Report of Workshop Groundwater Recharge, Reduction in Soil Salinity- solutions and way forward for Indian Sunderbans

Abstract

Groundwater Hydrology Division of National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee organized a workshop on “Groundwater Recharge, Reduction in Soil Salinity- solutions and way forward for Indian Sunderbans” on August 07, 2019 at ICAR-CSSRI, complex, Canning Town, Kolkata (Fig. 1) under IUKWC pump priming project in association with R. Prasari and BGS, UK. The livelihoods of the rural population of the Sundarbans are precarious, freshwater aquifers are deep, expensive to exploit and suffering over-exploitation. Farmers use ponds, filled during the monsoon for dry season irrigation, but these have limited capacity. An Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) approach that utilises saline aquifers adds resilience to the water supply system, without the challenges inherent in the management of the freshwater aquifers. The approach may be applicable beyond the deltaic systems studied, for instance in areas of irrigation induced salinity or geogenically contaminated aquifers. Focused Group Discussion are required to get water level and quality parameters in the saline and fresh water aquifers and further the information will also be gathered from Rapid Rural Survey and field experiments conducted with barefoot-hydrogeologists in two blocks; Gosaba and Sandeshkhali II of Sunderbans West Bengal, India. The data on the saline aquifers will be integrated with available data for the deeper fresh water aquifers; data that has demonstrated deterioration in both yield and water quality as a result of over abstraction. The focused group discussions will highlight the principal water resource challenges facing farmers. The stakeholders and scientists working in the targeted areas will be brought in on platform by organizing a workshop.