Water is most essential but scarce resource in our country. Total water resources include surface water and ground water. Groundwater which is the main source for irrigation and drinking in the most part of the world constitutes about 89% of the total fresh water resources in the planet. But in recent years, due to over exploitation of ground water and erratic nature of monsoon, there has been depletion of ground water across the world. Due to limited supply of surface water, the water requirement for different purposes is largely met from the available groundwater resources. However, with increasing pace of industrialization during the past few decades, groundwater contamination has become a growing concern. The increasing dependence on ground water as a reliable source of water has resulted in its large scale and often indiscriminate development in various parts of the country without due regard to the recharging of aquifers and other environmental factors. The unplanned and unscientific development of ground water resources, mostly driven by individual initiatives, has led to an increasing stress on the available resources. The adverse impacts can be observed in the form of long term decline of ground water levels, de saturation of aquifer zones, increased energy consumption for lifting water from progressively deeper levels and quality deterioration due to saline water intrusion in coastal areas in different parts of the country. On the other hand, there are areas in the country, where ground water development is still low key in spite of the availability of sufficient resources. The canal command areas suffer from problems of water logging and soil salinity due to the gradual rise in ground water levels. Once groundwater is contaminated, cleaning process become difficult and entire system can pose serious health problem to human settlements. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to ascertain the extent of groundwater management caused by existing industries and agricultural activities. The study reflect grim groundwater scenario and its mitigation strategies in Jhunjhunu district. Low rainfall-arid climate, frequent drought and famine conditions, less availability of surface water and lack of water education are the causative factors for water crisis in Jhunjhunu district. In Jhunjhunu, owing to meager surface water resources, groundwater is only source of dependence and survival. Irrigation, industrial and drinking water supply are based on groundwater resources. In fact this has created the problem of depletion and deterioration of groundwater level and its quality. Therefore, for mitigating the challenges of groundwater depletion many effort must be made for maximum utilization of rain water, revival of traditional water wisdom, afforestation, augmentation of groundwater, dry farming, promotion of sprinkler and drip irrigation and defluoridation plants.

Indian Council of Social Science Research

English