Springs occur where water flows from an aquifer to Earth’s surface. A recent NITI Ayog report which shows that Himalayan springs are drying up ,is a cause of concern.

Importance of springs:-

• Springs form the origin of rivers. Their survival is crucial to maintain the river flow.
• Springs meet agricultural, drinking, and developmental needs of houselholds, especially in the Himalayan region, eg. Meghalaya, Uttarakhand.
• Springs are a source of water for wildlife. Thus, springs are important for maintaining biofiversity of a region.

Threats to springs:

• Changing land use patterns due to increasing urbanization, infrastructual development.
• Climate change has led to erratic rainfall patterns and increased heat. This has decreased availability of water in springs.
• Seismic activities, improper sanitation, leaching fertilizers has deteriorated the quality of water.
• Overuse of groundwater has increased pressure on springs.
• Deforestation and declining forest cover reduces capacity of a hydrological system to retain water.

Springshed is an area within a ground or surface water basin that contributes to the springs flow. Many pilots for springshed management have been launched eg- DharaVikas programme of sikkim.Following steps are included in springshed management:

• Mapping the springs and tagging them on a web portal. All info realting to them should be stored at one place for policy making.
• Awareness generation regarding the importance of springs and their optimum utilisation.
• Capacity building and training of local communities for restoration and augmentation of recharge.
• Continuous monitoring
•  Research to identify threats and develop solutions.
• Develop forested hills to reduce dependence on mountain springs for mineral water.
• Mainstreaming spring shed mgt with other development programmes eg better inplementation of Ujjwala scheme to reduce dependece on fuelwood which will result in reduced forest degradation and improve quality of springshed.

Isolated initiatives at state level may not succeed, given the inter state nature and impact of the springs.Given the importance of spring, and the threats facing them, it is the need of the hour to adopt a national prog on springshed management. This will require concerted and coordinated efforts of central govt, state govt, NGOs, local communities.