ABSTRACT
Groundwater is an especially important resource in arid and semi-arid regions, where surface water is scarce and subject to high evapotranspiration losses. Groundwater supports over 85 per cent of India’s rural domestic water requirements, 50 per cent of urban and industrial water needs and nearly 55 per cent of irrigation demand (Government of India 2007). In addition, 92 per cent of India’s groundwater extraction is used for irrigation (Central Ground Water Board 2006). The area of groundwater-irrigated agricultural land more than doubled in the two decades to 2009 (Jha and Sinha 2009). The number of mechanized wells escalated in the last four decades of the twentieth century, from less than one million in 1960 to more than 19 million in the year 2000 (Jha and Sinha 2009). Across India, more than 22 million operational wells support the rural economy (Wani et al. 2009). Groundwater exploitation has also contributed significantly to poverty reduction in rural India, and to wider socio-economic development and the Indian economy in general. Small and marginal farmers comprise 20 per cent of the total agricultural area, yet control 38 per cent of the net area irrigated by wells (Jha and Sinha 2009).
