Partners voor Water
Gujarat, India
MSc Project Groundwater (part time in India)
Evaluation of the measures taken in India to Prevent and
Mitigate salt water intrusion in coastal area of Gujarat
“Consolidate learning from the salinity ingress prevention
measures undertaken in the coastal area of Gujarat”
Contact: Prof. Olsthoorn, Room 4.87 (Mondays and Thursdays),
t.n.olsthoorn@tudelft.nl, 06-20440256
This project, once accepted by “Partners for Water” provides opportunity for a MSc
thesis in the field of groundwater, focusing on analyzing and modeling salt water
intrusion in fresh groundwater layers (aquifer) in the coastal zone of Gujarat India.
This MSc will be partly executed in India.
The project
The project is a partnership of various Dutch companies and institutions to conduct this
analysis in India with and for Indian partners and with support of the “Netherlands Water
Partnership”.
The project contributes to sustainable groundwater management in this area. Since people
in this area are largely dependent on groundwater resources for personal and agricultural
use, effective and sustainable groundwater management contributes directly to the UN
Millennium Development Goals:
Partners to the project
 ARCADIS is an international consultancy.
 The International Groundwater Assessment Centre (IGRAC).
 TNO (groundwater and land management)
 Delft University of Technology, Water Resources Section (groundwater chair)
The project is conducted in close cooperation with Indian organizations
 Ambuja Cements Foundation has strong credibility with Government of Gujarat.
 IWMI, International Water Management Institute (based in Sri Lanka)
Project context
In the coastal areas of Gujarat with scanty and erratic rainfall patterns, people depend
heavily on groundwater for their drinking water and irrigation water use. Extensive
pumping has lead to a salinity ingress resulting in reduced agricultural productivity and
jeopardizing human health and welfare of millions of inhabitants. From the 1970’s the
Government of Gujarat wants to fight this ingress since 1976, when various measures
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Gujarat, India
were taken to prevent further salinity ingress by capturing runoff (by check dams),
enhance artificial recharge (in ponds, wells and in infiltration canals, regulate the sea tide
in creeks and change land use in some areas.
Although positive results have been observed in the prevention scheme it is assumed that
the salinity situation will become more critical in future through an increasing water
demand and effects of climate change like sea level rise. An urgent need for up-scaling
the salinity ingress prevention scheme in Gujarat and applying it in other Indian coastal
areas exists. However, the efficacy and efficiency of the measures have not been assessed
and evaluated adequately. Therefore there is a strong need to consolidate learning from
all the efforts and actions undertaken to prevent salinity ingress so far.
Coordination
The project is coordinated by ACF from the Indian side. Planning, organisation and
coordination of the various meetings and workshops are carried out by and ACF. A
Dutch/Indian student of Unesco-IHE or Delft University will be based in Gujarat during
the reflection and dissemination phase. The student will be hosted in the office of one of
the Indian partners in Gujarat. The student is guided by the various team members and
Indian partners.
Objectives and goals
Next to socio-economics objectives, the main objective is to assess the salinity ingress
prevention measures taken since 1976 and come up with recommendations to improve
and upscale the scheme (and make it applicable to other areas).
Planning
The project contains three distinguishable phases: the Inception mission, the Reflection
phase and the Dissemination phase. After the Inception Mission it is decided whether to
continue with the full project. We expect the project to start in April 2008. The total
duration of the project takes about 6 months. Student activities are foreseen from May till
September. Clearly the MSc might take somewhat longer depending mainly on the
student and so may continue for a short while after the project is officially closed.
Inception mission
There will be an inception mission to conduct a detailed problem identification and
sharpen the project plan in close cooperation with the Indian partners and major
groundwater stakeholders in Gujarat. This to define the project such that it closely
answers the real demand of the problem owners. Furthermore the mission is used to clear
out project externalities and assumptions and to define the remaining project risks.
Reflection Phase (in which the student comes into
action)
To understand the efficacy and efficiency of the various suggested and implemented
salinity ingress prevention measures. Results from this study may contribute to improve
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Partners voor Water
Gujarat, India
and develop appropriate new salinity ingress prevention schemes in forthcoming projects.
It will look at technical and socio-economic aspects.
Following activities are foreseen in the reflection phase:
 Secondary data collection (monitoring data, location and numbers of
infrastructure, technical progress reports, evaluation and study reports).
 Overall desk top study and problem context description.
 Analysis of the groundwater quality and salinity ingress prevention scheme based
on an analysis of monitoring data.
 Analysis of the groundwater quality and salinity ingress prevention scheme based
on a conceptual groundwater and solutes transport model.
 Cost-benefit analysis and institutional analysis based on 3-day workshop with
Indian partners and Gujarat groundwater management stakeholders.
 Comparison of the salinity ingress prevention scheme with other coastal
groundwater and aquifer management practices (among which Dutch practices).
 Reporting of findings.
Dissemination Phase (Student contribution)
To disseminate the findings through workshops in India
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