Reservoirs Beneath

Abstract

This research studies groundwater
sustainability in the Ramganga river basin of northern India. This region
experiences a trifecta of hydrological stressors from groundwater
over-extraction, frequent flooding during wet seasons, and agricultural
droughts during dry seasons. There is a growing body of interventions known as
Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) which attempts to co-manage these three concerns.
One such example is a technology known as Underground Transfer of Floods for
Irrigation (UTFI) proposed by the International Water Management Institute
(IWMI.) The most common mode of UTFI is recharge ponds and IWMI has technically
proven its validity along with extensive piloting work in rural regions of the
upper Ramganga basin. When it comes to groundwater planning, what is missing is
a holistic approach that encompasses rural and urban (R & U) to study their
collective demand for groundwater and plan for implementation of recharge
structures; thereby ensuring better groundwater sustainability. Considering
this, this thesis analyzes opportunities and barriers for UTFI’s scale-up in growing
rural-urban regions of the Ramganga basin by unpacking rural-urban linkages. It
proposes a holistic R+U approach for land-use planning to incorporate recharge
infrastructures and in so doing, identify rural & urban implementation
zones like existing ponds and parks for mixed interventions. This work adopts
mixed-methods of qualitative and quantitative to conduct desk research and
fieldwork, backed by relevant academic theories. The thesis culminates in
land-use planning recommendations for the rural and urban to cohesively take
steps towards groundwater sustainability and hydrological disaster resilience
within a chosen study region. These recommendations are useful for planners and
policy makers in the field, along with specific spatial, community,
institutional and planning strategy aimed for IWMI’s use.