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abhijit-mukherjeeUsable groundwater rapidly depleting in north, east India: IIT-Kharagpur study

The Economic Times (April 10, 2019)

NEW DELHI: India's northern and eastern states saw a rapid decline in usable groundwater between 2005 and 2013, raising impending risk of severe droughts, food crisis, and drinking water scarcity for millions of people, researchers have found.

A team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, West Bengal and Athabasca University, Canada, completed the first estimates of usable groundwater storage (UGWS) at the state-level across all of India using both in situ and satellite-based measurements.

Groundwater-level data was used from 3,907 in situ monitoring wells across the country and the total UGWS was estimated between 2005 and 2013. The estimate shows rapid depletion of UGWS in Assam, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal. (Read More)