key: cord-0946685-nsmd9z5t authors: Patni, Kiran; Jindal, Manoj Kumar title: A positive perspective during COVID-19 related to groundwater crisis date: 2020-06-04 journal: Groundw Sustain Dev DOI: 10.1016/j.gsd.2020.100420 sha: e96317b2cad9b10d0d66197219be37a4ce9a0d70 doc_id: 946685 cord_uid: nsmd9z5t The months from March to June refer as water crisis months in many places of India, because in these months of summer generally, Indian people face shortage of water. In the summer season, groundwater level decreases due to high temperature and increased evaporation of water in most of the places. This present discussion is focused on one positive aspect during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is related to rainfall during this summer in India. It has been observed that the rainfall in India in the months of March to May (as of now, on May 18, 2020) is high as compared to previous years and it might increase the groundwater level and people of India would not face a water crisis during this summer. The impact of rainfall on the groundwater level has been studied by many researchers across the world (Owor et al., 2009 ; Abdullahi MG and Garba I., 2015; Nyakundi et al., 2015; Nemaxwi et al., 2019) . Today the whole world is eagerly awaiting for the diminishment of COVID-19. The present article deals with the study of change in rain pattern during this COVID-19 outbreak. The whole world is suffering from this pandemic in present. India is also one of the victims of this outbreak, due to which the nation is suffering from lockdown regulated in various steps. This virus is certainly a threat to humankind, but along with this, we can observe some changes occurring in Mother nature due to these unforeseen circumstances. Nature is reviving and healing itself in various aspects, as the air is cleaner, there is less pollution. In this pandemic situation, Indian government has declared a total of 67 days lockdown; initially, it was set from 24 March 2020 to 14 April 2020 which extended three times from 15 April 2020 to 3 May 2020; 4 May 2020 to 17 May 2020 and 18 May 2020 to 31 May 2020 (National Portal of India). Lockdown or limited movement is affecting the environmental situation and this causes the reduction in air pollution because all types of transport, industries and other major sources of air pollution are closed during this time. Along with this all, there was observed a different rain pattern during this period, which has generally not been observed in previous years. Generally, the months from March to June are considered to be the summer months in India. Pattern of rainfall during these months was studied by the Indian Meteorological Department and the data clearly shows that large excess rainfall occurred in these months from 1 March 2020 to 18 May 2020 in maximum parts of India (369 districts out of 683 districts), which is not common (Indian Meteorological Department) . Rainfall is also one of the chemical parameters which affect the pattern of living of mankind. The impact of air pollution on rainfall patterns is still uncertain and air pollution can both increase and decrease rainfall depending on the environmental conditions of particular areas. In this COVID-19 situation, observation shows that there is increased rainfall, which means we can consider that the reduced air pollution is the cause of increasing rainfall (Uchiyama et al., 2017; American Association For The Advancement Of Science news). Climate change is also one of the factors which directly affects rainfall patterns. Climate change is now not only an environmental concern but also the biggest developmental challenge for the earth (Narjary et al., 2014). There are two aspects of rainfall that are beneficial as well as destructive. It has been observed and reported by several researchers that the rainfall is without any trend and random during monsoon (Mooley et al., 1984) . Normally, in the summer season, people of India suffer from water scarcity due to various direct and indirect factors, which are natural factors as well as improper management of water resources, pollution of surface water and groundwater (Mevada1 et al., 2019) . This crisis results in overexploitation of groundwater, which causes the lowering of the water table during summer. Groundwater refers to the water that is found below the earth's surface and it is the purest form of water that flows through fractures of rocks and pores to be available to the people (Bakundukize et al., 2011) . Heavy rainfall during these months can be a big relief from the perspective of the water crisis, as it will help in replenishing groundwater sources. Generally, during these months, many parts of the country suffer serious drought, but this year no such report has been obtained. Overall, through this discussion, we can be optimistic that the level of groundwater has increased due to which there will be no crisis of water, at least for some time, so that it can be regarded as a positive perspective during this COVID-19 pandemic situation. 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