Abstract:
Groundwater Hydrology Division of National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee organized a workshop
on “Understanding aquifer systems of Sunderbans- special emphasis on ASR using saline aquifers
to improve farmers livelihood” on December 09, 2019 at Kolkata (Fig. 1) under IUKWC pump
priming project in association with R. Prasari and BGS, UK. Indian Sunderbans comprises of 2
districts having 19 Community Development Blocks, 190 Gram Panchayats and 102 islands is the
largest Gangetic delta in the Indian Subcontinent. It also habitat of 2.79 million people living in 48
habitable islands and more than 50% are dependent on agriculture and allied activities of whom 1
million are small and marginal farmers with less than 1 acre monocrop land for cultivation. 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.
In this workshop researchers, academicians and policy makers associated with Indian Sunderbans
were invited to share their work experiences and vision for improvement of this region. The panel
discussions were also held on the livelihood issues, soil and water conditions of Sunderbans and
this workshop outcome are very much useful in development of some innovative techniques for
management of soil and water of the region to improve the livelihood of the local inhabitants.
