Upscaling Catchment Processes for Sustainable Water Management in Peninsular India
Lead Research Organisation:
British Geological Survey
Department Name: Groundwater
Abstract
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Planned Impact
Our research tackles one of the most pressing natural resource issues in Peninsular India: how rapid economic development and population growth impacts water security through widespread changes in land-use, water management and water demand. Currently our understanding of the impact of such changes on hydrological processes is limited despite water degradation and depletion being a major issue in many Peninsular India. The Cauvery River Basin form the focus of our research. Shared between the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the river has long presented water management challenges at the local, regional and basin scale. Urbanization, deforestation, agricultural intensification and shift from rain fed crops to irrigated agriculture are all major influences in different parts of the Cauvery basin and small scale interventions such as the construction of farm-level bunds to conserve soil moisture continue to proliferate. Our research will take a multi-scale approach to understand the impact of anthropogenic changes in the hydrological system of Peninsular India.
The project will develop novel methods for upscaling the improved process understanding from rural and urban experimental catchments and will demonstrate the capability to assess the cumulative impact of abundant small scale changes across larger basins. Integrated process understanding will inform modelling from the field to basin scale to quantify interactions between different anthropogenic catchment modifications and their integrated impact on surface and groundwater resources at the basin scale.
There are a number of beneficiaries of the research:
Local water users. The field scale research of the impact of small scale interventions on the local hydrological conditions is of direct benefit to the farmers and communities using water and managing land. By building on ATREE's existing Water Literacy campaign we will ensure that the new knowledge and understanding is quickly and appropriately communicated. Within the urban environment of Bangalore we have support from both the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and a local NGOs involved in water rejuvenation within the city. Both will directly benefit from the research by being given a better understanding of the feedbacks between groundwater, surface water and the built environment and forecasts of future trends.
Basin Authorities. A major outcome from this research is to upscale the key small scale processes to inform how the hydrological system functions at a basin scale. The beneficiaries from this research include the State Authorities such as the Cauvery River Authority and Karnatak Government's Watershed Development Department, both of which have offered support to our project.
National Institutes. At a national scale, a major impact from the project will be improved hydrological modelling frameworks for large-scale Indian catchments. Our project's whole systems approach will deliver methods which allow the representation of cumulative local scale interventions within larger catchment models. As such, the project outputs will be particularly useful to the Central Groundwater Board and the National Water Development Agency, both of whom have expressed their willingness to participate in the project.
Academic Community. The research will benefit researchers in hydrology, environmental modelling and the growing community investigating linkages between society and the water-food-energy nexus. It will provide an impetus and mechanism for increased India-UK academic collaboration, and benefit both communities through increased exchange. The research team has a strong international academic track record and are involved in academic and professional networks which will increase uptake of within the broader academic community, such as UNESCO supported networks GRAPHIC, G-WADI, HELP and the scientific communities of IAHS and IAH.
The project will develop novel methods for upscaling the improved process understanding from rural and urban experimental catchments and will demonstrate the capability to assess the cumulative impact of abundant small scale changes across larger basins. Integrated process understanding will inform modelling from the field to basin scale to quantify interactions between different anthropogenic catchment modifications and their integrated impact on surface and groundwater resources at the basin scale.
There are a number of beneficiaries of the research:
Local water users. The field scale research of the impact of small scale interventions on the local hydrological conditions is of direct benefit to the farmers and communities using water and managing land. By building on ATREE's existing Water Literacy campaign we will ensure that the new knowledge and understanding is quickly and appropriately communicated. Within the urban environment of Bangalore we have support from both the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and a local NGOs involved in water rejuvenation within the city. Both will directly benefit from the research by being given a better understanding of the feedbacks between groundwater, surface water and the built environment and forecasts of future trends.
Basin Authorities. A major outcome from this research is to upscale the key small scale processes to inform how the hydrological system functions at a basin scale. The beneficiaries from this research include the State Authorities such as the Cauvery River Authority and Karnatak Government's Watershed Development Department, both of which have offered support to our project.
National Institutes. At a national scale, a major impact from the project will be improved hydrological modelling frameworks for large-scale Indian catchments. Our project's whole systems approach will deliver methods which allow the representation of cumulative local scale interventions within larger catchment models. As such, the project outputs will be particularly useful to the Central Groundwater Board and the National Water Development Agency, both of whom have expressed their willingness to participate in the project.
Academic Community. The research will benefit researchers in hydrology, environmental modelling and the growing community investigating linkages between society and the water-food-energy nexus. It will provide an impetus and mechanism for increased India-UK academic collaboration, and benefit both communities through increased exchange. The research team has a strong international academic track record and are involved in academic and professional networks which will increase uptake of within the broader academic community, such as UNESCO supported networks GRAPHIC, G-WADI, HELP and the scientific communities of IAHS and IAH.
Publications
Das P
(2021)
Quantifying the dynamics of sub-daily to seasonal hydrological interactions of Ganges river with groundwater in a densely populated city: Implications to vulnerability of drinking water sources.
in Journal of environmental management
Baron H
(2023)
Improving the representation of groundwater processes in a large-scale water resources model
in Hydrological Sciences Journal
Ofterdinger U
(2019)
Groundwater in fractured bedrock environments: managing catchment and subsurface resources - an introduction
in Geological Society, London, Special Publications
L. Collins S
(2020)
Groundwater connectivity of a sheared gneiss aquifer in the Cauvery River basin, India
in Hydrogeology Journal
Scanlon B
(2023)
Global water resources and the role of groundwater in a resilient water future
in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Lapworth D
(2021)
Elevated uranium in drinking water sources in basement aquifers of southern India
in Applied Geochemistry
Collins SL
(2020)
DISOLV: A Python Package for the Interpretation of Borehole Dilution Tests.
in Ground water
Description | The findings from BGS's component part of the larger grant are related to groundwater in southern India - which is used widely for irrigation and drinking water supplies. We were investigating how groundwater moves and is replenished in the crystalline rocks which underly most of southern India and how the very high abstraction rates mainly by farmers interact with rivers. Here are some of our main findings (1) very high pumping rates from crystalline basement rocks has dramatically reduce lateral flows in the catchment, which in turn is reducing the baseflow to the rivers. (2) because of the low storage and high permeability of these aquifers - they can deplete rapidly with high abstraction - but also replenish within one year if there is exceptional monsoon rainfall (3) lakes and reservoirs in urban areas are causing widespread contamination of the shallow groundwater. (4) There is little evidence to support that widely accepted view that the many small tanks on river channels have a significant role in increasing groiundwater recharge in the catchment (5) In addition we found elevated uranium in groundwater in many of the study areas of the project. Alhtough this was not an original objective of the study, there are potential impacts on human health - and our emerging findings is that the uranium is mainly from natural sources due to the geology. |
Exploitation Route | The work could be used by the Bangalore Municipality to help protect groundwater resources, and also by the central groundwater board (CGWB) to help assess and monitor regional groundwater trends - and in particular th eimpact of the policy of developing tanks to artificially recharge groundwater. The large body of work created by the study is also of use to other reserchers in the area |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
URL | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab282f |
Description | The findings on elevated uranium in groundwaters was discussed with villages and district water offices to help find safe water sources for drinking. Others have since built on the fiundings to carry out further research to uncover the full extent of the issue. The research results on groundwater recharge from individual tanks and research structures is being discussed by engineers promoting the use of managed aquifer recharge structures and could feed into new guidance on hoe to increase groundwater recharge |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Briefing to FCDO on implications of World Water Day 2022 |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
URL | https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/532312/ |
Description | Citation in UN Water Report 2022 |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
Impact | The document has submited recommendation to the UN Water Congress on howe to implment strategies for using groundwater sustainable to help acheive the SDGs |
URL | https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380721 |
Description | CLARE |
Amount | $2,000,000 (CAD) |
Organisation | University College London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2023 |
End | 04/2026 |
Description | Geoscience for Sustainable Futures |
Amount | £11,736,500 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/R000069/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2017 |
End | 06/2020 |
Title | A method for digitising 2D fracture networks and topographic lineaments in GIS |
Description | Developed a methodology for easily generating digital datasets of fracture networks from photographs and also from remote sensed data. This enhanced method enables different fractures and fracture connectivity to be rapidly mapped for use in groundwater studies. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Research method is being used by other projects within BGS, and is soon to be published in open access format to enable other people to use the method more widely. |
Title | A python package for analysing borehole dilution tests |
Description | Single borehole dilution tests (SBDTs) are an inexpensive but effective technique for hydrogeological characterization of hard-rock aquifers. We present a freely available, easy-to-use, open-source Python package, DISOLV, for plotting, analyzing, and modelling SBDT data. DISOLV can significantly reduce the time spent interpreting field data by helping to identify flowing fractures intersecting the borehole and estimate the corresponding flow rates. DISOLV is successfully benchmarked against two analytical solutions. We also present an example application to real data collected in a borehole in a crystalline basement aquifer in southern India |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | None yet - as published in MArch 2020 - but expect the software to be taken up by other research teams |
Description | Collaboration between BGS and ATREE |
Organisation | Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment |
Country | India |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | ATREE are a project partner in this grant funded directly from the Indian MOES. We have helped collect and interpret data from field sites, and worked on joint publications. We have extended the relationship beyond the project seeking ways to work with ATREE in regional and global groundwater mangement initiatives. |
Collaborator Contribution | Joint data collection and discussions. |
Impact | Sceintific papers Joint conference sessions |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | ACWADAm webinar - reimagining groundwater governance |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A talk to water practitioners followed by discussion on groundwater development in India organised by the NGO ACWADAM. Teh subject was how to characterise Groundwater |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Farmer discussions in the Milli Catchment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Events in our experimental catchments, the Milli and Barambadi, to share the results of the groundwater chemistry surveys with local farmers were arranged by ATREE in Bangalore. The farmers could see the quality of the water and the potential problem of elevated Uranium in the groundwater could be discussed freely. As a consequence we circulated personal letters to feedback all the results to those affected and drafted a response to anyone else concerned about the elevated Uranium. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | IAH India: Public lecture on Groundwater in the Indo-Gangetic Basin |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An invited talk to the Indian Association of Hydrogeologists. THis was an online "popular talk" followed by 20 minutes of discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://inciah.org/ |
Description | News article: Sustainable groundwater management underpins food security in South Asia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A BGS blog written on how groundwater has contributed to the green revolution in south Asia, drawong on different aspects of BGS work in India |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530457/ |
Description | Stakeholder workshops Tamil Nadu |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A meeting with diverse stakeholders with an inter5st in water in Tamil Nadu. Two meetings were held in Trichy and Chennai with farmers, local government officials, water resource planners and researchers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | World Water Day 2023: groundwater photo stories |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A collection of photo stories celebrates the way groundwater development has benefited many people. Groundwater is fundamental to everyday life: spring water, wells and boreholes have provided safe drinking water and reliable water supplies for irrigation and industry for millennia. Today, half the world's population is estimated to use groundwater for drinking and a third of the world's irrigation comes from groundwater. However, the hidden nature of groundwater often means that its important role, both historically and in the present, is overlooked. By showcasing examples of groundwater use from around the world, we hope to encourage efforts to develop and manage groundwater sustainably and to protect the supplies of the most vulnerable. These photographs are the finalists from a competition run by the International Association of Hydrogeologists and BGS for the UN Groundwater Summit in December 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/world-water-day-2023-groundwater-photo-stories/ |
Description | World Water Day Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A thought piece on how groundwater is devloped differently in Africa and South Asia to coincide with World Water Day 2023 and the World Water Conference in New York. The blog was picked up by severa polcy makers and practitioners to generate interesting discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/a-tale-of-two-groundwaters/ |
Description | World Water Day Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A thought piece on how groundwater is devloped differently in Africa and South Asia to coincide with World Water Day 2023 and the World Water Conference in New York. The blog was picked up by severa polcy makers and practitioners to generate interesting discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/a-tale-of-two-groundwaters/ |