Groundwater Recharge

A sharing workshop on groundwater organised by ACWADAM (Advanced Center for Water Development and Management) in Pune on 21/22nd May 2009 saw some very good presentations being made. Dr Tushaar's Shah's keynote speech provided an amazing big picture of groundwater use in agriculture. The presentation can be viewed on slideshare and the entire speech is available on YouTube in 4 parts.

In this presentation Sakshi Jain,  Vastukala Academy and Suruchi Shah, TVB School of Habitat Studies, New Delhi highlighted the grim water situation in Delhi and have designed a groundwater recharge system which collects rooftop rainwater from settlements around an identified site and recharges it into the ground through adequate filter media.

Water is collected from rooftops and paved ground surfaces and after adequate filtering is recharged into the ground through recharge pits and trenches. Grey water from the dining hall is also filtered and recharged.

Forwarded to the Portal by: Nitya Jacob, UN

Dr Kurien Baby, District Collector of Trissur, Kerala, and Solution Exchange Water Community are organizing a regional meeting to discuss the effects of the Mazhapolima program. The dates are 16-17 June 2009, and it will be held in Trissur.

Background

Kerala has among the highest well densities in India, and 71% of the population depends on them for drinking water. The aggregate household investment in the state on wells is pegged at Rs 1800 crore and they have a combined yield potential of 6.6 million cu m per day. That works out to a water availability of 197 litres of water per capita per day (lpcd), well above the government's prescribed norm of 140 lpcd. These wells are threatened. Despite an annual rainfall of 3,000 mm, 70% go dry in summer. The surface runoff is heavy, and therefore groundwater levels in several blocks have fallen sharply, and coupled with saline intrusion at an accelerated pace, have led to water quality problems.

Realising the necessity and urgency to provide sustainability to ground water resources in the critical areas of the country, Central Ground Water Board prepared a "Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water" in 2002, for different States and Union Territories of the country.

This presentation deals with the Integrated Watershed Development Programme being implemented by ITC Limited, Kolkata.  Given that it is a large agro-based company with a pan-India presence, it is hardly surprising that ITC's soil and water conservation interventions are on a major scale, covering 66,723 acres in 450 villages from 23 districts in 7 states.

This multinational soft drinks, bottled water and food products manufacturer is currently engaged in an effort to reduce water consumption with the ambitious goal of achieving a positive water balance, or in other words going even beyond zero water balance.

Mr. P. Ganesh of Ayyappa Aqua Solutions has invented a technique of lowering a camera with a flashlight down a borewell hole in order to understand what is going on inside. (Mr. Ganesh specializes in hydrofracturing which is a process of using high pressure water to crumble rock and open up fissures in order to rejuvenate borewells that have gone dry).

A story from NGO MASS on successfully reviving an open well in Padiabadmal village in Orissa, that had been neglected for two decades. In a tube-well dependent drinking water supply system, an initiative by people of Padiabadmal, a tribal inhabited village in Western Orissa, has come as a refreshing fresh water splash.

Master plan for artificial recharge of groundwater in India (2002)