Summary – Key messages
• Groundwater cannot be well developed/managed in
isolation from surface water development/management
• Conjunctive development and management
• Rehabilitation and improved management of canal systems
• Contamination and over-exploitation are both important
problems to address
• Especially as pollution is destroying the resource base
• There is diversity in the groundwater situation across
India – the nature of the resource and the level of
development
• There is therefore no “one-size-fits-all solution”
• Over-exploitation is the consequence of policies and
perverse incentives across multiple sectors – there is no
water sector “silver bullet”
Summary – Key reform elements
• “Hot-spot analysis” to:
• identify and describe the nature of the key current and
emerging groundwater problems across the India
• identify recharge potential
• Identify ecological values linked to groundwater
• develop fit-for-purpose reforms at state and local level
• prioritize funding assistance
• Define GW management units based on aquifer
mapping, current and potential use and quality
• Consider a “program for results” approach with
appropriate state-level targets to allocate funding
• Prioritize securing safe drinking water supply
• Scope options for metering GW use, targeting high priorities
areas, and the institutions to support
• Invest in recharge structures where appropriate
Summary – Key reform elements
• Invest in institutions
• Bottom-up: community level participatory management
(SW-GW) possibly supported by CSR contributions
• Top-down: reorienting center and state GW agencies
from solely technical to planning and implementing
agencies
• Capacity development in technical and policy areas
• For priority GMUs identify portfolio of incentives
and regulations to achieve sustainable levels of use
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reward staying within sustainable levels
penalize excessive use
Remove current perverse incentives / subsidies
appropriately control additional development
Summary – Next Steps
• World Bank will prepare comprehensive summary
of this meeting including all PPT and will share via
NHP Website: www.indiawrm.org
• This meeting will inform scoping by MoWR of a
potential national GW program
• National Hydrology Project will provide important
contributions to improved GW data, technical
capacity and strengthened institutions.
• This meeting will inform ongoing discussions in
MoWR on central institutional reforms to
strengthen water planning and policy
• Regional World Bank study on sustainable GW use
being scoped