A Study of Availability and Utilization of Water Resources in Punjab
B S Sidhu 1
*
, Rakesh Sharda 2
and Sandeep Singh 1
1
Department of Civil Engineering,
Chandigarh University,
Gharaun SAS Nagar,
Punjab,
India
2
Department of Soil and Water Engineering,
PAU,
Ludhiana,
Punjab
India
http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.15.3.18
While water is renewable, only a finite amount of it is available. Rapid urbanization, industrial development, and growth in food demand contribute to the shortage of freshwater in many countries. The limited availability of surface water and its uneven distribution in time and space has increased the dependence on groundwater (GW) in Punjab. Its irrigation development is characterized by excessive extraction of GW to meet the crop water requirements for ensuring the country’s self-reliance in food. GW development guided by populist political pronouncements has contributed to serious environmental and ecological concerns. The paper, using the GW resource estimation methodology-2015, assesses the net annual replenish able GW availability (21.58 billion cubic meters) and GW extraction (35.78 billion cubic meters), and thus a stage of GW extraction of 166%. It analyses the impact of continuous GW mining on the long-term behaviour of water table. Considering the declining availability of surface water under climate change, it is a high time to study the emerging GW scenario more scientifically and prescribe a policy framework for the future.
Copy the following to cite this article:
Sidhu B. S, Sharda R, Singh S. A Study of Availability and Utilization of Water Resources in Punjab. Curr World Environ 2020;15(3). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.15.3.18
Copy the following to cite this URL:
Sidhu B. S, Sharda R, Singh S. A Study of Availability and Utilization of Water Resources in Punjab. Curr World Environ 2020;15(3). Available From : https://bit.ly/33tXglZ
