India is the largest agricultural user of groundwater in the world. The last 40 years has seen a revolutionary shift from large-scale surface water management to widespread groundwater abstraction, particularly in the northwestern states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. As a result of this, northwestern India is now a hotspot of groundwater depletion, with 'the largest rate of groundwater loss in any comparable-sized region on Earth' (Tiwari et al., 2009). This unsustainable use of groundwater becomes even more challenging when set increasing demands from a burgeoning population and industrialisation, together with potential but poorly understood effects of climate-driven changes in the water cycle. There are a number of innovative socio-economic strategies that can address this issue, including enhanced recharge and subsurface water storage, but their implementation and success depend on solid regional understanding of the geology and hydrogeology of the aquifer systems, and of the patterns and rates of groundwater flow and recharge. What we know about regional groundwater resources comes largely from either low-resolution studies based on satellite data, or from local investigations; there has been no large-scale, cross-state integrated study of the groundwater system. Groundwater in northwestern India is thought to be largely hosted within buried, sandy former river channels, which extend from the Himalayas toward the southwest and are separated by fine-grained muds. Only a few channels are visible at the surface; most are buried and their existence must be inferred. Our approach is founded on the premise that we must first understand the geology and geometry of the aquifer system before we can hope to estimate the way it will respond to a complex set of future stresses. This means that we must be able to describe the locations, sizes, and characteristics of these channels as well as their age and three-dimensional pattern. Once these characteristics are determined, we can forecast the likely future behaviour of the system. In this proposal, we will provide, for the first time, a regional assessment of the aquifer system in northwestern India, along with models for its evolution under changes in the water cycle and in the way in which groundwater is used. Our project will combine expertise in sedimentology, stratigraphy, sediment routing and basin evolution, hydrology, and isotope geochemistry to understand the geological framework of the aquifer system, the ages of the groundwaters within it, and the ways in which groundwater levels are likely to evolve over the next 50 years. The outcomes of the proposal will include (1) a comprehensive data base that covers the northwestern Indian aquifer system, (2) much better understanding of regional sources, ages, and flow rates of groundwater, and (3) a suite of predictions for how the groundwater system will respond to a range of different future scenarios.

As a signatory to the December 2015 Paris Agreement, India is committed to joining the global community in stabilising global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Centigrade. Rapidly growing economies such as India are faced with the challenge of reducing emissions from the heavy industry and power sectors while ensuring continued economic growth. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), where CO2 is removed from flue gases and injected into deep geological formations for permanent disposal, is recognised by the IPCC as an essential technology for meeting climate goals at least cost. While high-level studies have identified some potential for CO2 storage in India, a perception remains that injected CO2 may migrate upwards from the intended storage reservoir towards the surface. Lack of fundamental research that addresses this issue prohibits detailed assessment of the potential for CCS to contribute to emission reductions in India. COMICS will establish an international partnership to understand the potential for safe and secure CO2 storage in India's sedimentary basins. The team comprises researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and two leading Indian research institutes engaged in CCS, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) and the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI). A new £0.5M project announced by the Indian Government's Ministry of Science and Technology 'A systematic large scale assessment for potential of CO2 enhanced oil and natural gas recovery in key sedimentary basins in India' is led by IITB. The project comprises research groups; Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, and industrial partners; Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, National Thermal Power Corporation, Essar Oil and Gas, and the West Bengal Power Development Corporation. COMICS will complement the new Indian-funded project, combining local knowledge and expertise of the Indian consortium with the experience of the BGS CO2 storage research team. BGS has been active in CO2 research for over two decades, and undertakes related research in overburden properties, fluid-migration process, and monitoring requirements, funded by combination of UKRI (such as the current NERC Migration of CO2 through North Sea Geological Carbon Storage Sites, UK Carbon Capture and Storage Research Centre 2017) and EC H2020 projects (such as SECURe and ENOS). Our current research portfolio is worth over £5M. The COMICS project will extend these endeavours to include Indian data acquired through the new partnership, bringing new insights to CO2 storage processes in a region recognised as being vital to meeting regional and global climate ambitions. The project will initially focus on the Cambay Basin, where the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation have proposed a pilot CO2 injection project for enhanced oil recovery. The assessment of CO2 containment risks and monitoring and conformance requirements imposed by the specific geological setting are critically important. Based on the scientific research undertaken by COMICS, recommendations for safe and secure CO2 storage in the region will be developed. The research will underpin future research and development activities, including the development of new pilot CO2 injection studies. The results will also support nascent policy and commercial development of CCS through collaboration with industrial partners and state-owned companies engaged in the parallel Government of India-funded project. Facilitating CO2 emission reductions in India through targeted research activities is a key aim of COMICS. The proposed activities are aimed at securing future joint research opportunities for UK-India collaboration through Mission Innovation, existing UKRI programmes, and transnational UK Government (BEIS) funding to foster research and innovation related to accelerating CCS technologies.