A team of hydrogeologists from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) will be visiting Udaipur next week for ground water level monitoring in the identified 250 wells and water sources at Bhinder Panchayat Samiti of the district.

Under the project ‘Managed Aquifer Research through Village Intervention’ (MARVI) , the researchers aim to develop suitable practice guidelines and modelling that can be applied with relatively easily available local information. Sabarkantha district in Gujarat and Udaipur in Rajasthan had been chosen for the study since both districts are in hard rock aquifer areas and provide a diversity of trans disciplinary research issues in groundwater recharge and management.

The UWS is collaborating with the Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT) in Udaipur, Vidhya Bhawan polytechnic college and Krishi Vigyan Kendra here along with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) at Delhi for a four year project with a budget estimated to six crores. The overall aim of this project is to improve the security of irrigation water supplies and enhance livelihood opportunities for rural communities.

Specifically, the project will focus on assessing the effectiveness of current rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge structures and demand management strategies at village scale, informed Prof R.C Purohit, the leader of the MPUAT team in the project.

A range of hydrologic, agronomic, economic, social and cultural data at selected clusters of villages will be collected over a period of four years.  Bio-physical and socio-economic tools and models will be developed or adapted to evaluate the current issues of surface water and groundwater management, identify options and  strategies that will improve the long-term access to groundwater, provide a scientific and evidenced-based input to enhance watershed development policies,  and regenerate the natural resource base in irrigated farming systems.

Six censors have been installed in the selected wells of Dharta village at Bhinder which has been identified as the catchment area for the research work. The scientist will record the pace and rate of ground water level fluctuation and also research on the time taken for refilling of the water bodies after monsoons. The project will derive lessons from northern Gujarat where groundwater development is extensive.  It will extend and develop knowledge on aquifer management into southern Rajasthan and link with a related project in Jharkhand.

The project will have significant community impacts through identifying where and under what conditions MAR will actually improve water availability and livelihood opportunities within a given area while not reducing availability of water for other users. The researching team will draft a recommendation on the basis of the outcome of their study on the restricted usage of water sources for irrigation to prevent the exploitation of the precious natural resource previewing its scarcity in the coming years, said the KVK sources.

By: Geetha Sunil Pillai