By Dr S. K. Sharma1, 1 Retd. Member,Central Ground Water Board, Government of India, Consultant, WAPCOS and Principal Advisor, India Water Foundation, Ms Shuchi Mishra2 , Engineer, 2WAPCOS Ltd, Govt. of India undertaking under Ministry of Jal Shakti, India
Dr. Sharma received M,Sc (Geology) degree from Jammu University, Jammu in 1963 and Ph.D degree in Remote Sensing and Groundwater Exploration from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur in 1996. Honours Diploma and Advance Diplomas were received form Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun (1971& 1973) and ITC, the Netherlands (1976).
Worked as geologist (Ground water) in GSI from 1964 to 1973.Worked as Hydrogeologist in CGWB from 1973 till December 2001 on various level posts for ground water prospection in various parts of the country. While working in CGWB, served as Director (Hydrology) for WB –Hydrology Project(Phase-I). From 1998 till 2001 served as Member (Groundwater) and Member(CGWA) in CGWB and supervised work of Regional offices of CGWB and rendered advisories on ground water survey and ground water exploration activities done by CGWB in various states.
Ever since my retirement from CGWB, MoWR, served as International Ground water consultant for part time WB and ADB Ground Water projects in Yemen Republic, Kenya, Combodia, Eriteria, India and in Ethiopia. Presently working as ground water consultant with WAPCOS Ltd. since 2013 and part-time Chief Advisor with India water Foundation (IWF). The total experience includes over 50 years’ experience of working on Groundwater projects in country and abroad.
*Principal Advisor, India Water Foundation
Introduction:
The restoration of ecosystem employs the recovery of environment that is degraded and or destroyed including protection and conservation of system. Restoring ecosystem helps to regulate diseases and reduce or eliminate the risk of disasters. In essence, the restoration of ecosystem can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Humanity and nature have great impact on ecosystem. Rapid urbanization, deforestation and degradation, environment pollution and climate change degrade ecosystem. The restoration of ecology is the process of repairing and restoring of environment to its more or less original state.
Ecological restoration, in fact, is a function of 4 Rs i.e. rehabilitation, reclamation, recreation and recovery of degraded land and water environment. It thus is the process of recovering an ecosystem that has been degraded.
Management and Conservation Strategies
Authors have choosen to describe the following as part of Eco-restoration and conservation and climate change adaptation actions. These include:
- Restoration of Watershed Health
- Spring-shed management and Restoration
- Groundwater Restoration and management
- Renovation and Rehabilitation of Water Bodies(Lakes/Ponds)
Restoration of Watershed Health
One would propose to evaluate ecological status and quality of prevailing watershed environment features. Soil and water model is professed to evaluate and assess the effects of best practices in watersheds.Restoration of watershed health can be influenced by technical and ecological factors. Morphometric and hydrological indicators are considered useful in monitoring the effects of changing environment conditions on surface water run-off in watersheds.Proposed technically feasible practices include quantifying rainfall-runoff in a watershed whereby the factor of Drainage density and Drainage frequency play a vital role in arresting and ponding water-flow in a watershed based on morphometric data analysis. Drainage density of a watershed is directly proportion to run-off generated. Morphometric data so generated in a watershed as such is useful in mapping run-off producing and water percolation areas.
Integrated restoration techniques are proposed to be employed in a watershed that would include mainly Rainfall-runoff harvesting and its ponding behind bund called check dams Watershed run-off producing areas and setting up percolation ponds in water percolation areas are absolute factors for conservation of water in watersheds leading to restoration.Also, it is desirable to revegetate native plants in a degrading watershed.Such practices are aimed at restoring the health of watersheds.
Spring-shed Management & Restoration:
Like watershed system,the spring-shed system need also to be elaborately described for community benefits as springs are important source of water for drinking and agricultural needs.On would like to assess evidences responsible for sprigs drying-up intheir discharge reduction sequel to man- made and natural actions.In order to provide more insight into spring-related spring-shed issues, spring shed water budgeting and spring flow water as groundwater should invariably be attempted. Spring-shed management and recovery of springs to promote their conservation for future water supply of areas and their link to climate change adaptation assume significance.
Revival of springs and conservation of their flow is an important event connected with spring-shed management and restoration.There is atonce the need of time to developing a Restoration guide for Himalayan Springs to begin with.Simultaneously it is desirable to assess the evidences of spring water stress using spring morphology methods including assessment of increase and decrease in surface discharge in upper reaches of springs. The guide would help determine spring- management and restoration methods by spring types and spring water stresses by spring-watershed wise for their restoration.
Groundwater Restoration and Management:
Ground water being main source of water supply has been variously over-exploited in relation to annual recharging availability in various states in India,the chief being the states of Punjab,Delhi,Rajasthan,Haryana amongst others. Both quantity and quality of ground water impacted by human activities, industrialization and urbanization are required to be protected. While ground water over-exploitation can be checked by artificial recharging of it, the contamination of ground water by human activities cannot be completely restored/eliminated but can be minimized to the extent possible.
Groundwater withdrawal for aquifer storages have variously resulted in lowering of ground water levels. Over-pumping of groundwater have resulted both in groundwater depletion and production of inferior quality of groundwater.
Groundwater quality due to contamination is a major problem in industrial areas. However,ground water is vulnerable to both contamination and unmanaged exploitation. Various types of industries,mining and urbanization have lead to degradation of ground water quality in various areas. Remediation of contaminated aquifers is an extremely difficult, lengthy, expensive and somewhat impossible task. Preventive actions are however are much more effective than the clean-up of groundwater. However, effective management program would involve both preventiveand corrective actions.
Restoration and control of groundwater cannot begin with clean-up measures but with preventive strategies such as zoning,land-use planning and watershed protection based on understanding of hydro-geological, socio-economic and environmental influences,it would make difference. Groundwater protection strategies however require improving public education, well monitoring, enforcement measures and good understanding of hydrogeology of an area.Both regulatory and non-regulatory approach is but must in ground water protection and restoration program.
Municipal planners need prepare groundwater source-plans and well-head protection plans. Prevention is far less costly than to restore groundwater that has been contaminated/over-exploited due to neglect or ignorance. For preparation of protection plan,various types of maps such as aquifer sensitivity map for developing ground water,ground water level contour map, potential contamination source map are always required for developing ground water protection plan strategies.
For doing this, “it is necessary to establish/designate an organization with responsibility for implementing ground water protection plan in cooperation with local citizens’ group or community council”.
With proper management and restoration of ground water and its quality, no one is to be without needed usable water.
Restoration and Rehabilitationof Water Bodies(Lake/Pond)
Both natural and human actions are responsiblefor degradation of lake and pond water bodies environment. Examples of natural sources effecting Lake water bodies are clay minerals,evaporative deposits,eroded soils,organic decomposition,oxidation processes and rain water run-off.Examples of manmade factors influencing water bodies are domestic sewage,industrial effluents and mine discharges,oxidation of iron-metals(car,refrigerators) etc,
Above all,it may be mentioned that turbidity and siltation are more problems in lakes and ponds.
Two methods, namely the “preventive” and “ameliorative” are direct methods for lake restorations. Whereas the former is aimed at reducing the generation of pollutants as well as preventing pollutants reach the lakes and ponds,the latter involves treatment of water before discharge into lake water bodies.
The alternative, lake and pond restoration methods, need to be adopted. These may reduce the phosphoric concentration in tributaries contributing to Lakes, cause reduction in sediment inputs to ponds and lakes, including lake deepening and dredging of lake sediments.
Summary: Ecological restoration is process of recovering an ecosystem that has since been degraded,destroyed,damaged and over acted upon by human actions and or natural phenomenon.The implicit objective of this paper is to discuss causes and factors that help disturb ecosystem and factors and ways that help improve degraded environment.Four Ecosystem Restoration themes have been chosen to discuss the ecological phenomenon. Discussed themes include(i) the restoration of watershed health,(ii)Spring-shed management & restoration,(iii)Groundwater Restoration and management and(iv) Restoration and rehabilitation of water bodies(Lake and Pond).
References:
- Pengetal:Restoration of Degraded Ecosystem’2015; Springer
- Munoz Rojas: Soil Quality Indicator: Critical Tools in Ecosystem Restoration
- M.Miller,J.D.Jastrow: Ecosystem Restoration and Reclamation
- W.Covington etal1999: Ecosystem Restoration and Management: Scientific Principles & Concepts
