Groundwater Over-Exploitation, Costs and Adoption Measures in the Central Dry Zone of Karnataka

The present paper analyses the consequences of groundwater overexploitation by using field level data collected from two distinct well irrigated areas of Karnataka. The study results show that the consequences arising out of groundwater overexploitation are severe in high well interference area compared to low well interference area. As a result, overexploitation of groundwater has differential impact on different categories of farmers in terms of cost of drilling, area irrigated per well and adoption of mitigation measures. The burden of well failure is more or less equally shared by all categories of farmers but small farmers are the worst victims of resource scarcity. The study suggests to maintain inter well distance to prevent ‘resource mining’ and to educate farmers to use light water crops. The institutional reform is necessary to restore surface water bodies to facilitate aquifer recharge.