Groundwater Recharge

If the intention is to develop a tank by holding back a large amount of water, then the dam must be carefully designed (with the assistance of experienced local people or engineers).

These techniques are useful to slow runoff and erosion from sloping land, and also to revegetate degraded areas. Areas with high rainfall, steep slopes, and thin soils should use slightly graded bunds / terraces / trenches to allow some drainage.

Bunds have many benefits, including marking the boundaries of farm-holdings, slowing the movement of soil and water, and providing a place for integrating trees into agricultural systems. Here are some tips for using bunds within farmland:

• Cattle should be kept away from the area while establishing saplings, by using livehedge fencing. Cactus, Euphorbia spp, and Agave are useful for a livehedge fence.
• Larger trees can be planted on boundary bunds, and smaller trees which will be harvested more frequently can be planted on internal bunds, which divide one holding into separate sections.

 Perhaps you are a farmer and you want to practice good water and soil management for your crops and trees, or you own some land and you want to manage it carefully to recharge the groundwater. You may be focusing on what you can do with your own land, or wondering what your community can do, or you may even be thinking at the watershed level.

When stakeholders come together, they can address critical water related issues.

This report by the Advisory Council on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water, the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India is divided into the following sections:

This paper presented at the International Symposium on Artificial Recharge (ISAR-4) Adelaide, Australia describes the attempts made by VIKSAT at experimentation with artificial recharge technique in a peri-urban area called Sargasan in Gandhinagar taluka, Gujarat.

Ground water as a dependable source and its increasing extraction for various uses in India is reflected in the drastic lowering of water levels leading to “local” draw downs. The efficacy of surface water bodies such as tanks, lakes and canals as a means of natural recharge to the ground water has drastically reduced simply because the local water levels are too deep. The need of the hour therefore is for artificial recharge systems that convey the fresh rainwater to the “aquifer”.

An article in Parivesh, produced b the ENVIS Centre – the Central Pollution Control Board explores the advantage of groundwater recharge, in particular artificial recharge systems. These help to prevent decline in groundwater tables, and resolve saline water intrusion, a common problem in coastal areas.

This document from the Department of Drinking Water Supply (Government of Kerala) published in the Extraordinary Gazette No. 92/2004, dated 12-01-2004 by the Government of Kerala includes a notification on the amendment of rules and includes:

Provision of Rain Water Harvesting Structure - Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2003 - Read more