42-Allocation and Pricing Ploicy for Groundwater Resources

Abstract

Availability of water critically determined the emergence of life, and its sustenance depends largely on uninterrupted and adequate supply of water. Lack of water leads to serious conflicts among individuals and groups but could cause even the Third World War when nationalities are involved. Hence allocation and pricing policy for water (and especially the ground water component) deserves serious thoughts and very careful considerations to take wise decisions for long-term benefits of mankind. Ground water forms a major source of fresh water in the deserts, dry lands and especially in summer seasons when surface waters either dries up or is unavailable. It is Nature's gift to mankind for emergency storage, and supply at times of acute necessity. Nature of conflicts for groundwater ownership. development and supply are vastly different in urban and rural contexts. In urban areas it could be ownership, allocations for municipal versus industrial uses and pricings, whereas in rural areas it could be ownership, development and supply for municipal versus agriculture as well as supply to water-intensive croppings and its pricing policies, small versus large farmers and their demand etc. Obviously ground water is most valuable resource for mankind to sustain life, and hence, adequate conservation measures must be planned including water harvesting, water recharging, recycling of wastewater, drip farming etc. Groundwater management is a complex, dynamic, and nonlinear process, which should adapt to nature of problems/conflicts, and risks/gains involved; and optimal solutions are often site or time specific rather than fixed. Since groundwater data are often linguistic, imprecise, inaccurate and uncertain, optimal solutions can be attained through use of latest technology of soft computing based on fuzzy logic, neural networks and stochastic (probabilistic) reasonings in order to ensure greater economic growths and better quality of life. Optimal decisions should be risk-effective allocations for greater productivity and long-term growth potential. Pricing policy should include factors like ownership issues, supply versus demand, and cost effective with built-in incentives for conservative use of groundwater.