Decreasing levels of Ground Water for Irrigation and Drinking Water in South India: With focus on Urbanization and Climate change

Introduction

Groundwater is the biggest liquid water resource on this planet, which plays a critical role in human nourishment and global food security through helping the irrigated agricultural food harvest. Groundwater in India covers of about thirty percent of the total fertile land in the world and is among the top in terms of using groundwater for their needs. India is experiencing an immediate increase in total population, urbanization and alternation in evolutionary use of water, harvesting pattern and the way of life following to unmanageable extraction of abundance of groundwater. The extraction of groundwater only in India accounts for twenty five percent of the extraction of the water resource in the world. The stance of Indian groundwater has turned into a worldwide example for long run accessibility and flexibility to human approaches. 

The administration of groundwater in the future is problematic with current political arrangements as well as in the future with the impact of climate change (Bhanja et al., 2017). The reasons for decrease in the groundwater involves the waste of water, irrigation water waste with not good maintenance and cheap cost of electrical pumps. Furthermore, the issues of groundwater also include the climate change that has an indirect impact on the water resources through increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which are then infiltrated under the surface of the land making the land warmer and making the water polluted. The different issues regarding climate change is evaporation and precipitation that creates major changes in water present in sea and lakes (Panwar & Chakrapani. 2013). Ground water in India has always been used to fulfill the domestic needs of the individual in rural (80%) as well as urban (50%) areas; it also meets the demands of the irrigation activities that are utilized by the agricultural sector. 

The influence of rainfall or climate change on groundwater is not taken into consideration, although the groundwater resource is the largest source of water in the country right now. This is because of the intricate engagement among the land utilization, properties of aquifer, water level and the timing of rain in different seasons. Those areas that have aquifers in a good condition doesn’t have a problem when there is less amount rainfall but a decrease in the rate of rainfall can largely impact the areas which do have an aquifer (Mall & Pandey, 2007). 

Groundwater has been discussed to be the most used water resource in the world, India is among the top users for various purposes, mostly for irrigation and drinking purposes. The Indian government has done a lot to preserve its resource but has time and again failed to do so. There has been an increasing amount of over extraction in different region especially the Southern region, there are not proper aquifers built for water to filter all the pollutants and contaminants so that it is easy for people to use and consume the groundwater. The ground provides good quality water but due to urbanization and climate change it has been difficult for the country to provide the citizens with good quality ground water. This paper will evaluate how can the scenario of groundwater issue in case of South India keeping in mind urbanization and climatic change.

Research Questions:

1. What are the issues of groundwater that makes it unbearable to use the water resource for drinking and irrigation purpose?
2. What is the theoretical framework that can help the South Indian regions to solve the issues of ground water?
3. How can the South Indian regions stop the contaminants to enter in the aquifers built by the different governments?

Research Objective:

1. To investigate the issues of groundwater that makes it unbearable to use the water resource for drinking and irrigation purpose.
2. To propose a theoretical framework that can help the South India regions to solve the issues of ground water.
3. To stop the contaminants to enter the aquifers built by the different governments.

Statement of Purpose:

Groundwater in India has many issues like the decreasing water levels, contaminants in the water and increase in salinity that is harmful for drinking and irrigation. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the problems created because of urbanization and climate change for groundwater in South Indian regions. Moreover, the paper will come up with a theoretical mechanism to solve the issues of groundwater that is used in abundance for drinking and irrigation purpose. 

Significance of the Research:

Water is a basic necessity, without which any living being cannot survive. Moreover, groundwater is used in abundance by many individuals for domestic needs but it is also used for irrigation purpose. India is among those countries that uses good amount of groundwater for different purpose but especially for irrigation and drinking purposes. This research is conducted to evaluate the situation of groundwater in different regions of South India emphasizing on the impacts of climate change and urbanization. The academic literature about the issue of groundwater is immense but very few have actually provided a solution on how to tackle the problem. Moreover, many of the authors have presented recommendations but not a theoretical framework that can help to at least analyze the multiple issues of groundwater like over exploitation, higher salinity and pollutants in groundwater.