Groundwater

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Explore various groundwater recharge methods to sustainably replenish groundwater levels. Learn about innovative techniques and best practices for groundwater conservation.

Featured Articles
July 28, 2024 The budget allocation for the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation reflects a steady upward trajectory, underscoring the importance of scaling financial commitments to meet the growing demands of the WASH sector.
Child drinking water from handpump in Guna, Madhya Pradesh (Image: Anil Gulati, India Water Portal Flickr)
July 15, 2024 Kritsnam where engineering meets hydrology, founded by K. Sri Harsha focuses on developing accurate, easy to install, tamper-proof, and weather-proof smart water metering solutions to deal with the growing water crisis in India.
An AI generated image, highlighting water shortage and use of tankers to provide water but water being wasted when available (Image Source: Praharsh Patel)
July 2, 2024 Community governance for groundwater management
Jasmine on the fields as part of the groundwater collectivisation agreement at Kummara Vandla Palli village, Sri Satya Sai District. (Images: WASSAN/Swaran)
June 13, 2024 The rising trend of abandoning open wells for borewells in Chikkaballapur and Annamayya districts, and the potential negative consequences of this shift.
Borewell proliferation may dry up open wells (Image: FES)
May 19, 2024 The surprising connection between Wikipedia, beaches, and your water bottle.
A top down image of a lush green forest in a sacred grove in Meghalaya (Image created by: Sreechand Tavva)
May 15, 2024 बेहिसाब भूजल दोहन भूकंप के खतरे को विनाशकारी बना देगा। हाल फिलहाल के दो अध्ययन हमारे लिए खतरे का संकेत दे रहे हैं। एक अध्ययन पूर्वी हिमालयी क्षेत्र में भूकंप के आवृत्ति और तीब्रता बढ़ने की बात कर रहा है। तो दूसरा भूजल का अत्यधिक दोहन से दिल्ली-NCR क्षेत्र के कुछ भाग भविष्य में धंसने की संभावना की बात कर रहा है। दोनों अध्ययनों को जोड़ कर अगर पढ़ा जाए तस्वीर का एक नया पहलू सामने आता है।
भूजल का अत्यधिक दोहन
Water brings two villages alive
Easy access to water is one way to transform a village and help it prosper. Two Uttarakhand villages show us how. Posted on 07 Sep, 2016 11:23 AM

It had been a chaotic morning. With so many people bustling around the small house, Avani was looking forward to celebrating her only son's second birthday. Graciously, her husband agreed to have the celebration at Avani’s mother’s place this time. Her mother made all the arrangements for the pooja and prasadam while Avani was to take care of the guests.

Dangsari village in Uttarakhand.
Slum dwellers in Delhi to get individual water connections
News this week Posted on 06 Sep, 2016 09:19 AM

DJB to give individual water connections in slums

Access to drinking water, a basic human right. (Source: IWP flicker photos)
Mines radiate disaster
Villagers of Jadugoda say radiation from uranium mines is impairing their children. It’s high time the government took measures against it so a generation is not left crippled. Posted on 04 Aug, 2016 09:43 AM

The body of Guria Das looked like that of a three-year-old when she passed away at the age of 13. Guria was born in 1999 with a condition that constrained her growth. Her father, Chhatua Das recounts how Guria, unable to speak or move, communicated with him and his wife through gestures; a language that only the three of them could comprehend.

Guria was born deformed. Her father Chhatua blames the radiation from indiscriminate uranium mining and the tailings ponds for her death.
Rejuvenating traditional water system in Maharashtra
Caught between Malguzaars and the state government, the Malguzari tanks were left to die many years ago. A lone man spearheaded their revival in 2008. Posted on 02 Aug, 2016 09:44 AM

Malguzari tanks were ponds made for water harvesting by the Malguzaars, who were zamindars or tenants in eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra two centuries ago.These tanks provided water for irrigation and also increased the availability of fish for local consumption.

Janbhora Malguzari tank in Bhandara
Riverbed off limits, farmers fume
With the sewage-fed vegetable cultivation on Yamuna riverbed banned, the farmers are worried about their livelihood. Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 08:23 PM

Champa Devi has been working as a sharecropper on a two-acre farm at Nilothi village in west Delhi. Until a few years ago, the water she used for irrigation came from the Najafgarh drain that empties into the Yamuna river. This form of cultivation using waste water was a norm in the area till sometime ago.

Thousands of farmers like Champa Devi (in pic) who were growing edible crops or doing fodder cultivation on the riverbed and its floodplains took the brunt of the court’s decision.
Where the holy rivers meet
Millions of devotees travel to the Mahamaham tank every 12 years to wash away their sins in the holy rivers believed to converge in the tank. Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 07:53 PM

Temples in India have always had a water body near its premises. Whether it is a natural pond, a free-flowing river or a man-made tank, the water inside them seem to imbibe the sacredness associated with the temples, thereby becoming an integral part of the cultural, social and religious landscape of that area. 

Once every 12 years, pilgrims take a dip in the sacred tank where the holy rivers are believed to converge during the Mahamaham festival.
Manipulating water bodies: A recipe for disaster
The flagship scheme of Maharashtra’s water conservation department, Jalyukt Shivar, is worrying for its myopic vision and faulty implementation, say experts Posted on 26 Jul, 2016 04:22 PM

Deepening work in progress on the Manjara river in Latur (Source: Ravindra Pomane)
Groundwater revival comes a cropper
An NGO’s effort to recharge the groundwater in an area finds little success with water-guzzling crops that rule the market. Posted on 24 Jul, 2016 09:05 PM

Water crisis is a reality in most of India. After the summer of droughts come the monsoon floods. Take Maharashtra, for instance. If at one time it is desperately searching for drinking water, at another time, its capital, Mumbai is wading through knee-high water. How do we overcome these annual crises?

A villager shows the rainwater harvesting structure in Aravalli hills.
Rice and shine
How paddy grew in popularity in Punjab and continues to steal the show, thanks to lack of alternatives for farmers. Posted on 22 Jul, 2016 10:08 PM

Take the roads of Punjab during the monsoon and you will find most fields turned into pools of water. It’s mainly the water pulled out from the underground vault to support the kharif crop of paddy.

Whatever be the water situation, it doesn’t look like paddy’s popularity as a crop is going to diminish anytime soon. Source: Akshay Mahajan/Flickr
Rapar ends its long wait for water
How an arid, saline land where migration in search of water and jobs was a way of life, boasts of plenty of water now. Posted on 20 Jul, 2016 09:26 AM

Summer temperatures soar to a gruelling 50ocelsius in Rapar, a little known block in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Land here is dry, saline and arid; the monsoon is erratic. Many a times, the entire year’s rain falls in a short span of two or three days, doing more harm than good.

Rapar has many water structures now. (Source: Samerth Trust)
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