Web enabled Ground Water Information System in India

According to a press release, a “Web enabled Ground Water Information System” was dedicated to the Nation on “World Water Day”. Jointly developed by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and NIC, the System provides ground water related spatial and non spatial data in seamless manner to the users through internet. This web system has revolutionized the whole concept of ground water information availability to the citizens as well as other professional organizations. Now even a farmer can access ground water information for the village through the e-kiosks being set up all over the country.

Dedicating the Web Enabled Water Ground Information System to the nation yesterday, the Union Minister for Water Resources Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the system would provide all the stakeholders access to various thematic layers as well as the nationwide database generated by CGWB on ground water level and water quality. This initiative would help more effective sharing of information relating to ground water resource availability and water level trend with user groups, planners and administrators.

The Minister asked all other Central and State Government Departments which are repositories of ground water data to come forward to pool it on the web based knowledge platform for the benefit of all stakeholders.

The Ground Water Information System provides access to various thematic layers as well as the nationwide database on ground water levels and water quality being monitored by CGWB. Efforts are being made to integrate the ground water related data from state agencies as well as various central agencies. The stakeholders involved in ground water development and management can have access and visualize the ground water condition in the country through Framework Service Oriented Architecture over Enterprise Spatial Data Infrastructure around Multi-layer GIS. The system is currently available in Government-to-Government (G2G) domain for planning and decision-making for management of ground water resource.

The Salient Features of the system are :-

· Framework Spatial Data Service Oriented Architecture

· State of the art solution using latest GIS technology developed in web enabled environment around SOI reference system in 1 :2,50,000 scale

· Data mirroring and data update with staging server at CGWB

· Rich spatial & Non-spatial Data content on ground water resources

· Easy navigation based on administrative/hydrological boundary

· Derived Information on Ground Water

· Ground Water Potential

· Online access to base data on Ground Water across the country including water level and water quality

· Integrated watershed boundaries (as per CGWB)

· On-line help & support services

· Role based user management

· Metadata

· Pre-defined Queries

Ministry of Water Resources accords the highest priority to protect the water resources and emphasis is being given on collective responsibility of all stakeholders, whether individual, communities, institutions, non government organizations etc. Concurrently, steps shall be taken up to accelerate assessment and monitoring of water quality at local, regional and national levels using watershed as a management unit. Industries, Institutions and Government should work hand in hand in providing low-cost solutions for abatement of pollution in water resources.