ROLE OF GROUND WATER IN IMPROVING RURAL HEALTH AND IN MITIGATING RURAL POVERTY IN DROUGHT PRONE, SEMI-ARID, HARD ROCK AREAS IN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES & THE UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP PROJECT 523 “GROWNET”

In semi-arid, hard rock terrain in many low-income countries, including India, the surface water resources are scarce and are often polluted. Ground water occurs in these areas in the shallow weathered zone up to about 15 meters depth and in the deeper fractures and fissures up to about 100 m depth. Drinking water bore wells installed with hand-pumps and reaching up to 60 to 80 meters depth, are in vogue in rural areas for providing safe quality drinking water supply to villagers. These bores result in a positive improvement in the health of villagers. They are also responsible for an economic advantage by increasing the number of working days per year, because the days lost in morbidity due to water borne diseases, are reduced. Ground water obtained by farmers by digging or drilling a well, also forms a very important and reliable resource which, if utilized prudently for irrigation, could transform the farmer’s lifestyle.

The increased agricultural output transforms the standard of living for the farmers and revives the economy of the whole village community through increased job-opportunities for the landless laborers, additional agro-inputs, transportation, marketing, preparing value-added products, growth of service sector and of the infrastructure. However, in semi-arid, hard rock areas, the increased pumpage of ground water may result in over-exploitation of the resource in some watersheds. Certain guidelines for sustainable development should therefore be observed, such as rainwater harvesting, availability of soft loans to farmers, insurance for failed wells or bores, and people’s participation in watershed development for augmentation the recharge to ground water. Some of these guidelines are included on the website www.igcp-grownet.org of UNESCO-IUGS-IGCP Project GROWNET, for which the Author of this paper is the Project Leader.