Surface and Underground Water Resource Management in Reference to Udaipurwati Block in Rajasthan

Abstract

Water is a natural resource, fundamental to life, livelihood, food security and sustainable development. Rajasthan, the largest state in India, faces one of the greatest scarcity of water resources in India. Rajasthan have more than 10.4% of the India’s geographical area. It’s more than 60% area classified as arid & semi-arid region, this area is a part of the Great Thar Desert. The area west of Aravallies receives low and erratic rainfall. The climate varies from arid to extreme arid in the western half of the State. Rajasthan have 13.99 % cultivable area, 5.67% population, 18% live-stock of India but it have only about 1.20% of the total surface & ground water of India. Population explosion combined with increasing in per capita consumption of water has created tremendous pressure on water resources. There is a huge gap (around 34%) in demand & availability of water. Over exploitation of ground water is the main reason of its rapid depletion. Quality of water (Fluoride, Nitrate, Arsenic and Salinity) is also a big problem in some region. At present more than 219 blocks have been categorized in “Critical and Over Exploited category”. The Dark Zone areas are spreading year by year. The ground water levels in major part of the state are depleting at alarming rate.
It is time to revive historical water management practices ( khadin, stepwell, kunds, jhalras, johads , talabs etc.) along with new techniques as Rooftop water harvesting, rejuvenation of water bodies through MNREGA, making small dams and anicuts, adopting water saving technologies in irrigation, minimizing wastage, and increasing water use efficiency. Integrated water management approach will be a right approach to manage sustainability of ground water. Local people awareness and participation in water resource management plays a big role along with government policies, programme. Present research paper emphasized on the current situation of ground water availability, various technique of water management and there possible Impact in Udaipurwati Block.