Ground Water Management in Gujarat: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Abstract With the emergence of industries, advent of new agriculture technologies and increase in water consumption of domestic households, there has been an escalation in the consumption of the underground water in the state of Gujarat. In this research paper, the authors have analysed the legal policies to regularize the availability of underground water in Gujarat. The authors have conducted an empirical study based on three districts of Gujarat i.e., Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad and Baroda to find out the usage of underground water for domestic purposes and also to explore what alternative methods are adopted by these households to replenish the underground water used by the residents of these districts. The authors have concluded that majority of people are relying on underground water along with the water supplied by the city corporation and scarcely any household from the above-mentioned districts have a system to replenish the underground water through mode like rainwater harvesting. Further, the authors have summarized and recommended a few strategic steps that can be sorted for underground water problem in Gujarat.