Sustainable ground water management: A case study of Jaipur district

Jaipur district is the most urbanized and industrialized district in Rajasthan. There is no perennial river in the region. The rivers like Banganaga, Dhundh, Masi, Morel, Sabi are the ephemeral streams which drain the region. There are a few lakes in the region like Mansagar lake, Ramgarh lake, Maota Lake, Sagar Lake etc. which are currently not fit for consumption. As of 2020, all the 15 blocks of Jaipur district are in the overexploited category. (CGWB report, 2020). Agriculture sector is the biggest consumer of water in the region, followed by the industrial and the domestic sector. The changing land use land cover dynamics has also changed the pattern of ground water recharge in the region. With more urban landscapes emerging in the region, there has been reduction in the open areas, and recharge potential of the ground has also been limited. It is very important to construct rain water harvesting structures in the region, where the water table has gone down tremendously. In the urban areas there is a need to adopt roof top rain water harvesting technology. In the agriculture sector less water intensive crops be sown and more emphasis to be laid on precision agriculture for promoting ground water reserves. This paper explores the diminishing ground water reserves in the district and suggest measures for recovering them.