Reservoirs Beneath

Reservoirs Beneath: Groundwater sustainability in India's Ramganga river basin

Angou, Gayathri (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment; Wageningen University & Research; International Water Management Institute)

Pande, S. (mentor)
Wreyford, Jessica (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology
Wageningen University & Research

Metropolitan Analysis, Design and Engineering (MADE)

International Water Management Institute

2023-09-28

This research studies groundwater sustainability in the Ramganga river basin of northern India. This region experiences a trifecta of hydrological stressors from groundwater over-extraction, frequent flooding during wet seasons, and agricultural droughts during dry seasons. There is a growing body of interventions known as Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) which attempts to co-manage these three concerns. One such example is a technology known as Underground Transfer of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI) proposed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI.) The most common mode of UTFI is recharge ponds and IWMI has technically proven its validity along with extensive piloting work in rural regions of the upper Ramganga basin. When it comes to groundwater planning, what is missing is a holistic approach that encompasses rural and urban (R & U) to study their collective demand for groundwater and plan for implementation of recharge structures; thereby ensuring better groundwater sustainability. Considering this, this thesis analyzes opportunities and barriers for UTFI’s scale-up in growing rural-urban regions of the Ramganga basin by unpacking rural-urban linkages. It proposes a holistic R+U approach for land-use planning to incorporate recharge infrastructures and in so doing, identify rural & urban implementation zones like existing ponds and parks for mixed interventions. This work adopts mixed-methods of qualitative and quantitative to conduct desk research and fieldwork, backed by relevant academic theories. The thesis culminates in land-use planning recommendations for the rural and urban to cohesively take steps towards groundwater sustainability and hydrological disaster resilience within a chosen study region. These recommendations are useful for planners and policy makers in the field, along with specific spatial, community, institutional and planning strategy aimed for IWMI’s use.

urbanization
India
regional planning
land-use
groundwater recharge
Water x Food nexus
future planning
rural-urban linkages
hydrosocial territories
urban masterplans
data-analysis
stakeholder engagement

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3b224e1e-b559-41fc-9c33-93b223a905eb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjvDvzGPfcU Webinar with CGIAR (International Water Management Institute's parent organization) NEXUS Gains talks.

Student theses

master thesis

© 2023 Gayathri Angou