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Beating negative externality through groundwater recharge in India: a resource economic analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2007

H. DIWAKARA  and
M.G. CHANDRAKANTH
H. DIWAKARA
Affiliation:
Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, GK-4-17, City West, School of Commerce, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471 Adelaide, SA 5001. Tel: +61 (08) 8302 0194. Fax: +61 (08) 8302 0512 Email: hdiwakara@yahoo.com
M.G. CHANDRAKANTH
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Member, Centre for Comparative Water Policies and Laws, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore, 560 065, India. Tel: +91 (080) 3636295. Fax: +91 (080) 3330227 Email: mgchandrakanth@yahoo.com
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Abstract

Negative externalities in groundwater irrigation arise due to overdraft of groundwater leading to premature well failure, and reduced yield and age/life of wells. A watershed development program aiming at recharging aquifers, facilitating sustainable groundwater use, is the focus of this study. Primary survey data from farmers using groundwater for irrigation in a dry land watershed in peninsular India are analysed. Results indicate that, even after considering (i) amortized cost of watershed, (ii) amortized cost per acre-inch of groundwater, and (iii) electricity cost of groundwater extraction, the net returns in watershed are economically viable. This can aid policy-makers, addressing groundwater overdraft leading to negative externalities, reach solutions with the assistance of a watershed development program enhancing groundwater recharge in dryland areas in developing countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 271 - 296
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We dedicate this article to the memory of the late Dr Gurumurthy, Professor of Statistics, Retired, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, who served the cause of Statistics applications in different fields in the University and moulded the careers of hundreds of students. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Ford Foundation (Grant No. 995-1103). Our thanks to John Ambler, Doris Capastrino, and Ujjwal Pradhan of Ford Foundation, New Delhi for their grant to carry out this research during the year 2000. We acknowledge the cooperation of sample farmers of Haikal Watershed, Chitradurga District of Southern India during field survey in April 2000. We thank the following people, KNR Sastry, Maria Saleth, R.S. Deshpande, H. Chandrashekar, Y.S. Arun Kumar, Chellaiah, H.V.Nanjappa, N. Nagaraj and Chaitra for their valuable comments and Y. Manjunath, C.P. Umashankar, Sripadmini and Shobha Rani for their assistance in conducting PRA. We are indebted to two anonymous referees of this journal for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We are responsible for any errors that have remained.The earlier version of this paper was presented to the 11th World Water Congress held in Madrid, Spain from 5–9 October 2003.