of
water
for
the
agricultural
and
the
industrial
sector.

Being an important and integral part of the hydrological cycle, its availability depends on the
rainfall and recharge conditions. The demand for water has increased over the years and this has
led to water scarcity in many parts of the world. The situation is aggravated by the problem of
water pollution or contamination. India is heading towards a freshwater crisis mainly due to
improper management of water resources and environmental degradation, which has lead to a
lack of access to safe water supply to millions of people. This freshwater crisis is already evident
in many parts of India, varying in scale and intensity depending mainly on the time of the year.

2. GROUND WATER CHARACTERISTICS:

From groundwater utilization and availability point of view saturated zone are classified like
1.Aquifer
: stores and yields water sufficiently
2.Aquitard : seepage is possible, example sandy clay unit
3.Aquiclude: impermeable to flow of water but contain large
amount of water
4.Aquifuge : neither porous nor permeable

Aquifer are of two types: unconfined and confined aquifer.

India is a vast country with varied hydro geological situations resulting from diversified geological,
climatological and topographic set up. The rock formations, ranging in age from Archaean to
recent, which control occurrence and movement of ground water, widely vary in composition and
structure. Physiography varies from rugged mountainous terrains of Himalayas, Eastern and
Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau to the flat alluvial plains of the river valleys and coastal
tracts, and the Aeolian deserts in western part. Similarly rainfall pattern also shows region wise
variations. The following categories have been evolved to describe the ground water
characteristics of various rock types occurring in the country.
1. Porous rock formations
(a) Unconsolidated formations.
(b) Semi-consolidated formations

2. Hard rock/ consolidated formations

1. Porous rock formations:

Unconsolidated Formations: The sediments comprising newer alluvium, older alluvium and
coastal alluvium are by and large the important repositories of ground water. These are
essentially comprises of clay, sand, gravel and boulders, ferruginous nodules, kankar (calcareous
concretions), etc. The beds of sand and gravel and their admixtures form potential aquifers. The
aquifer materials vary in particle size, rounding and in their degree of assortion. Consequently,
their water yielding capabilities vary considerably. The coastal aquifers show wide variation in the
water quality both laterally and vertically. The hydro geological conditions and ground water
regime in Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra basin indicate the existence of large quantities of fresh
ground water at least down to 600 m or more below land surface. Bestowed with high rainfall and
good recharge conditions, the ground water gets replenished every year in these zones. The
alluvial aquifers to the explored depth of 600 m have transmissivity values from 250 to 4000
m2/day and hydraulic conductivity from 10 to 800 m/day. The well yields range up to 1000 litres
per second (lps), but yields of 40-100 lps are common.
Semi-consolidated Formations: The semi-consolidated formations are mainly comprises of
shales, sandstones and limestones. The sedimentary deposits belonging to Gondwana and
Tertiary formations are also included under this category. The sandstones form highly potential
aquifers locally, particularly in Peninsular India. Elsewhere they have only moderate potential and
at places they yield meagre supplies. These sediments normally occur at narrow valleys or

structurally faulted basins. Though these formations have been identified to possess moderate
potential, the physiography of the terrain, normally restricts its development. Under favourable
situations, these sediments give rise to artesian conditions as in parts of Godavari Valley,
Cambay basin and parts of West Coast, Pondicherry and Neyveli in Tamil Nadu. Potential semiconsolidated aquifers particularly those belonging to Gondwanas and Tertiaries have
transmissivity values from 100 to 2300 m2/day and the hydraulic conductivity from 0.5 to 70
m/day. Generally the well yields in productive areas range from 10 to 50 lps. Lathi and Nagaur
sandstone in Rajasthan and Tipam sandstone in Tripura state also form productive aquifers.

2. Hard rock formation:

Igneous rock: The most common rock types are granites, gneisses, charnockites, khondalites,
quartzites, schist and associated phyllite, slate, etc. These rocks possess negligible primary
porosity but are rendered porous and permeable due to secondary porosity by fracturing and
weathering. Ground water yield and the capability to accept recharge also depends on rock types.
Granite and gneiss are better repositories than Charnockite. The ground water studies carried out
in the crystalline hard rocks reveal the existence, of lineaments alone of deeply weathered and
fractured zones, locally forming potential aquifers. These lineament zones are found to be highly
productive for construction of borewells. These in turn offer good scope for recharge through
suitable techniques. In areas underlain by hard crystalline and meta-sedimentaries viz; granite,
gneiss, schist, phyllite, quartzite, charnockite, etc., occurrence of ground water in the fracture
system has been identified down to a depth of 100 m and even upto 200 m locally. In most of the
granite/ gneiss area, the weathered residium serves as an effective ground water repository. It
has been observed that the fracture systems are generally hydraulically connected with the
overlying weathered saturated residium. The yield potential of the crystalline and metasedimentary aquifers show wide variations. Bore wells tapping the fracture systems generally
yield from less than 1 lps to 10 lps. The transmissivity values of the fractured rock aquifers vary
from 10 to 500 m2/day and the hydraulic conductivity varies from 0.1 to 10 m/day.

Volcanic Rocks: The basaltic lava flows are mostly horizontal to gently dipping. Ground water
occurrence in them is controlled by the contrasting water bearing properties of different lava
flows. The topography, nature and extent of weathering, jointing and fracture pattern, thickness
and depth of occurrence of vesicular basalts are the important factors which play a major role in
the occurrence and movement of ground water in these rocks. Basalts or Deccan Traps usually
have medium to low permeabilities depending on the presence of primary and secondary
porosity. Pumping tests have shown that under favourable conditions, bore wells yield about 3 to
6 lps at moderate drawdowns. Transmissivity values of these aquifers are generally in the range
of 25 to 100 m2/day and the hydraulic conductivity varies from 0.05 to 15 m/day.

Carbonate rocks: Carbonate rocks include limestone, marble and dolomite. Among the
carbonate rocks, limestones occur extensively. In the carbonate rocks, solution cavities lead to
widely contrasting permeability within short distances. Potential limestone aquifers are found to
occur in Rajasthan and Peninsular India in which the yields range from 5 to 25 lps. Large springs
exist in the Himalayan Region in the limestone formations.

3. GROUND WATER RESOURCE OF INDIA:

The total groundwater resource of a region can be visualized as being made up of two
components: Dynamic resource and static resource. The dynamic resource represents the safe
yield, which is essentially the annual recharge less the unavoidable natural discharge. The static
resource is the groundwater storage available in the pores of aquifer and its exploitation leads to
permanent depletion. Generally this static resource is many time larger than dynamic resource.
The utilisable ground water resource of a region is the safe yield at a given state of development.
Only dynamic component is replenishable and the static component is non-replenishable.

4. GROUND WATER DEMAND:

5. SCARCITY OF GROUND WATER:

Due to heavy demand in various aspects, over exploitation occurred and causes scarcity of
ground water.
Name of the Districts (In Pockets) Showing Fall In
Water Level More Than 2 Mts (@ > 20 Cm/Year) As Per
The Long Term Water Level Trends
During The Pre-Monsoon (Period 1995-2004)

6. CAUSES OF GROUND WATER DEPLETION:

Groundwater is an integral part of the environment, and hence cannot be looked upon in isolation.
There has been a lack of adequate attention to water conservation, efficiency in water use, water
re-use, groundwater recharge, and ecosystem sustainability. An uncontrolled use of the bore well
technology has led to the extraction of groundwater at such a high rate that often recharge is not
sufficient. The causes of low water availability in many regions are also directly linked to the
reducing forest cover and soil degradation.

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7. EFFECT OF GROUND WATER DEPLETION:

Water-well problems Declining ground-water levels have three main effects on water wells. First,
as the depth to water increases, the water must be lifted higher to reach the land surface. As the
lift distance increases, so does the energy required to drive the pump. Thus, power costs
increase as ground-water levels decline. Depending on the use of the water and the energy
costs, it may no longer be economically feasible to use water for a given purpose. Second,
ground-water levels may decline below the bottom of existing pumps, necessitating the expense
of lowering the pump, deepening the well, or drilling a deeper replacement well. Third, the yield of
the well may decline below usable rates.
Reduced surface-water flows In most areas, the surface- and ground-water systems are
intimately linked. Ground-water pumping can alter how water moves between an aquifer and a
stream, lake, or wetland by either intercepting ground-water flow that discharges into the surfacewater body under natural conditions, or by increasing the rate of water movement from the
surface-water body into an aquifer. In either case, the net result is a reduction of flow to surface
water, though the full effect may take many years to develop.
A related effect of ground-water pumping is the lowering of ground-water levels below the depth
that streamside or wetland vegetation needs to survive. The overall effect is a loss of riparian
vegetation and wildlife habitat.
Subsidence Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earths surface
owing to subsurface movement of earth materials. Though several different earth processes can
cause subsidence, more than 80 percent of the subsidence is related to the withdrawal of ground
water.
Deterioration of water quality Coastal aquifers tend to have wedge shaped zones of saltwater
underlying the potable freshwater. Under natural conditions the boundary between the freshwater
and saltwater tends to be relatively stable, but pumping can cause saltwater to migrate inland,
resulting in saltwater contamination of the water supply. Inland aquifers can experience similar
problems where withdrawal of good-quality water from the upper parts of inland aquifers can
allow underlying saline water to move upward and degrade water quality. Additionally, where
ground water is pumped from an aquifer, surface water of poor or differing quality may be drawn
into the aquifer. This can degrade the water quality of the aquifer directly or mobilize naturally
occurring contaminants in the aquifer.

8. REMEDIES:
The artificial recharge to ground water aims at augmentation of ground water reservoir by
modifying the natural movement of surface water utilizing suitable civil construction techniques.
Artificial recharge techniques normally address to following issues (i) To enhance the sustainable yield in areas where over-development has depleted the aquifer.
(ii) Conservation and storage of excess surface water for future requirements, since these
requirements often changes within a season or a period.
(iii) To improve the quality of existing ground water through dilution.
(iv) To remove bacteriological and other impurities from sewage and waste water so that water is
suitable for re-use.
The basic purpose of artificial recharge of ground water is to restore supplies from aquifers
depleted due to excessive ground water development.

Basic Requirement for Artificial Recharge Projects

The basic requirements for recharging the ground water reservoir are:
a) Availability of non-committed surplus monsoon runs off in space and time.
b) Identification of suitable hydro geological environment and sites for creating subsurface
reservoir through cost effective artificial recharge techniques.

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ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE TECHNIQUES AND DESIGNS:

Wide spectrums of techniques are in vogue to recharge ground water reservoir. Similar to the
variations in hydro geological framework, the artificial recharge techniques too vary widely. The
artificial recharge techniques can be broadly categorised as follows:a. Direct surface techniques
Flooding
Basins or percolation tanks
Stream augmentation
Ditch and furrow system
Over irrigation
b. Direct sub surface techniques
Injection wells or recharge wells
Recharge pits and shafts
Dug well recharge
Bore hole flooding
Natural openings, cavity fillings.
c. Combination surface sub-surface techniques
Basin or percolation tanks with pit shaft or wells.
d. Indirect Techniques
Induced recharge from surface water source.
Aquifer modification.
Roof Top Rain Water Harvesting
In Urban areas, the roof top rainwater can be conserved and used for recharge of ground water.
This approach requires connecting the outlet pipe from rooftop to divert the water to either
existing wells/ tubewells/borewell or specially designed wells. The urban housing complexes or
institutional buildings have large roof area and can be utilising for harvesting roof top rainwater to
recharge aquifer in urban areas.

CASE HISTORIES OF ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE IN INDIA:

Artificial recharge to ground water in Jammna, District Hoogli, West Bengal
The stage of ground water development (85%) in Hoogli district is very high. In Pandua block the
river Dhusi is one such stream which is connected with river Gangur through a 5 km long
channel. Almost entire stretch of the channel has been silted particularly there is no flow except
during peak monsoon. Average depth to water level is 16 m.bgl. It is proposed to de-silt the
channel to augment ground water recharge.
Artificial recharge to ground water in Khatura Bangar, North 24 Parganas,
West Bengal
The status of development of the ground water (80%) in the district of North 24 parganas is quite
high. The district has considerable area of water bodies like tanks, beels, rivers, bangar etc. Most
of these water bodies have been silted up. Due to which the reservoir capacity has decreased
and recharge through the water bodies have been minimised. It is proposed to enhance the
recharge rate by de-silting these water bodies. This will result in rise in the water levels in the
area.
Artificial recharge to ground water in District Purulia, West Bengal
In Purulia district cropping intensity is very high (116%). The Irrigation is from surface and ground
water resources. Principal rock types are Archean gneiss having 15 20 m weathered mantle.
Depth to water level varies from 4.00 to 11.00 m bgl. The water level fluctuation varies from 1 to 5

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m. The area has moderate to high slopes and bulk of rainfall is lost due to high run-off. Different
types of artificial recharge structures such as sub-surface dykes, Nalla bunds, tank excavation,
re-excavation of existing minor irrigation tanks and contour bunding are being constructed. The
implementation of these schemes will store the excess monsoon run off on the surface which
other than supplying water for irrigation will also recharge the shallow unconfined aquifer to
create additional subsurface storage for further utilisation.

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9. GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION:

The ground water resources are being utilized for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes.
There is growing concern on deterioration of ground water quality due to geogenic and
anthropogenic activities. The quality of ground water has undergone a change to an extent that
the use of such water could be hazardous.
Ground water in shallow aquifers is generally suitable for use for different purposes and is mainly
of Calcium bicarbonate and mixed type. However, other types of water are also available
including Sodium-Chloride water. The quality in deeper aquifers also varies from place to place is
generally found suitable for common uses. Only in some cases, ground water has been found
unsuitable for specific use due to various contaminations mainly because of geogenic reasons.
The main ground water quality problems in India are as follows.

Inland Salinity
Inland salinity in ground water is prevalent mainly in the arid and semi arid regions of Rajasthan,
Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat and to a lesser extent in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. About 2 lakh sq.km area has been estimated to
be affected by saline water of Electrical Conductivity in excess of 4000 S/cm. There are several
places in Rajasthan and southern Haryana where EC values of ground water is greater than
10000 S /cm making water non-potable.
Inland salinity is also caused due to practice of surface water irrigation without consideration of
ground water status. The gradual rise of ground water levels with time has resulted in water
logging and heavy evaporation in semi arid regions lead to salinity problem in command areas.
As per recent assessment about 2.46 m ha of the area under surface water irrigation projects is
water logged or threatened by water logging.

Coastal Salinity
Coastal areas represent zones where land and sea meet and comprises variety of complex
environments including deltas, estuaries, bays, marshes, dunes and beaches. Coastal aquifers
have boundaries in contact with seawater and are always under dynamic equilibrium with it.
Withdrawal of fresh ground water from these aquifers may result in inequilibrium resulting in
intrusion of saline water in coastal aquifers.
The Indian subcontinent has a dynamic coast line of about 7500 km length. It stretches from
Rann of Kutch in Gujarat to Konkan and Malabar coast to Kanyakumari in the south to
northwards along the Coromandal coast to Sunder bans in West Bengal .The western coast is
charactrised by wide continental shelf and is marked by backwaters and mud flats while the
eastern coast has a narrow continental shelf and is characterized by deltaic and estuarine land
forms. Ground water in coastal areas occurs under unconfined to confined conditions in a wide
range of unconsolidated and consolidated formations.
Normally, saline water bodies owe their origin to entrapped sea water (connate water), sea water
ingress, and leachates from navigation canals constructed along the coast, leachates from salt
pans etc. In general, the following situations are encountered in coastal areas
i. Saline water overlying fresh water aquifer
ii. Fresh water overlying saline water

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iii. Alternating sequence of fresh water and saline water aquifers

Fluoride
Fluorine is the lightest member of the halogen group of elements. Fluorite (CaF2) is a common
fluoride mineral. This mineral has a rather low solubility and occurs in both igneous and
sedimentary rocks. Apatite (Ca5 (Cl, F, OH) ( PO4)3,) commonly contains fluoride. Most fluorides
are sparingly soluble and are present in natural water in small amounts.
High concentration of fluoride in ground water beyond the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/L is a major
health problem in India. Nearly 90% of rural population of the country uses ground water for
drinking and domestic purposes and due to excess Fluoride in ground water a huge rural
population is threatened with health hazards of Fluorosis.

Arsenic
Arsenic and its compounds are widely used in pigments, as insecticides and herbicides, as an
alloy in metals and chemical warfare agents. Though synthetic organic compounds have now
replaced arsenic in most of the uses, arsenic is still an element of interest in terms of
environmental quality.
Arsenic is a metalloid. The common valancy of arsenic in unpolluted ground water of geogenic
origin are +III & +V as hydrolysis species The dissociation constant of As (III) and As (V) acids are
quite different The fact that dominant dissolved species are either uncharged or negatively
charged suggests that adsorption and ion exchange will cause little retardation as these species
are transported along ground water flow path. Organic arsenic compounds such as methyl
arsenic acid and dimethyl arsenic acid are not common in ground water.
The occurrence of Arsenic in ground water was first reported in 1980 in West Bengal in India. In
West Bengal, 79 blocks in 8 districts have Arsenic beyond the permissible limit of 0.01 mg/L.
About 16 million people are in risk zone. The most affected districts are on the eastern side of
Bhagirathi River in the districts of Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas and South 24
Parganas and western side of the districts of Howrah, Hugli and Bardhman. The occurrence of
Arsenic in ground water is mainly in the intermediate aquifer in the depth range of 20-100m. The
deeper aquifers are free from Arsenic contamination. Apart from West Bengal, Arsenic
contamination in ground water has been found in the states of Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Uttar
Pradesh &Assam. Arsenic in ground water has been reported in 12 districts In Bihar, 5 districts in
U.P and one district each in Chhatisgarh & Assam states.

Iron
Iron in an essential element for both plant and animal metabolism. Both ferrous and ferric iron are
wide spread minor component of most sediments. Soil development processes result in increase
in iron content. The concentration of iron in natural water is controlled by both physico chemical
and microbiological factors. In aqueous solution iron is subject to hydrolysis and iron hydroxides
are formed during these reactions, especially the ferric form having very low solubility.
The reaction of iron in aqueous solution is affected by redox potential and pH of the solution. In
natural water, pH mostly ranges from 5 to 9 and as such is not low enough to prevent hydrolysis
under oxidising conditions. Practically all the iron is precipitated as hydroxides. This ferric

15

hydroxide may exist in colloidal suspensions in the range of 5 to 8. Organic rich water particularly
those with humic acid; can contain dissolved iron over a large range of redox conditions. Organic
compounds present in water consume dissolved oxygen which lowers the pH of water because of
production of CO2 reducing both pH and Eh. An additional factor involved in the mobility in iron in
ground water is the presence of bacteria. These bacteria are Gallionela, Leptothrix and
Thiobacilhus. Decay of these bacteria produces unpleasant odour in the water.
High concentration of Iron in ground water has been observed in more than 1.1 lakh habitations in
the country. The highest value (49 mg/L) has been found in a hand pump at Bhubaneswar.
Ground water contaminated by iron has been reported from Assam, West Bengal, Orissa,
Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka. Localized pockets are observed in states of Bihar, UP, Punjab,
Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and North Eastern
States.

Nitrates
Aqueous geochemical behaviour of nitrogen is strongly influenced by vital importance of the
element in plant and animal nutrition. The most common contaminant identified in ground water is
dissolved nitrogen in the form of nitrate (NO3).
Nitrate in ground water generally originates from nitrogen sources on the land surface in the soil
zone or shallow subsoil zones where nitrogen rich wastes are buried. In some situations nitrate
that enters the ground water system originates as nitrate in wastes or fertilizers applied on the
land surface. These are direct nitrate sources. In other cases nitrate originates by conversion of
organic nitrogen. Ammonification and nitrification are processes that normally occur above the
water table generally in the soil zone, where
organic matter and oxygen are abundant.
Though various nitrogen products are available in the nitrogen cycle, the content of nitrate in
Ground Water is probably controlled by nitrification which is directly related to the capacity of soil
microorganisms to convert ammonia to nitrate to provide growing plants with the assimilable form
of nitrogen.
Concentrations of nitrate in the range commonly reported for ground water are not limited by
solubility constraints. It moves with ground water with no transformation and / or no retardation.
Very shallow ground water in highly permeable sediment or fractured rocks commonly contains
considerable dissolved oxygen and in these hydrological environment nitrate commonly migrates
large distances from input areas.
Nitrate is a very common constituent in the ground water, especially in shallow aquifers. The
source is mainly from man made activities. In India, high concentration of nitrate (more than 45
mg/l) has been found in many districts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu,
Rajasthan, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The highest value being 3080 mg/L found in Bikaner,
Rajasthan

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10. GROUND WATER QUALITY CONTROL:

SOLVING SALINITY PROBLEM:
In India, salinity problems have been observed in a number of places in coastal areas of the
country. Problem of salinity ingress has been noticed in Minjur area of Tamil Nadu and Mangrol
Chorwad- Porbander belt along the Saurashtra coast. In Orissa in an 8-10 km. wide belt of
Subarnrekha, Salandi, Brahamani outfall regions in the proximity of the coast, the upper aquifers
contain saline horizons decreasing landwards. Salinity ingress is also reported in Pondicherry
region, east of Neyveli Lignite Mines.
Some of the options available for removal of salinity from drinking water are
i) Electrodialysis
ii) Reverse Osmosis
iii) Ion exchange

SOLVING FLUORIDE PROBLEM:

To combat the growing problem of fluorosis, it is of utmost importance to understand the
distribution and occurrence of fluoride in ground water and work out strategies for its mitigation
and management. Some of the options available for removal of fluoride from drinking water are
i. Adsorption (Activated Alumina)
ii. Ion Exchange
iii. Nalgonda Technique
iv. Membrane (Reverse Osmosis)
v. Electro dialysis
vi. Alternate Fluoride free aquifer
SOLVING ARSENIC PROBLEM:
The remedial options available for getting Arsenic free water are
1. Development of ground water from Arsenic free aquifers
2. Piped water supply from surface water sources.
3. Dilution of ground water with surface water
4. Treatment of ground water for removal of arsenic using adsorption (Activated alumina
/Granulated ferric hydrated oxide) or precipitation and coagulation technique.
5. Rain water harvesting
SOLVING IRON PROBLEM:

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The remedial methods available for removing Iron from drinking water arei) Chemical Oxidation
ii) Aeration
iii) Ion exchange method
SOLVING NITRATE PROBLEM:
The remedial methods available for removing Nitrate from drinking water are1. Reverse Osmosis
2. Ion Exchange
3. Bio remediation
4. Blending

Pollution of groundwater resources has become a major problem today. The pollution of air,
water, and land has an affect on the pollution and contamination of groundwater. The solid, liquid,
and the gaseous waste that is generated, if not treated properly, results in pollution of the
environment; this affects groundwater too due to the hydraulic connectivity in the hydrological
cycle. For example, when the air is polluted, rainfall will settle many pollutants on the ground,
which can then seep into and contaminate the groundwater resources.

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11. CONCLUSION:
NATIONAL WATER POLICY (2002):
1. There should be a periodical reassessment of the ground water potential on a scientific basis,
taking into consideration the quality of the water available and economic viability of its extraction.
2. Exploitation of ground water resources should be so regulated as not to exceed the recharging
possibilities, as also to ensure social equity. The detrimental environmental consequences of
overexploitation of ground water need to be effectively prevented by the Central and State
Governments. Ground water recharge projects should be developed and implemented for
improving both the quality and availability of ground water resource.
3. Integrated and coordinated development of surface water and ground water resources and
their conjunctive use should be envisaged right from the project planning stage and should form
an integral part of the project implementation.
4. Over exploitation of ground water should be avoided especially near the coast to prevent
ingress of seawater into sweet water aquifers.
So if those can be followed properly, we can be escaped from ground water problem in future.

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