Growing Role of Groundwater in Indian Irrigation in Transition:

Needed: Transition from Surface to Aquifer Storage?

Tushaar ShahInternational Water Management Institute

t.shah@cgiar.org www.iwmi.org

Acwadam Groundwater ConferenceMay 21-22, 2009, Pune

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of adaptive irrigation-upto 1830

• Community was the unit of irrigation management

Rainfall and Soil moisture

Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers

Lift irrigation from wells and surface sources

% of water consumptively used in agriculture

% Contribution to aggregateFarm output and incomes

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of canal construction-1830-1970

• State emerged as the architect, builder, manager of irrigation

Soil moisture management

Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers

Lift irrigation from wells & surface sources

% water consumptively used in agriculture

% Contribution to aggregateFarm output and incomes

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of atomistic pump irrigation-1970-todate

Individual farmer as the irrigation manager

Soil moisture management

Flow irrigation

Pump irrigation fromgroundwater

% of water consumptively used in agriculture

% ContributionTo Farm output & incomes

India is the world’s largest userof groundwater in agriculture in the world.

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50

100

150

200

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1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

cub

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US W.Europe SpainMexico China IndiaPakistan Bangladesh Sri LankaVietnam Ghana South AfricaTunisia

India has over 20 million irrigation wells. We add 0.8 million/year.

Every fourth cultivator owns an irrigation well; non-owners depend on groundwater markets.

Groundwater irrigated area in countries with intensive groundwater use in agriculture (FAO Aquastat 2003 and

other sources)

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India also has the largest area under groundwater irrigation in the world.

Pre-1970

1970-80

1980-90 After 1990

India’s GroundwaterJuggernaut is stillAccelerating!!!

Over half of India’s irrigation pumps were installed after 1990..

0

20

40

60

1 21 41 61 81 101 121 141 161 181 201 221 241

Districts

% of A

gricultural G

DP

0

20

40

60

1 21 41 61 81 101 121 141 161 181 201 221 241Districts

Percen

tage

to A

gricultural G

DP

% contribution of SWI to Agricultural GDP % contribution of GWI to Agricultural GDP

1970-73

1990-93

Until 1970, canals dominated irrigated agriculture; since then, tube wells have emerged as engines of agricultural growth.

Source: Döll, P., Lehner, B., Kaspar, F. (2002): Global modeling of groundwater recharge. In Schmitz, G.H. (ed.): Proceedings of Third International Conference on Water Resources and the Environment Research, Technical University of Dresden, Germany, ISBN 3-934253-17-2, Vol. I, 27-31

Long-term average groundwater recharge

GW use moves inversely With resource endowments

The only region where humid areas depend heavily on

groundwater.India is the only country where hardrock aquifers are exploited on such a

large scale

India’s groundwater story Unique, as are its drivers.We need to invent our own

Solutions.

Growth in Population Density around he world (people/km2) , 1700 – 1990

Expanding Cropland 1700-1990Fraction of grid cell in croplands

Drivers of Atomistic Irrigation:Ghettoization of India’s Agriculture

Shrinking of operated farm holdings in India (Source: NSS reports)

2.63

2.2

1.671.34

1.06

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

1960-61(17th)

1970-71(26th)

1981-82(37th)

1991-92(48th)

2002-03(59th)

ha

Small-holders add most to groundwater irrigation (Source: Agri. Census

050

100150200250300350400450

Marginal (<1ha)

Small (1-2 ha) Medium (2-10ha)

Large (>10ha)=

Farm holdings%

gro

wth

in g

roun

dwat

er

irrig

ated

are

as: 1

970-

71=1

00

1970-711976-771980-811985-861990-911995-96

The compelling advantage of pump irrigation is that it enables water-scavenging at will. Instead of adapting agriculture toIrrigation system, it adapts irrigation to farming system.

India’s groundwater boom is in some respects a response to

Disguized unemployment in agriculture.

Figure Changing structure of Indian agricultural production

65 66 62 5746

21 21 2121

28

11 10 1316 19

4 3 4 6 7

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1961-62 1971-72 1981-82 1991-92 2000-01

% o

f val

ue o

f agr

icul

tura

l out

put

Field crops, sugar, fibres High value crops Milk Other livestock

Canal and tank irrigated areas condemned to low-value crops unresponsive to precision irrigation.

Much diversification isOccurring outside Command areas (IFPRI).

Much diversification Requires small dozes ofYear-round, on-demandIrrigation.

Value added farming Will expand withWaste-water irrigation andGroundwater.

Our irrigation planning is preoccupied with food grains; Indian farmer is diversifying in a hurry.

Classes of Irrigators in India

Gross revenue &Irrigation cost/ha

20-22 mha

Million ha of irrigated area

cana

ls &

tank

s

30-32 mha

Own

ele

ctri

c pu

mps

10-12 mha

Elec

tric

pum

p pu

rcha

se12-15mha

Own

die

sel p

ump

7-8mha

Rent

ed d

iese

l pum

p

Own and rented gen-sets

15-18 million Marginal farmers

and share cropper families

Consequences of Groundwater Boom

•Groundwater depletion and decline in drought resilience•Quality degradation and public health hazard•High energy costs and unsustainable farming

•4% of India’s GHG by pumping•Challenge of adapting to Climate Change

The problem is: We neither manageThe supply side norThe demand side.

India has built some 270 billion m3 of surface storage which is proving a dead-weight. It irrigates only 15-16 m ha while the

same amount of groundwater irrigates 4 times more.

No matter how much we invest in surface storage, India’s dependence on aquifer storage will continue to increase.

RWH, Groundwater Recharge and Conjunctive management of rain, surface and groundwater should be the

new mantra of water management.

Recharge projects should be done withpeople’s participation but with strong science input.

Retrofitting canal systems as piped systems delivering pressurized irrigation or recharge needs to be considered.

Rethinking StorageIndia’s Water Challenge

Figure Response of Monsoonal Recovery in Water Level to Pre-monsoon Depth to Water Level

0

100200

300400

500600

700

1 19 37 55 73 91 109 127 145 163 181 199 217 235 253 271

272 Sample Villages: IWMI Survey of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh

feet

Pre-monsoon Water Level (feet) Monsoonal Rise in WL (ft)

• What factors influence monsoonal recovery in groundwater levels most?

• Pre-monsoon depth to the water level, regardless of rainfall pattern and hydro-geology. • This was strongly supported by our survey data.• It was also strongly supported by 1995 Minor Irrigation Census data.• Implication?• to a certain extent groundwater availability increases with resource development.

Figure 4: Aquifer Recovery and Pre-monsoon Water Level in 145 Districts of India: Minor Irrigation Census 1993-94

0200400600800

10001200

1 21 41 61 81 101 121 141145 district in ascending order of Pre-monsoon water table

Fee

t

Pre-monsoon Water Table Monsoonal Rise in Water Table (ft)

National Groundwater Recharge Master Plandeveloped by the CGWB aims to recharge 36

BCM by investing Rs 25000 crore..BUT

possible and needed

Badly needed but difficult without reallocation of water resources

High

possible but not needed

Neither needed nor easy

LowPressure on groundwater

resources

HighLow

Uncommitted surplus water available for recharge

Distributed RWH and groundwater recharge can be a big

part of the solution in these areas. Saurashtra and Kachchh

are leading Gujarat’s agricultural revolution.

Average Annual Growth Rates of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and Gross State Domestic Product from Agriculture

(GSDPA): Major States and All India (%): 2000/01 to 2007/08(Gulati, Shah and Sreedhar 2009)

Never known for vibrant agriculture, Gujarat’s

agricultural GDP has grown @ record 9.5%/year during 2002-2007. Distributed recharge is an important

contributor.

Value formation on rainfed farm:Normal Monsoon

0100200300400

June

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Dec Ja

nFe

bM

arAp

r

mm

rai

nfal

l

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Rs/

acre

Precipitation Expected cumulative value formation/acre

Economics of Rainfed Farming in Saurashtra

Value formation on rainfed farm: Early monsoon withdrawal

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Precipitation Expected cumulative value formation/acre

Economics of Rainfed Farming in Saurashtra:With Distributed Groundwater Recharge

Rainfed Farming with Distributed Recharge: Normal Monsoon

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Precipitation Expected cumulative value formation/acre

Rainfed Farming with Distributed Recharge: Early Withdrawal of Monsoon

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ctN

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ec Jan

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0500100015002000250030003500400045005000

Rs/

acre

Precipitation Expected cumulative value formation/acre

Western and Southern India have 11 million Dugwells. Many are out of use but are

Excellent recharge structures.

100 over-exploitedHardrock districts already

Have 7-7.5 million open wellsThat can be readily

used.

Rethinking StorageIndia’s Water Challenge

There is also dire need For big-ticket

Solutions to groundwaterDemand management

That can act quickly. Gujarat’sJyotigram scheme is an

Example.

Figure 1 a Electricity Network Before Figure 1 b Electricity Network after

Rural Gujarat Rewired under Jyotirgram Yojana

• Before

• Tubewells get 12-13 hours of 3-phase power supply of variable voltage, with frequent tripping, at unknown times mostly during nights

• Flat tariff: Rs 350-500/hp/year

• Massive use of capacitors to convert 1 and 2 phase power to run tubewells

• Non-farm users de-electrified because of capacitors

• Motor burn-out and rewinding the most important part of maintenance cost

• New connections not available.

• After

• Farmers get 8 hours/day of high voltage uninterrupted power at fixed schedules; night in one week, day-time the next

• Flat tariff Rs 850/hp/year

• Capacitors out; impossible

• Non-farm users get 24-hour non-stop single phase power

• Motor burn out at the minimum

• New connections allowed at high costs; now rationed;

Rural power supply environment :before and after JGS

Spheres of GroundwaterGovernance

ParticipatoryGroundwater

Recharge

Adaptation toGroundwater

Qualitydecline

Micro-irrigation

Conj. Mgt. of Rain, surfaceAnd ground

water

Energy-Groundwater

Nexus

Electricity Utilities;Rural Electrification

Corporation

Irrigation Deptts;Watershed Managers;

Rainfed Authority

Irrigation Equipment Co’s;

MI Subsidy;MI SPVs (e.g. GGRC)

Groundwater RechargeMaster Plan; CGWB;GW Deptts; NGOs;

Water Supply agencies;Public Health Agencies;

NGO’s; technologyproviders

Highlights • History of Indian irrigation: Three Phases and a Turning Point.

• Since 1975, Indian agriculture has emerged as the world’s largest user of groundwater to grow food and fibre.

• The groundwater boom is fired by population pressure on land and demands of intensive diversification of farming.

• Despite growing investments, canal and tank commands are shrinking. Tubewellsare canibalizing flow irrigation.

• India’s irrigation challenge today is one of managing its sub-continental aquifer systems, a vast reservoir we have left unmanaged.

• Intensive groundwater use may be easier to manage in hard rock than in alluvial aquifers.

• RWH and groundwater recharge need to be India’s new mantra. Hydro-geologists have to take a lead..

• To govern groundwater wisely, we need to master its demand side as much as its supply side.

Thank You.