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Table 16. Management of groundwater resources
Options Specific details Potential trade-offs
Community Findings and recommendations There is a risk that community
management of the DFID-supported management of groundwater will
of groundwater COMMAN Project (Community lead to exclusion of some social
Management of Groundwater
groups.
Resources in Rural India)
can be found via:
www.bgs.ac.uk/hydrogeology/
comman/home.html
Improving groundwater · Ideally in areas in which it has Improving groundwater recharge
recharge highest social, economic and in one part of the watershed may
environmental value
be at the expense of existing
· Range of water harvesting users elsewhere
techniques can be used
Demand management · Different options are listed
in Section 8.5
Promote use of shallow · Reduces energy required for Initially groups of farmers will
wells for irrigation and pumping have to reduce groundwater
deep wells for RWSS · Helps re-establish a groundwater extraction until the shallow
particularly in peri-urban buffer that can meet domestic aquifer is replenished. Once it is
areas water needs during dry seasons replenished, they can return to
and periods of drought
extracting groundwater at rates
· Farmers who adopt measures that are equivalent to annual
to improve groundwater recharge recharge. The transition costs of
are more likely to see benefits as this approach would be high as
recharge of shallow aquifers tends in many areas farmers would
to be relatively localised when
have to switch from using
compared to recharge of deep
borewells to wide diameter wells
aquifers
or collector wells 6 . Note that
this approach will only be
successful if carried out in
conjunction with some level of
demand management
6 A collector well is a shallow hand-dug well
of large diameter with horizontal boreholes
drilled radially from the base to a distance of
approximately 30m, typically in four directions
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