Only less than 1% of total quantity utilizable fresh water is available on the earth in time and space for various purposes. Water is a precious and finite renewable natural resource but not infinite and bountiful resource as once viewed. 85% of population in India is solely dependent on ground water based sources. As a result of population growth, excessive extraction of ground water to meet agriculture, industrial and domestic demands, drinking water is not available in adequate quantity particularly, during summer months in many parts of the country. Declining ground water levels have resulted in depletion of yield as well as deterioration of its quality having higher concentrations of salinity, fluoride, arsenic, iron, nitrate etc. posing serious environmental hazards. Thus, today the major issue is ground water resource management for sustainability inter-alia controlling the decline and preserving its quality to meet minimum BIS standards and WHO guidelines values of drinking water quality with health based targets. Decision support is required for sustainability which in turn needs quantification of hydro-geo-chemical parameters including sanitary survey of sources, validation of yield & assessment of the severity of associated health risks.
This paper an attempt has been made to present the applications of remote sensing/GIS based tools for quantifying, mapping of hydro-geo-chemicals as well as estimation of yield & assessment of their health risks and to provide sustainable mitigation options/plans for ensuring safe & secured drinking water sources.
