Chennai, crippled by water crisis, is also a metaphor for what Indian cities are experiencing in sourcing and managing the most precious natural resource: water. An in depth analysis

Uncertainty in the occurrence of rainfall with respect to time and quantity is a major contraint to agricultural production in rainfed areas. To alleviate the constraint, groundwater is pumped at an unsustainable rate causing continuous water table decline. Groundwater recharge by the rainwater and runoff harvested in percolation tanks can augment the groundwater resource.

Western Ghats form the catchment of all the 44 rivers that sustain the agroeconomy of Kerala. A study was conducted to assess the effect of land use on runoff from small watersheds of Western Ghats. Three small mono-culture watersheds, planted with cashew, coffee, tea and one small watershed with dense forest were selected for the study.