Institutional framework for managing groundwater: A case study of community organisations in Gujarat, India

Abstract

Groundwater resources are showing increasing signs of over-development in many arid and semi-arid sections of India. The author suggests a general framework for design of local groundwater management institutions based on participatory institutional format and determines the ‘externalities’ in local groundwater management. The author presents a case study of community based groundwater management initiative in Western India and discusses the real life externalities. The author suggests establishment of tradable private property rights in groundwater as a major institutional reform for communities to establish rights over the water they manage and to address the issues of efficiency, equity and sustainability.

Introduction

Groundwater in India is characterized by physical heterogeneity in geology, topography and climate. In hard rocks, which underlie two-third of the country, groundwater availability varies widely depending upon the depth and degree of weathering and fracturing. In alluvial areas, aquifers are regionally extensive and are capable of giving sustained yields through high-capacity tube wells. Rainfall, the primary source of groundwater recharge, and topography vary significantly across the country resulting in significant changes in the magnitude of recharge. The average replenishable groundwater in India has been estimated to be 43.18 Mha m (Kittu, 1995).

Groundwater has been viewed as a sustainable source of irrigation over the past few decades. During 1951–1990, there was a steady increase in the groundwater irrigation potential from a mere 6.5 million hectare (m ha) to 34.8 m ha (Kittu, 1995). Groundwater irrigation now accounts for more than 50% of the net irrigated area in India (GOI, 1992). According to some reports: ‘groundwater irrigation already accounts for 75–80% of the irrigated production’ (Daines & Pawar, 1987). Today, groundwater also supplies 80% of domestic water supply in rural areas and perhaps 50% of urban and industrial uses (World Bank/GOI, 1997).

Over-development of groundwater is causing threats to groundwater supplies in terms of depletion and groundwater quality deterioration (Moench, 1993; Kumar, 1995). Alarming drops in water table and increasing levels of fluoride and TDS are reported from the deep alluvial areas of North Gujarat (Bhatia, 1991; Kumar, 1995). Dropping groundwater levels are observed in many parts of Rajasthan, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Saline intrusion is occurring in the coastal aquifers of Gujarat and in Chennai coast of Tamil Nadu (Kumar, 1995). Widespread incidences of high arsenic content in deep aquifers have affected 34 districts and 50 million people in West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh. However, major institutional innovations to manage groundwater are absent.

The focus of this paper is on the institutional framework for community-based groundwater management. The paper discusses the institutional structure for local groundwater management consisting of village institutions, watershed committees and aquifer management committees and identifies and determines the externalities. It also provides a case study of community-based local groundwater management initiative in Gujarat State of India. It recognizes and demonstrates the role of these institutions in the overall institutional arrangements for groundwater management at the basin level.