ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: In April 2005, the UNESCO-IUGS approved the IGCP Project no 523 titled as ‘‘GROWNET: Groundwater network for best practices in groundwater management in low-income countries’’. Under this project, best practices in various aspects of sustainable groundwater management are being assessed through different projects in low-income countries. The outcomes of these projects are posted on the website (www.igcp-grownet.org) for global dissemination and replication wherever possible. Best practices like (a) Watershed management for soil and water conservation leading to increased natural recharge and (b) Recharge augmentation through artificial processes, are already being followed in a few watersheds, with active participation of NGOs and local self-help groups, in schemes promoted by Governments and International Aid Agencies. Sustainability of groundwater development is dependant on successful augmentation of recharge and on demand management through education of stakeholders. The Paper describes an outline of the best practices in recharge augmentation which have eased the situation in some of the overexploited watersheds. These need to be replicated in many other overexploited watersheds in Basaltic, hard rock terrain in western India, which is the largest exposure of Basaltic, lava rocks in the world. GROWNET aims at dissemination of these practices for application in hard rock terrains in India and other low-income countries.
