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Add to Preferred SourcesThe World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $450 million program to arrest the country’s depleting groundwater levels and strengthen groundwater institutions.
The Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) – National Groundwater Management Improvement Program will be implemented in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and cover 78 districts. These states span both the hard rock aquifers of peninsular India and the alluvial aquifers of the Indo-Gangetic plains. They were selected according to a number of criteria, including degree of groundwater exploitation and degradation, established legal and regulatory instruments, institutional readiness, and experience in implementing initiatives related to groundwater management.
The program will, among others, enhance the recharge of aquifers and introduce water conservation practices; promote activities related to water harvesting, water management, and crop alignment; create an institutional structure for sustainable groundwater management, and equip communities and stakeholders to sustainably manage groundwater.
Groundwater is India’s most crucial water reserve and managing this national resource is the need of the hour,” said Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country Director in India. “This program will contribute to rural livelihoods and in the context of climatic shifts, build resilience of the rural economy. But, it’s impact will also be felt globally as it stands as one of the important programs of groundwater management worldwide.”
The program will introduce a bottom-up planning process for community-driven development of water budgets and Water Security Plans (WSPs). Water budgets will assess surface and groundwater conditions (both quantity and quality) and identify current and future needs.
“The Program will support on-ground actions that are based on community ownership and judicious management of water resources. Reversing groundwater overexploitation and degradation is in the hands of the hundreds of millions of individuals and communities – they need the right incentives, information, support, and resources to move to a more sustainable development and management of groundwater resources,” said Abedalrazq Khalil and Satya Priya, Senior Water Resources Management Specialists and World Bank’s Task Team Leaders for the program.
The $450 million loan, from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a 6-year grace period, and a maturity of 18 years.
Original source: WB
Published on 05 June 2018