45.-Impact of urbanization on the water resources and their management in Pondicherry.

Abstract

The city of Pondicherry, which constitutes 68.3% of the land area and 75.3% of the population of the four-town conglomerate of the Union Territory of Pondicherry — the other three constituents being Karikal, Mahe, and Yanam; each being a land-locked 'island' in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra pradesh — is much better endowed in terms of water resources than other regions on the east cost of the Indian peninsula. The city typifies the present trend of rapid urbanization occurring all over India with its attendant benefits and problems. Among the exceedingly pressing problem is the growing decline in the availability and quality of water. In this paper the authors describe results of several surveys which have led to the first-ever extensive documentation of the water quality in some of the heavily industrialized pockets of the city, as also base-level data on the extent of salinization of the coastal wells. In the paper, the authors have also identified water management strategies relevant to the city by which the present trend of declining water availability and quality can be reversed.