Piezometers

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Current process-

• Currently, such information is only measured a handful of times a year and communicated via reports of the Central Groundwater Board(CGB).
• The CGB currently relies on a network of about 26 thousand groundwater observation wells that require technicians to manually measure the state of groundwater in a region.
• The CGWB is in charge of the National Aquifer Mapping Program (NAQUIM), that as of March has mapped the country’s aquifers at a resolution of 1:50000 and  under the second phase of the programme – expects to improve the resolution by five times in the country. 
• So far, an area of 25.15 lakh square km has been covered under the NAQUIM studies.

Piezometers: the new initiative-

• Under the new initiative, around 16,000-17,000 digital water level recorders will be connected to piezometers in the wells. Piezometers measure groundwater levels, the recorders will transmit the information digitally.
• In the next three years, the CGWB aims to increase its network from the existing 26,000 to about 40,000. 
• When combined with similar networks possessed by other institutions – State bodies, agriculture and meteorology departments – India will have about 67,000 digitally recordable units to monitor groundwater dynamics.
• Establishing a network that will continuously measure groundwater quality, feed it into a centralised network such as that of the National Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) and available for monitoring would make groundwater visible much the same way as air quality, meteorological variables –air pressure, moisture, precipitation.
• It can potentially provide groundwater forecasts to farmers that would be useful for sowing, and updated advisories that can influence groundwater extraction policies by States. 
• Except for information on water flow governed by international treaties, most of this information will be publicly accessible.

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