The agriculture sector is the largest subscriber to the water sector in India, with 62 percent Dependence on groundwater, accounting for regional variability. However, recent studies have indicated that 8 -10 percent of the water sector caters to the industrial economy, with this demand increasing at about 2 percent per annum. This industrial focus by the natural resource sector is a testament to the importance of industrialisation. Additionally, transnationally-financed projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) have contributed significantly to increasing industrialisation in the country. Over the last few decades, schemes such as the Make In India, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, and Security and Growth for all in the Region (SAGAR) have encouraged in-house manufacturing, infrastructure growth and consequential growth in industrial demand for water resources. These schemes have facilitated state governments’ investment in industrial infrastructure from small-scale to mega industries.

Industrial policies and plans prioritise budget and space allocationthis format has made land the dominant natural resource in large-scale industrial planning.

Currently, industrial policies and plans prioritise budget and space allocationthis format has made land the dominant natural resource in large-scale industrial planning. Land availability and acquisition being a deciding factor, shape industrial areas’ location across the country. Use of natural resources, particularly water, usually occurs after land allocation, resulting in inefficient water resource planning. With growing water scarcity and climate change, it is imminent to sustainably integrate water into overall industrial planning and management practices. In this article, we discuss the relevance of water management in industrial planning. Subsequently, we discuss the necessity for updating the use of technology in this field and the missing prevalence of geospatial technology in policy and application.

India’s industrial water management

Currently, water supply to industrial areas comes from two main sources. State government industries department typically offers a commercial per industrial water connection, in addition to these industries are also permitted to lift water, at their expenditure, from local reservoirs/canals and supplement this with water from private borewells and water tankers. Groundwater is an important source of water for industries. However, it remains unregulated and unaccounted for. Industries require permits for groundwater extraction, and while some statutes limit levels for extraction, enforcement is lacking. Industries self-report the quantity used and are not regulated or audited as strictly as state-provided piped water leading to unregulated water usage. The combination of ineffective governance and unregulated industrial use severely affects the local (ground) water levels, negatively impacting the local environment, communities and even the future of these industries. This is particularly the case around drought-prone regions that depend on groundwater supply. Gaps in the way water is measured add to the poor governance structure.

Using a combination of technological methods to assess groundwater levels and use along with other forms of knowledge systems is a significant gap to cover.

In one case, the Karnataka Industrial and Development Board (KIADB) has attempted to map water availability while planning industrial areas. This is in addition to creating a dynamic water resource mapping initiative that includes industrial groundwater use. The new Karnataka Water Policy 2022 also addresses unregulated commercial groundwater exploitation and aims to create an integrated water management system. While these steps are helpful, it recalls the gaps in preceding policies and planning praxis. There are issues concerning startup costs, but increasingly quick innovating technology and standardised adoption across the board, lack of methodological adoption, and implementation are highlighted as being one of the primary issues. Fundamental reason for this recurring outcome of industrialisation is the lack of foundational planning and an increased dependence on industrial implementation. Another methodological issue leading to this situation is the severe dearth of reliable water (use) data. Using a combination of technological methods to assess groundwater levels and use along with other forms of knowledge systems is a significant gap to cover. In this article, we discuss one way to address this gap using geospatial mapping and technologies enabling better water management and rejuvenation exercises.

Scope for using geospatial technology

Geospatial technology, a recent pivot in the use of technology in multiple sectors, has its roots in mining and space observation. Geospatial technology, thus, has intuitive applications in industrial water management. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) have been prominent in academic research on ‘water management’. However, the application of this technology in regulation and application has been sparse. The first hurdle to address is mapping and maintaining databases for groundwater levels, use and consumers. India’s civil space organisation, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has, along with the Ministry of Water Resources, created the India-WRIS, which monitors 434 reservoirs in India. The platform helps users search, access, visualise, understand, and analyse comprehensive and contextual water resources data for assessment, monitoring, planning, development, and Integrated Water Resources Management. However, even as a ‘Single Window Solution’, this effort ignores the utility of reservoirs, surface water, or groundwater in the industrial sector, focusing on urban and agricultural utility. This gap in the demarcation of water use, despite the industry being such a large sector on the demand side of the supply chain, results in a gap in regulatory practices and application.

The platform helps users search, access, visualise, understand, and analyse comprehensive and contextual water resources data for assessment, monitoring, planning, development, and Integrated Water Resources Management.

The following contribution of geospatial technology can also include creating a digital twin. A digital twin is a virtual replica of the physical world, its dynamics, and processes, which allow us to simulate real-life situations and analyse their impact. Representing entities in the physical world to their respective virtual models’ databases is efficiently connected, leading to aligned outcomes. Still, it allows for ease of doing business in dealing with physical systems like pipes, pumps, valves, and tanks. It includes historical data sets such as weather records and real-time dynamic interactions. The above two methods contribute to measuring changing groundwater levels with use and can assist in better national water management and mapping. Satellites and technology like digital twins aside, various methodologies commonly used in theoretical geospatial applications can aid in zonation, water mapping and management. Industrial water mapping regulations and guidelines can include methods like Shannon’s entropy model (that measures a one-on-one relationship between the quantity of entropy of a system and the degree of disorder) and Boolean modelling (involving the logical combination of binary maps resulting from the application of conditional operators) and others, can be implemented to effectively increase the quality of water mapping and reduce exploitation of water resources. In conclusion, though including technology in policy and planning is an effective method, the startup costs to these acts as demotivators. Investing in sophisticated technology at the state level can be expensive, requiring national budget allocation and alignment of all states for fair and equitable advancement. Financial allocation towards such technology is often only the tip of the iceberg. Training personnel to collect and analysing data using modern technology is often an unseen human resource expenditure, the lack of which causes the failure of systematic absorption of technology.

State investment in geospatial technology is only enough with national support to ensure institutional integration that allows all concerned departments to access and add to the repository of information.

Apart from limited funding and skilled labour, gaps in governance structures make it challenging to have an integrated database and management system. State investment in geospatial technology is only enough with national support to ensure institutional integration that allows all concerned departments to access and add to the repository of information. This is vital because multiple departments oversee industry and water in a single state; absorption of modern technology across these institutional scales would be beneficial. While these challenges are important to consider, the costs should not outweigh the requirement for investing in a robust water management system because it is an urgent requirement, particularly for states investing heavily in economic corridors to guarantee sustainability. Groundwater management is a critical element in watershed protection. These protections, in the form of increased trust in new-age technologies, skilled labour, and national governance structures, will help enable land and water resources for optimum consumption and sustainable production. In India’s attempt to reach a US$ 5-trillion economy and form a manufacturing hub, resilience and sustainability of the industrial sector are necessary. Using geospatial technologies integrated with current methodologies is the next imperative step.

• Water
• India
• Climate change
• Economy
• Groundwater
• infrastructure
• natural resources
• Technology
• water
• water scarcity

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