ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine social, technical, and economic aspects of this massive investment in groundwater. In both Bangladesh and Pakistan, public groundwater development has been heavily subsidized. The physical parameters of the system, the chapter focuses on government policy concerning groundwater development and documents economic and social impacts of this policy. The canal system introduced additional sources of recharge and caused a rise of the water table in and around the irrigated areas. The postpartition era marked the beginning of major water resource investments in Bangladesh. International observers visiting Bangladesh in the late 1950s and 1960s focused attention on the country's unique flood problems and consistently recommended water resources investment strategies which relied heavily on the construction of embankments and channel improvements. The bulk of court cases originating from rural areas concerned conflicts over water and associated land. Profusion of large, publicly owned and operated tubewells that were designed to serve two or more watercourses immediately.
