Artesian Wells

Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM) is
a not-for-profit organization working in earth sciences applications, particularly in
groundwater resources management. Know more about ACWADAM here

Yenepoya Medical and Dental College, some 15 kilometres away from Mangalore city near Delarekatte, is located in a developing neighbourhood; three other medical colleges, many schools and the Mangalore University are all situated in the same area. A software park is also expected to come up shortly.

Both rural and urban India are faced with water problems. People do not have access to good quality, safe drinking water. The source for most drinking water is either rivers or underground aquifers (wells). Since water can dissolve just about anything that it comes into contact with long enough, often the groundwater we get isn’t pure.

A stepwell or ‘bawdi’ or ‘baori’, is exactly what the name suggests – a well with steps that lead down to the water. About 1000 years ago, a 13-storey deep water reservoir boasting 3500 steps was built to ensure that people in the arid Abhaneri region of Rajasthan had a dependable water source.

It is therefore crucial that we look after this resource and ensure that it is managed properly.Over reliance on groundwater for both domestic and commercial purposes has led to over-exploitation and contamination of groundwater. In order to make groundwater sustainable, there is a need to understand the aquifer characteristics as well as its overall geological setting.

The briefing papers include the following:

 It is well known fact that water well hydraulics is derived from the petroleum industry, therefore borrowed the concept of synonymy between pumping and injection. Two reasons which favoured the presumption are 1. Solutions for crude oil injection were never so significant as compared to pumping in the petroleum industry, and 2.

NREGA is widely criticized to be a program that creates 'empty' work for the sole purpose of employment, and does not extend itself to developing assets. This criticism is often made without supporting data, as there has been little research on asset creation through NREGA.

This paper published by Megh Pyne Abhiyan argues that  dug wells slowly started losing their significance following the invention and large scale marketing of hand pumps,.