Introduction

The current water crisis in several parts of Gujarat highlights the asymmetry in development based on the exploitation and inefficient management of critical natural resources (Hirway and Mahadevia 1999). Not only are water resources distributed unevenly across space and time, but the extent to which they have been utilised varies according to political and economic interests (Wood 1999). For example, the alluvial areas of north Gujarat receive low rainfall, but because of the good recharging potential of the aquifers, the region is rich in groundwater resources. However, over the last 40 years, these have been increasingly exploited for irrigation, resulting in the drying up of many open wells, and mining of deep aquifers. In contrast, the high rainfall regions of south Gujarat have poor groundwater conditions but provide scope for the development of surface water reservoirs (Hirway and Patel 1994:12–16).