Your search found 12 records
1 Krishnan, S.; Islam, A.; Machiwal, D.; Sena, D. R.; Villholth, K. G. 2009. Using the living wisdom of well drillers to construct digital groundwater data bases across Indo-Gangetic basin. In Mukherji, Aditi; Villholth, K. G.; Sharma, Bharat R.; Wang, J. (Eds.) Groundwater governance in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River basins: realities and challenges. London, UK: CRC Press. pp.247-263. (IAH Selected Papers on Hydrogeology 15)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.6.3 G570 MUK Record No: H042233)
2 Krishnan,S.; Indu, R.; Shah, Tushaar; Hittalamani, C.; Patwari, B.; Sharma, D.; Chauhan, L.; Kher, V.; Raj, H.; Mahida, U.; Shankar, M.; Sharma, K. 2009. Is it possible to revive dug wells in hard-rock India through recharge?: discussion from studies in ten districts of the country. In International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Strategic Analyses of the National River Linking Project (NRLP) of India Series 5. Proceedings of the Second National Workshop on Strategic Issues in Indian Irrigation, New Delhi, India, 8-9 April 2009. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). pp.197-213.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H042694)
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Groundwater exploitation in hard-rock India is leading to high distress amongst farmers. Various water conservation schemes have been tried and piloted, but no idea has scaled up to the national level. An idea of revitalizing groundwater use, individual as it is, and if still individual-based, could possibly succeed. Recharging through dug wells is one such thought. After mass movements in Saurashtra in the mid-1990s, no effort has been made to promote the idea nationally, till now. The current national program on artificial recharge of dug wells hopes to do so. But this idea can succeed only if farmers see any value in it and try to make it successful. A survey of 767 farmers owning dug wells in 10 districts of India shows that there is immense potential in, yet constraints to, dug-well recharge. A comparison of dug-well recharge with the average annual natural recharge over hard-rock areas of 116 mm shows that there is almost an equal potential in recharging groundwater irrigated areas through dug wells. Surveyed farmers also expect a great increase in water availability, especially during the dry seasons. However, farmers are wary of this recharged water flowing across to their neighbors. They expect to gain around 30% from their recharged water, but agree that there would be a common gain by recharging groundwater together with their neighbors. The farmers’ estimated cost of Rs 10,000 for the recharge structures is not such a big constraint, nor is siltation, for which they suggest numerous innovative solutions. Managing dug-well recharge locally is critical. Should it become mandatory for farmers to apply in groups of 10, as our sampled farmers suggest? Should the national program be structured such that farmers are transferred the subsidy and they can construct the structures in April or May as they unanimously prefer to do? Instead, should the policy be to promote local businesses around recharge, so as to harness the experience of well drillers, who also operate during the same summer months? More such tuning is needed over implementation of the dug-well recharge program to create demand from farmers, catalyze enterprises locally around recharge and establish monitoring programs to measure the benefits from the first upcoming season in 2009 over lakhs of recharge structures.
3 Krishnan, S.. 2008. Duel among duals?: popular science of basaltic hydrogeology in a village of Saurashtra. In Kumar, M. Dinesh (Ed.). Managing water in the face of growing scarcity, inequity and declining returns: exploring fresh approaches. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Partners Meet, IWMI TATA Water Policy Research Program, ICRISAT, Patancheru, Hyderabad, India, 2-4 April 2008. Vol.1. Hyderabad, India: International Water Management Institute (IWMI), South Asia Sub Regional Office. pp.391-411.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7 G635 KUM Record No: H042915)
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Just as scientific data collection forms the backbone for national-level policy making on groundwater, There is a parallel stream of popular science that is used in decision making by farmers. These two ‘dual’ streams of knowledge exist together, sometimes complement, and at others times at conflict with each other in a ‘duel’. People’s knowledge on hydrology is not ‘dying’, but thriving and growing well, being refreshed continually by interfaces with science. It may be crude and unpolished, but it is localized, pervasive and relevant to needs of people. Especially in case of hard rock areas, the high hydrogeologic variability makes observation as important as theory. Such observation over decades leads to a developing science such as found in hard rock Saurashtra. It is this innate knowledge in society that has energised the action on conservation of water over the past two decades. Pockets of knowledge sources in villages are repositories of this science. Tapping such pockets, example that of well drillers, and harnessing them towards the state-organized data collection can potentially open up a new direction for localized groundwater management. The Jasdan area of Rajkot district has stirred in terms of groundwater recharge and conservation. In this area, the main actors of groundwater, apart from farmers are well drillers and related professionals of different vocations. Each professional has their own role, but as the main risk- taker, the farmer is the final decision-maker. Decisions on well drilling, location of ponds or recharge structures are made within these multiple points of knowledge sources. Innate terminology such as Kanh, Aadwan and Pad are used for describing hydrogeology, but these words have their roots in the local language. The main structures such as dykes and pore interspaces are easily located by knowledge generated through years of both, vertical and extensive horizontal drilling. Further, using these basic concepts, other applied subjects such as, well hydraulics, can be explained in these same terms. Comparison of this village hydrogeology with regional-level databases shows that there is rich information stored within these knowledge sources. The large level picture of surface lineaments available through geophysical and remote sensing studies, imparts a global picture to this localized knowledge and a potential fusing of these two can be highly potent. Perhaps, this apparent duality between formal science and people’s science is just an illusion, a product of our point of observation, and both of these possibly belong to the same process of societies’ program of knowledge generation. Thus, as this case study shows, instead of launching new data collection programs at village-level or persisting with the nation-wide monitoring networks for groundwater as is the current practice, it might be better to listen to the people and tap the right knowledge sources. There might be a large treasure hidden beneath just by scratching the surface.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.6.1 G635 SHA Record No: H043567)
(653.92 KB)
Thanks to farmers’ resistance to provide land for constructing watercourses below the outlets, India’s famous Sardar Sarovar Project is stuck in an impasse. Against a potential to serve 1.8 million hectares, the Project was irrigating just 100,000 hectares five years after the dam and main canals were ready. Indications are that full project benefits will get delayed by years, even decades. In this paper, IWMI researchers advance ten reasons why the Project should abandon its original plan of constructing open channels and license private service providers to invest in pumps and buried pipeline networks to sell irrigation service to farmers.
5 Shah, Tushaar; Krishnan, S.; Hemant, P.; Verma, S.; Chandra, A.; Sudhir, C. 2011. A case for pipelining water distribution in the Narmada Irrigation System in Gujarat, India. In Parthasarathy, R.; Dholakia, R. H. (Eds.). Sardar Sarovar Project on the River Narmada: impacts so far and ways forward. Vol. 3. New Delhi, India: Concept Publishing Company. pp.777-799.
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H043802)
(4.03 MB)
6 Krishnan, S.. 2012. Ten things to learn from the dug well recharge program. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Highlight, 11. 7p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045261)
(533.4KB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045484)
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8 Krishnan, S.; Indu, R. 2012. Safe water and nutritional improvements: opportunities for long term health advancements. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Highlight, 39. 9p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045486)
(291.8KB)
9 Verma, S.; Krishnan, S.. 2012. Assessing the agrarian impact of decentralized water harvesting at the basin scale: a discussion on methodology. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Highlight, 47. 9p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045496)
(477.9KB)
10 Krishnan, S.; Verma, S. 2012. Mapping the hydrological processes in a community-reconfigured river basin: some conceptual issues and results from a simple dry run. IWMI-Tata Water Policy Research Highlight, 50. 11p.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H045499)
(7.2MB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049099)
(483 KB)
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H052478)
(4.87 MB) (4.87 MB)
Groundwater irrigated agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of global groundwater withdrawals and around 38% of the total irrigated area. The indiscriminate use of groundwater has resulted in the depletion of groundwater resources across many regions globally. To ensure sustainable use, it is imperative to limit abstraction to within the average annual recharge rate. However, in agricultural systems in many developing countries, including India, where millions of smallholder farmers use individual wells for pumping, monitoring, and reliable data are lacking. This study proposes an energy-based approach to estimate groundwater abstraction, providing a low-cost method for deriving estimates of moderate accuracy. The research focuses on two areas with contrasting aquifer conditions in Gujarat, India: one alluvial and one hard rock. Using pump and well data, a conversion factor (CF) relating to the volume of water abstracted per unit of energy consumed is determined. In hard rock aquifers, the conversion factor decreases from an average of 6.0 m3 kWh- 1 for 3 HP pumps to 4.7 m3 kWh- 1 for 7.5 HP pumps. In alluvial aquifers characterized by higher aquifer transmissivity and flow rates, the conversion factor decreases from an average of 9.4 m3 kWh- 1 for 10 HP pumps to 4.7 m3 kWh- 1 for 20 HP pumps. The developed relationship shows that CF is related to factors such as pump horsepower, well characteristics, groundwater levels, and pump age. The CF relationship with pump and well characteristics is more robust (R2 ~ 0.75) in alluvial aquifers compared to the hard rock aquifer (R2 ~ 0.49). The developed models provide satisfactory estimates of groundwater abstraction, with R2 ~ 0.92 for alluvial aquifers and ~0.69 for hard rock aquifers, as compared to observed data on groundwater abstraction. This energy-based approach offers a cost-effective means of monitoring groundwater abstraction, particularly crucial in regions with heavily developed groundwater resources.
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