ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Groundwater is of special importance for sustainable development and improvement of agriculture and economic uplift of small and marginal farmers in the rural areas. Wise uses and management of groundwater for irrigation provide the farmer security and sustainability. It is all the more important in hard rock zones since the porosity of the rock is about 3%, the thickness of the weathered zone is about 3 to 20 m and only about 8 to 12% of the precipitation enter into the ground surface in soil pore spaces and form groundwater resources. In most of the hard rock areas especially in the southern peninsula, the groundwater is depleted due to over exploitation/mining and in Tamil Nadu, a few districts the water table has gone down beyond 300 m due to mining of groundwater. Under these circumstances, the groundwater management is very critical in hard rock areas for sustainable agriculture. This paper indicates in detail various groundwater augmentation methods like construction of percolation ponds, check dams, soil and water conservation measures, and water management practices for various crops including use of water saving method of irrigation in surface irrigation and introducing advanced methods like sprinkler and drip irrigation methods and selection of suitable crops based on the availability of water in the wells. If the suggestions are followed, it is possible to maintain groundwater level at reasonable depth and also in a sustained manner.
