On the Water Front

Data-Driven Solutions for India’s Groundwater Crisis: The Role of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

Gathering accurate data as close as possible to the desired impact area of a water management project is a critical part of an effective Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning program. Here, Avinash Shivji Pande and Lakshmikantha NR — from EDF’s partner WELL Labs — collect data from a recharge pit in Jalna, Maharashtra. Read more about this particular intervention.

As groundwater depletion accelerates amid climate change and growing agricultural demands, integrating Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) into water management strategies can safeguard India’s water security and resilience.

Groundwater has sustained human societies for thousands of years, serving as a critical shared resource. However, the current rate of extraction — driven largely by climate change, population increase, and intensified irrigation — is outpacing recharge rates worldwide. At the same time, groundwater irrigation has proven essential for food security, livelihoods, and poverty alleviation, particularly in countries like India. Agriculture alone consumes roughly 90% of India’s groundwater, not only supporting domestic food security but also making India a major player in global food exports.

This reliance, however, comes at a significant cost. Over-extraction is leading to diminishing societal benefits, reflected in declining agricultural productivity, decreased adaptive capacity at the community level, and worsening water quality. Without effective adaptation and mitigation measures, climate-related water impacts are projected to lower global GDP by mid-century, with the heaviest losses expected in low- and middle-income countries. Read More »

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EDF deepens efforts to recharge groundwater, bolster farmer prosperity in India


EDF’s Leah Beaulac (bottom right) and Nikhil Goveas (right) listen to a groundwater user group meeting in Kadiri, Andhra Pradesh.

EDF is helping farmers address one of their core climate challenges: securing a reliable water supply. This September, an EDF team led by Ann Hayden, Nikhil GoveasGopal Penny and Leah Beaulac conducted a series of comprehensive site visits and workshops across drought-prone areas of central India.

Water availability in India is a core climate issue for the world. India is by far the largest user of groundwater in the world. More than 60% of the country’s irrigated agriculture and 85% of drinking water supplies depend on groundwater. Global food prices and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of farmers depend on India finding a path to sustainable groundwater use. EDF is committed to building a network of partnerships to help achieve this critical climate goal.

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How public-private partnerships can improve water sustainability

The scale of the global freshwater crisis requires an all hands effort. Fostering diverse, sometimes difficult, partnerships — particularly between policymakers, producers, and frontline communities — is at the heart of EDF’s water program.

Buzz Thompson’s new book argues the scale of the water crisis requires stronger public-private collaboration.

Partnership is also at the center of an intriguing new book from Stanford law and environmental social sciences professor Barton “Buzz” Thompson. In Liquid Asset: How Business and Government Can Partner to Solve the Freshwater Crisis, Thompson argues partnership — between the private sector, lawmakers, state agencies, philanthropic foundations, and non-profits such as EDF — gives us the best chance to address the growing freshwater challenges confronting the world today. He explores exactly how such public-private partnerships can develop by addressing four key questions:

    1. Does the private sector promise anything unique in solving the global water crisis?
    2. What are the risks of private involvement given the “public-ness” of water?
    3. What are the challenges of working in a traditionally public sector?
    4. How exactly can the private and public sectors partner?

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‘We are driving a car without a fuel gauge’ — data and localization needs dominate the emerging global consensus on groundwater

Groundwater professionals have long united around the desire to “make the invisible visible.” It’s a slogan that finds its way into most conversations, publications, and speeches on the global groundwater crisis. Last year’s United Nations World Water Development Report focused entirely on groundwater. It’s chosen title? Groundwater, making the invisible visible.

One could be forgiven then for expecting groundwater to be highly visible at last week’s World Water Week—the sprawling annual gathering around which much of the global discussion on water pivots. Yet, mirroring ground-reality across much of the world, groundwater remained largely out of the spotlight. Only a handful of sessions, out of hundreds on offer, focused on the topic and none received center-stage treatment.

That is not to say there were no fruitful discussions on groundwater in Stockholm. In fact, the sessions that did focus on the topic produced some substantial conversations that provide a glimpse at the emerging global consensus on both the need for improved management at multiple scales and specific steps required to facilitate such improvements. Read More »

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