Contract Signed for Micro Level Aquifer Mapping

Central Ground Water Board under Ministry of Water Resources today signed a contract with Council of Scientific Industrial Research – National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) to implement the pilot project on “Aquifer characterization using advanced geophysical techniques in representative hydrogeological terrains of India”. The contract was signed in the presence of Minister of Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal. Also present on the occasion were Minister of State for Water Resources and Minority Affairs, Shri Vincent H. Pala, Secretary, Water Resources Shri Dhruv Vijai Singh and Director General, CSIR, Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Bansal said that he is sure that the technique will be found useful and after pilot project, it will be scaled-up to cover larger area in the country. He said there are many areas in which Ministry of Water Resources and CSIR can work together.

The project is being implemented under World Bank funded Hydrology Project. The project would be implemented in six representative areas in different hydrogeological terrains covering the States of Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over a period of 15 months. NGRI would be providing consultancy services for advanced geophysical techniques for micro level aquifer mapping in these pilot areas. The total cost of the project is about Rs. 44.39 crore, out of which the CGWB component is about Rs. 16.98 crore and NGRI component is about Rs. 27.41 crore.

NGRI will apply different advanced geophysical techniques to provide precise information about shallow and deep aquifers. The study will include latest state-of-the-art geophysical techniques – Heliborne Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) technique. The study will establish the efficacy of various geophysical techniques under different hydrogeological conditions and will also include capacity building of scientists from Central and State Organisations. The study would also be indicative of the replicability of the techniques when the project is scaled-up for the entire country. The results of aquifer mapping would be the input for development of an Aquifer Information Management System (AIMS), which would be used to formulate Aquifer Management Plans (AMP). These Aquifer Management Plans are envisaged to be implemented through participatory ground water management.

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MA/ KT/ VN
(Release ID :84296)