ground water like the rivers is the common resources for all people and not just of those who have land rover aquifers however at present it is being used only by those who have such lands
Answers
A growing demand for water implies the need for an improved understanding of our resources, and the ability to manage that demand in an equitable and sustainable way.
India is a groundwater economy. At 260 cubic km per year, our country is the highest user of groundwater in the world—we use 25% of all groundwater extracted globally, ahead of the US and China.When we think of water, however, our brains have been programmed to think of large dams and rivers, and not wells. This, despite the fact that India has at least 4 crore irrigation wells and millions of farmers who use well water in agriculture.
Explaination
India was not the highest extractor of groundwater in the 1960s and 1970s; the Green Revolution changed that. At independence, the share of groundwater in agriculture was 35%; today it is a startling 70%.
Looking at water as a common pool resource
People tend to think of groundwater only through an agriculture or urban water supply lens. This however, is just a supply-side perspective that lacks an understanding of what the resource is, and what we need to do to ensure better use of it.
We need to think of groundwater as a common pool resource; the challenge however is that this common pool resource is almost invisible.
In villages, the perception often is, “This is my land and hence the water below it is my water.” But the question we’ve been asking communities to think about is, “How can you own the water below your land, when the water in your well has come from underneath someone else’s land and the water from under your land is naturally going to flow underneath your other neighbours’ lands?”
Once this has been explicitly stated and explained, people are quick to understand it, especially if you use science derived from data that has been collected by communities themselves.
But while the science is about hydrogeology and the mapping of water sources, the more important aspect is the application of this science—which is effective only if it involves bringing the resource (aquifers) and communities and villages together in the processes and solutions—what we call Participatory Ground Water Management (PGWM).