Sustainable Groundwater Management

By Prof. Elango Lakshmanan | IIT Madras

Learners enrolled: 364

ABOUT THE COURSE:

Groundwater is a critical resource that sustains ecosystems, supports agriculture, and provides drinking water to billions of people worldwide. It plays a central role in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those focused on water security. However, rapid groundwater extraction and contamination, potentially exacerbated by climate change, have placed immense pressure on this vital resource. If not properly managed, over-extraction and contamination can result in severe consequences, including declining water tables, saltwater intrusion, and deteriorating water quality. This underscores the urgent need for sustainable groundwater management to ensure long-term water security.

This course offers a comprehensive understanding of groundwater systems, with a strong emphasis on practical approaches to sustainability. Key topics include the impacts of climate change, sustainability indicators, and strategies such as Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), aquifer rejuvenation, and mitigation. Special attention is given to emerging contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fluoride, and chromium.

Students will also gain an exposure to groundwater modeling techniques for predicting future water availability and assessing climate change impacts. The course further integrates policy frameworks, governance strategies, and community-based approaches essential for effective groundwater conservation in both urban and agricultural contexts. Several case studies conducted by the instructor at various sites will be presented to enrich learning.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Civil Engineering /Water Resources Management/ Mining Engineering / Water Resources Engineering / Environmental Engineering / Geotechnical Engineering / Geology / Applied Geology / Geography / Environmental Science/Engineering / Management

PREREQUISITES: 12^th Std Maths, Physics, Chemistry

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Construction/Geotechnical Companies, Environmental Consultancy Companies, Groundwater Exploration Consultants, EIA Consultants

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Civil Engineering Geography Environmental Sciences Environment
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	15 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	02 Nov 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Fundamentals of Groundwater Systems and Their Importance: Role of groundwater as a key resource for water security, a critical resource for climate resilience and sustainability; Global groundwater uses and over-extraction; Its role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Week 2: Groundwater Flow and Aquifer Properties: Basic concepts; groundwater balance; Fundamentals of groundwater movement; Types of aquifers, its storage properties, Case Studies

Week 3: Hydrochemistry and Groundwater Quality: Chemical composition of groundwater; Hydrochemical facies; Interpretation techniques; Contaminants such as: Fluoride, Radionuclide, chromium, etc., and their natural vs. anthropogenic influences on hydro geochemistry; Case studies

Week 4: Groundwater Recharge and Sustainable Aquifer Rejuvenation: Natural recharge mechanisms and their role in groundwater sustainability. Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR); Aquifer rejuvenation approaches for overexploited regions; Case studies in arid and semi-arid regions.

Week 5: Groundwater Contamination and Risk Management Sources and mechanisms of groundwater contamination, its transportation through subsurface formations; Organic pollutants and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in groundwater; Advanced tools for monitoring and remediation. Case studies: Strategies for pollution prevention and risk assessment.

Week 6: Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: Principle, Causes, and consequences of coastal aquifer dynamics Adaptive management strategies to control SWI; Regional case studies: Managing saltwater intrusion in deltaic and coastal aquifers.

Week 7: Isotopes in Groundwater Studies Introduction to isotope hydrology; Applications in groundwater age dating and recharge estimation. Using isotopic tracers to identify contamination sources and aquifer connectivity. Case studies: Isotope hydrology in sustainable groundwater management

Week 8: Groundwater Modeling for Sustainable Management Overview of groundwater models: Conceptual, analytical, and numerical. Introduction to FEFLOW and its applications in groundwater resource planning. Predictive modeling for contaminant transport and SWI management. Case studies: Using models to assess groundwater sustainability under climate change.

Week 9: Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions and Ecosystem Services Interdependence of groundwater and surface water systems; Groundwater’s role in sustaining wetlands, rivers, and biodiversity. Groundwater-dependent ecosystems and conservation strategies. Case studies

Week 10: Urban and Agricultural Groundwater Management Challenges of groundwater use in urban settings. Sustainable groundwater use in agriculture; Community based groundwater conservation initiatives Case studies: Groundwater sustainability solutions in rural and urban environments.

Week 11: Governance, Policy, and Institutional Frameworks Legal and regulatory aspects of groundwater management. Water rights, groundwater ownership, and policy challenges. Global case studies: Successful policy interventions for groundwater sustainability.

Week 12: Future Challenges and Innovations in Groundwater Management : Climate change impacts on groundwater availability and quality. Innovations in groundwater conservation and governance. Formulating policy, and community participation for long-term solutions. Case study discussions and the future of sustainable groundwater management.

Books and references

Fetter C W and Kreamer D ( 2022), Applied Hydrogeology, Waveland Pr Inc
Todd D.K (2000) Groundwater Hydrology, John Wiley and Sons.
Chandra S. P. Ojha (2017) Sustainable Water Resources Management, American Society of Civil Engineers
Clark, Ian D., and Peter Fritz (1997). Environmental Isotopes in Hydrogeology. CRC Press
Alley, W.M., and S.A. Leake, (2004), The journey from safe yield to sustainability.Groundwater, volume 42(1)
Acharya, D. (2021). Water and Public Policy in India: Politics, Rights, and Governance. Routledge
Saha, D., Marwaha, S., & Mukherjee, A. (2017). Clean and Sustainable Groundwater in India.Springer Hydrogeology

Instructor bio

Prof. Elango Lakshmanan

IIT Madras

Prof. Elango Lakshmanan has teaching and research experience of about 38 years. He coordinated a significant capacity-building program for the State Water Resources Department's officers, funded by The World Bank through the Hydrology Project. Professor Elango Lakshmanan has organised four international workshops sponsored by UNESCO's International Hydrology Programme. He has successfully led nine international research projects supported by organisations such as the Department of Science and Technology, the University Grants Commission, the European Commission, the British Geological Survey, the Australian Research Council, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Additionally, he has carried out 26 national research projects sponsored by MHRD, CSIR, UGC, DST, BRNS, SERB, MoES, and DoS to the tune of Rs 18 crores. He served as the Vice President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences from 2013 to 2019. He is the Co-President of the International Commission of Water Quality of IAHS. He has also carried out several consultancy projects on subsurface investigations for organisations such as Dept. of Atomic Energy, PWD, MECON, Larson and Toubro, HPCC, Gammon India, Gimpex etc,. He has used electrical geophysical methods to understand seawater intrusion and characterise the aquifer systems. He used seismic methods in different consultancy projects of national importance to characterise the subsurface of the foundation strata and the efficacy of ground improvement techniques. He used gravity recovery and climate change experiment data to understand the changes in groundwater storage of the Chennai basin.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: November 02, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

SWAYAM Helpline / Support