Ground water is vital natural resource for their liable and economic provision of portable water supply in both the urban and rural environment .Worldwide, aquifer are experiencing an increasing threat of pollution from urbanization, industrial development, agricultural activities and mining enterprises. Thus proactive campaigns and practical actions to protect the natural (generally excellent)quality of groundwater are widely required and can be justified on both broad environmental sustainability and narrow economic benefit critical. In developing strategies for groundwater pollution control, the distinction between the threat to the resource or aquifer as a whole and to individual public water supply sources in particular is important. A realistic balance between resource protection and source protection water resource evaluation is gaining important in the present scenario due to increasing in population, industries and increasing agricultural practices, which severely alters the chemical composition of water.
Today the most important serious challenge before the world is not the development of ground water resource but its sustainable management. As problem of depletion and pollution has emerged in many parts of world including India, number of responses has emerged towards sustainability of ground water.
Sustainable development is a guiding principle for all countries in their developmental activities. This creates awareness among the people of the world that the environment needs and deserves to be protected. Developmental activities should not deplete or degrade the natural resources, including water on which present and future life depends.
Ground water strategies should be based on a holistic approach and must take account some degree of ignorance, uncertainty and unpredictability in terms of the ground water system’s behavior and properties, cumulative human impacts identifiable many times with difficulties, the effect of which cannot be predicted accurately over a longer term and financial and time constraint. The uncertainties in defining internal and external influences on ground water systems are associated with certain risks. Therefore environment impact assessment and risk analyses should be a part of ground water strategies. However any viable ground water strategies must include the following activities:
- Investigation of ground water system and determination of its vulnerability.
- Identification, listing and control over the existing and potential point and non-point pollution sources; operation of ground water quality monitoring systems.
- Control over human activities, in particular in vulnerable areas of ground water basins and aquifers.
- Stipulation and implementation of legislative measures for the protection of ground water resources. In order to have a precise scientific information the following activities must precede the above:
- Mapping and assessment of ground water vulnerability and
- Monitoring of ground water quality and recharge pattern.
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