Co-solving Groundwater Depletion and Seasonal Flooding Through an Innovative Managed Aquifer Recharge Approach: Converti
Climate induced extreme events such as floods and droughts are often disastrous in incidences and affects Indian economy often. Low per capita surface water storage (225 m3/capita1), few sites for additional storages facilities and depleting groundwater a
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Keywords Flood Ground water Ramganga sub-basin Irrigation Aquifer UTFI (Underground taming of flood water for irrigation)
P.K. Gangopadhyay (&) B.R. Sharma International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 2nd Floor, CG Block C, NASC Complex DPS Marg, Pusa, Opp. Todapur, New Delhi 110012, India e-mail: [email protected] P. Pavelic International Water Management Institute (IWMI), c/o National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI), Ban Nongviengkham, Xaythany District, Vientiane, Lao PDR © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 D. Saha et al. (eds.), Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India, Springer Hydrogeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4552-3_12
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1 Introduction Floods and droughts are of recurrent occurrence in South Asia. In India alone, floods cause on average the annual economic loss of USD 7.5 billion (UNISDR 2015). More than 12% (4 Mkm2) of total geographical area (32.9 Mkm2) is flood prone and on average 7.5 mha area of land is affected by floods each year (NDMA 2016). Particularly during the monsoon season, large volumes of run off from the Himalayan range often cause great damage downstream. Rapid urbanization, growing developmental and economic activities in flood plains are the main causes of recurrent floods, which is accentuate by climate charge. As a result of high sediment loads from upper catchment and reduced carrying capacity of rivers over time, new areas are being flooded which were not considered as flood prone earlier. As an example, after the 2013 flood event in northern India, which caused 5000 deaths and massive destruction of public and private infrastructures; India was hit by two consecutive years of weak monsoons spread across 10 states. A study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India has reported that the cost of drought could be as high as $100 billion for the year of 2016 (ASSOCHAM 2016). Besides, year-round agriculture production is heavily dependent on groundwater. Ground water pumped if exceeds the annual recharge which is primarily from rainfall, causes groundwater levels to fall. This has negative implications not only on agriculture, but also on water supply for domestic and industrial purpose, particularity, where they are aquifer depended. To mitigate flood and drought events, common structural interventions are storage and diversion of water. Non-structural measures include awareness campaign, flood forecasting, relief and resettlement measures and the process continues regularly in an annual cycle. Larger dams are beneficial for storing water in monsoon and divert during the dry season, however, the practice is often costly and controversial primarily from ecological and socio-economic point-of view. Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI) involves diverting high water flows from rivers or canals at times when these flows pose flood risk, and recharging the aquifer through relevant techniques. This method, preferably in a cluster, is useful to reduce the flo
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