/topics/groundwater-recharge
Groundwater Recharge
Patterns of social exclusion in watershed development in India
Posted on 27 Nov, 2020 11:13 PMHow have watershed development projects fared in India? Have they helped in better distribution of benefits among the poor and marginalised? Why is it important to talk about watershed development at this juncture?
This book by Dr Eshwer Kale dwells on these questions and explores issues around social exclusion among resource-poor people in watershed development projects.
![Watershed development: Towards equitable outcomes (Image Source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2020-11/Watershed.jpg?itok=81iVcBXh)
Ahar pynes: Traditional flood harvesting systems of South Bihar
Posted on 18 Nov, 2020 02:17 PM
Ahar pynes, the ingenious community managed irrigation systems of South Bihar
![Ahar Pyne system in Gaya, South Bihar (Image courtesy: Hindi Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2020-11/Ahar%20Pyne%20system%20in%20Gaya.jpg?itok=MQgY1YBu)
Springs that sustain millions
Posted on 16 Nov, 2020 01:07 PMFor a long time, villagers of Thanakasoga in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh knew about the depletion of their drinking water sources and the thirstier future they faced. “We depend on bawdis and natural springs, from where we fetched water. By 2012, our springs were dying and could hardly cater to the local demand.
![Springshed management has brought the much-required difference in people's lives, as the discharge of the springs increased (Image: Kedarnathsmritivan; Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0))](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2020-11/Natural_Water_Spring_locally_know_as_DHARA_PANI-_means_spring_of_naturalwater.jpg?itok=5JmG-82y)
Data, data everywhere, but where?
Posted on 16 Oct, 2020 09:21 AMA few of us did an exercise where we closed our eyes and thought of the first four words that came to our minds when we thought of water data in India. Here is what we came up with:
![The seamless flow of data from one program to another can be enabled if a few principles are kept in mind (Image: José Manuel Suárez, Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/water_drop.jpg?itok=gD3P3GDU)
Groundwater recharge needs grassroots solutions: A study of two techniques in Kerala
Posted on 09 Oct, 2020 12:42 PMIn Kerala, around half the urban population and 80% of the rural population depend on open wells on their domestic water needs. But in the last decade, the majority of observatory wells recorded an average annual decline of half a meter.
![Rainwater is captured from the rooftop of the community hall and diverted to the sump before it is pumped into the open well. (Image by Authors)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/groundwater-recharge.jpg?itok=XIeynpwa)
Water wisdom of the Gonds of Garha Mandla
Posted on 03 Oct, 2020 05:11 PMThe Gond dynasties mainly flourished in the Central highlands of India. This region includes Sagar, Bhopal, and nearly half of Narmada valley, including the flanks of Vindhya and the Satpuda mountain ranges of southern Madhya Pradesh. The principal states of the Gonds were Garha-Mandla (1300 to 1789), Devgarh, Kherla and Chanda.
![Kolatal, a traditional tank in Garha region of Jabalpur (Image Source: K. G. Vyas)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/tanks.jpg?itok=Rsaf2pcu)
Where does the water in a well come from?
Posted on 29 Sep, 2020 12:58 PMThe environment versus development debate has increasingly become more polarised, with discussions in the public domain revealing a stark contrast of views. Development has increasingly come to symbolise ‘doing something’ and ensuring ‘visible outputs’, largely in the form of infrastructure.
![An open well in Maharashtra (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos) Image used for representational purposes only.](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/open_well_10.jpg?itok=PJwneVgK)
Uttarakhand: Reaching the unreached
Posted on 11 Sep, 2020 07:48 PMPeople in remote hamlets left out by previous schemes like Swajal and Sector Wide Approach Program of the Uttarakhand Jal Nigam and Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan longed for household-level piped water supply for drinking and domestic purposes.
![Women trudged long distances daily to fetch water for their basic household needs in Rupail (Image: People's Science Institute)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/psi1.jpg?itok=i7WDa172)
Drying veins of Ganga: Can we have ‘Nirmal Ganga’ with dying tributaries?
Posted on 27 Aug, 2020 05:22 PMIndia’s Himalayan rivers have been a cradle of civilisational development and a centre for faith and culture for ages. Ganga being a fertile basin has been a significant contributor to our agricultural economy as well as our river-based agrarian development.
![The Baand river is nearly dry even when the region saw above normal monsoon this year. Much of the riverbed is encroached by farms. (Image: Adeel Khan and Praharsh Patel)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/baand_river_2_2.jpg?itok=kSjTyIGI)
Banking on rainwater harvesting
Posted on 11 Aug, 2020 10:27 AMNational Water Mission’s (NWM) has launched a campaign ‘Catch the rain’ on a pan India basis to nudge the states and stakeholders to create appropriate rainwater harvesting structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata before the onset of monsoon.
![As a part of the campaign, work is being done on various interventions such as water for productive use, improving irrigation practices, creating water recharge structures (Image: Pikist)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/rain-river-lake-landscape-reflection-trees-weather.jpg?itok=AtNNMf1F)