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Water Resources Management in the Ganges Basin: A Comparison of Three Strategies for Conjunctive Use of Groundwater and Surface Water

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  • Mahfuzur Khan
  • Clifford Voss
  • Winston Yu
  • Holly Michael

Abstract

The most difficult water resources management challenge in the Ganges Basin is the imbalance between water demand and seasonal availability. More than 80 % of the annual flow in the Ganges River occurs during the 4-month monsoon, resulting in widespread flooding. During the rest of the year, irrigation, navigation, and ecosystems suffer because of water scarcity. Storage of monsoonal flow for utilization during the dry season is one approach to mitigating these problems. Three conjunctive use management strategies involving subsurface water storage are evaluated in this study: Ganges Water Machine (GWM), Pumping Along Canals (PAC), and Distributed Pumping and Recharge (DPR). Numerical models are used to determine the efficacy of these strategies. Results for the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) indicate that these strategies create seasonal subsurface storage from 6 to 37 % of the yearly average monsoonal flow in the Ganges exiting UP over the considered range of conditions. This has clear implications for flood reduction, and each strategy has the potential to provide irrigation water and to reduce soil waterlogging. However, GWM and PAC require significant public investment in infrastructure and management, as well as major shifts in existing water use practices; these also involve spatially-concentrated pumping, which may induce land subsidence. DPR also requires investment and management, but the distributed pumping is less costly and can be more easily implemented via adaptation of existing water use practices in the basin. Copyright © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht (outside the USA) 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Mahfuzur Khan & Clifford Voss & Winston Yu & Holly Michael, 2014. "Water Resources Management in the Ganges Basin: A Comparison of Three Strategies for Conjunctive Use of Groundwater and Surface Water," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(5), pages 1235-1250, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:28:y:2014:i:5:p:1235-1250
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-014-0537-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sakthivadivel, R., 2002. "Innovations in conjunctive water management: artificial recharge in Madhya Ganga Canal Project. IWMI-TATA Water Policy Research Program Annual Partners' Meet, 2002," IWMI Working Papers H029646, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Erica Camnasio & Gianfranco Becciu, 2011. "Evaluation of the Feasibility of Irrigation Storage in a Flood Detention Pond in an Agricultural Catchment in Northern Italy," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(5), pages 1489-1508, March.
    3. World Bank, 2010. "Deep Wells and Prudence : Towards Pragmatic Action for Addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India," World Bank Publications - Reports 2835, The World Bank Group.
    4. Bouwer, Herman, 2000. "Integrated water management: emerging issues and challenges," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 217-228, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alam, Mohammad Faiz & Pavelic, Paul, 2020. "Underground Transfer of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI): exploring potential at the global scale," IWMI Research Reports H050008, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Dennis Wichelns, 2015. "Achieving Water and Food Security in 2050: Outlook, Policies, and Investments," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-33, April.
    3. Sisi Li & Yanhua Zhuang & Hongbin Liu & Zhen Wang & Fulin Zhang & Mingquan Lv & Limei Zhai & Xianpeng Fan & Shiwei Niu & Jingrui Chen & Changxu Xu & Na Wang & Shuhe Ruan & Wangzheng Shen & Menghan Mi , 2023. "Enhancing rice production sustainability and resilience via reactivating small water bodies for irrigation and drainage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Muthuwatta, Lal & Smakhtin, Vladimir & Surinaidu, Lagudu & Natarajan, R. & Chinnasamy, Pennan & Kakumanu, Krishna Reddy & Prathapar, Sanmugam A. & Jain, S. K. & Ghosh, N. C. & , 2016. "Reviving the Ganges water machine: potential and challenges to meet increasing water demand in the Ganges River Basin," IWMI Reports 246417, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Alam, Mohammad Faiz & Pavelic, Paul & Sharma, Navneet & Sikka, Alok, 2020. "Managed aquifer recharge of monsoon runoff using village ponds: performance assessment of a pilot trial in the Ramganga Basin, India," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-12(4):102.

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