Ground water resources are receiving global attention, as human population growth and development cause significant changes to the earth system. It plays a major role in ensuring livelihood security in many parts of South Asia and its contribution to poverty alleviation is substantial. The complex nature of ground water problems in the Indian Sub-continent requires a precise delineation of the ground water regimes in different hydro geological settings and socio-economic conditions and is a primary necessity for sustainable and equitable management. Strategies to respond to ground water over-exploitation and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach. Practical policies and various solution options urgently need to be formulated and implemented to prevent the development problems. There is pressing need to evolve workable methods and approaches based on modern scientific researches on ground water resources, as well as to build a social framework including community participation at all levels for a ground water development system. The community participation in water pumping policies, incentives of efficient use, affordability of low income users and other vulnerable groups, water awareness are prime factors for success of any ground water based water supply project.

Ground water resources are receiving global attention, as human population growth and development cause significant changes to the earth system. It plays a major role in ensuring livelihood security in many parts of South Asia and its contribution to poverty alleviation is substantial. The complex nature of ground water problems in the Indian Sub-continent requires a precise delineation of the ground water regimes in different hydro geological settings and socio-economic conditions and is a primary necessity for sustainable and equitable management. Strategies to respond to ground water over-exploitation and deteriorating water quality must be based on a new approach. Practical policies and various solution options urgently need to be formulated and implemented to prevent the development problems. There is pressing need to evolve workable methods and approaches based on modern scientific researches on ground water resources, as well as to build a social framework including community participation at all levels for a ground water development system. The community participation in water pumping policies, incentives of efficient use, affordability of low income users and other vulnerable groups, water awareness are prime factors for success of any ground water based water supply project.

Groundwater is the most important source of domestic, industrial, and agricultural water and also a finite resource. Population growth has created an unprecedented demand for water, with the situation most critical in the developing world, where several million people depend on contaminated groundwater for drinking purposes. Geogenic contaminants,

This book explores the concept and issues of sustainability and its symbiotic relationship with existing water resources, the surrounding climate and geospatial development. It covers many dimensions of sustainable water resources, climatic variability, change. It also includes case studies on the basis of specific problems and issues, providing sustainable solutions for the future of the earth. Over the past several decades, climate change has significantly impacted a number of components of the hydrological cycle and hydrological systems, including changes in precipitation patterns and intensity; widespread melting of snow and ice; increased atmospheric water vapour; increased evaporation; and changes in soil moisture and runoff. Excess runoff eventually reaches larger bodies of water such as lakes, estuaries and the ocean, contaminating the water supply and limiting human and environmental access to water. An improved understanding of how changing anthropogenic activities could affect water resources, and climate in various parts of the world is a necessary step towards sustainability. This awareness requires analyses of challenging interactive areas within the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and sociosphere, as resultant long-term sustainable strategies and measures are greatly needed.

Sustainable groundwater development requires knowledge of the appropriate recharge and transport-processes. This is a prerequisite to understanding: (i) groundwater resources and their availability, and (ii) the dependence between groundwater and the environment. Conceptual understanding of groundwater flow at both temporal and spatial scales (local and regional) is essential for management that will support engineering, industry, agriculture, ecology, and all environmentally related issues. This book has been prepared for scientists, researchers, students, engineers, water resources specialists, groundwater consultants, government administrators and teachers. It is of direct and applied interest to practitioners in hydrogeology and groundwater (resources, quality, pollution, protection and clean-up), geochemistry and hydrogeochemical modelling, and investigators into environmental hydrology, groundwater dependent ecosystems, and other practical environmental issues.

CONTENTS: Ground Water Management: Need for Sustainable Approach; Democratic Decentralization in India and the Management of Groundwater - An Interstate Analysis: 1980 - 2000; Groundwater Ethics for its Sustainability; Water Law and Rights in India; Dry Troubles and Wet Solutions: Success Story of Ralegan Siddhi's Watershed Development Project; Sustainable Ground Water Management: Concept and Strategies; Groundwater Development, Use and Management in India: Issues and Options; A Decision Support Tool with Variable Agro - Climate Scenarios for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Semi-Arid Hard-Rock Areas; Comprehensive Assessment of Consequences and Options for Agricultural Groundwater Use; Conservation of Groundwater through Drip Irrigation; Conjunctive Use of Surface and Groundwater Resources in India: Past and Future; Control and Preservation of Ground Water Quality; Kerala's Plachimada Struggle: A Narrative on Water and Governance Rights; Salinity Prevention and Mitigation Initiative: Agriculture and Water Resource Development in Salinity Ingress Affected Coastal Areas; Groundwater Management in Andhra Pradesh: Policies and Implementation; Urbanization Effects on Ground Water Status of Delhi, India; 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind': Absence of Groundwater in Water Allocation of Narmada Basin; Inter-Linking of Water Bodies Through Link Water Channels: Experiences of Innovative Water Harvesting Measures form Saurashtra, Gujarat, India.

Disseminating investigations and providing pointers towards achieving sustainable groundwater supplies in community environments across the African continent, this book provides coverage of search integrated water, sanitation, hygiene delivery, and implementation best practices. The second part, through a variety of case studies, illustrates the current status and pitfalls that hydrogeologists experience--highlighting the relevant challenges that Sub-Saharan Africa still faces in this battle. The chapters assess the current situation, best practices, and contemporary challenges.