Recharging groundwater - Some suggestions for all the citizens of India

Recharging groundwater – Some suggestions for all the citizens of India

Groundwater recharge commonly also known as deep drainage or deep percolation is a process in which the flow of water moves from surface downwards to the groundwater. The recharge of groundwater is done both naturally as well as artificially. The artificial recharge is done usually by rainwater. The natural recharge of ground water takes place with the help of rain, molten snow and to a small extent with rivers and lakes.

India is a land with huge population and to suffice the needs of such a huge population you need extra production of resources. Due to this reason the resources are being utilised at a very quick pace. Artificial groundwater recharge is gaining high importance in India, the main reason behind this is that the farmers are over- pumping the groundwater for farming purposes and hence the resources are getting depleted quickly. In a country like India, the output of water is more than the input, hence recharging of groundwater recharge becomes all the more important. But what are the measures to recharge the ground water. For the groundwater to get recharged, we need to design an Aquifer. Let us first understand what an aquifer is; an Aquifer is a saturated body of rock through which the crusade of water is relaxed and easy. Aquifers need to be both penetrable and absorbent. Rock types such as sandstone, conglomerate, fractured limestone and unconsolidated sand and gravel are the best to form a penetrable and absorbent aquifer. Since the rocks have very tiny pores it takes time for the water to penetrate through the pores and hence the process becomes slow but these pores act as natural purifiers hence making the aquifers good filters for the water. If the pores are large, all the water will move rapidly but will not be filtered and will carry contamination all over its path.

We all are aware of the fact that the natural reserves of water are decreasing day by day leading to scarcity of water; hence the surface water which is used in Aquifers is not only slow but will also be insufficient to fulfil the demand of water across the country. Hence Rainwater harvesting is one of the best ways to recharge the groundwater artificially. Rainwater harvesting is nothing but the accretion and deposition of rainwater for salvage before it touches the aquifer. The rainwater can be used for multiple purposes such as, gardening, irrigation as well as to fulfil the drinking water demands.

There are two foremost methods used for rainwater harvesting, i.e. storage of rainwater on the surface for further use and recharge to ground water. The storage of rainwater on the surface is an ancient technique and was done through stowing of water in edifices like underground tanks, ponds, dams, etc. whereas recharging the underground water is relatively a new concept and is usually stowed in edifices like pits, trenches, dug wells, hand pumps, recharge wells, recharge shafts, lateral shafts with bore wells and spreading techniques wherein the water is spread in Nalas, dams, cement plugs, etc. The above mentioned methods can also be done in urban areas.

Recharging groundwater is relatively a new technique but will be beneficial to suffice the huge demand of water consumption in an over populated country like India. The estimated quantity of recharge water from an area of 100 sq. meters is 55,000 litres. If this is followed by one and all we can overcome the laxity of water faced by the entire nation.