Technological developments in artificial recharge of groundwater ― case studies in India

摘要

The increasing water demands, for different purposes has put a continuous stress on ground water resources in India. The number of ground water wells has increased from merely 4 million in 1951 to 17 million in 1997 and this has caused problems of declining ground water levels, sea water intrusion and quality deterioration. A total of 0.2 million sq.km in the country is over-exploited, and shows continuous decline of water levels. Augmentation of ground water resources through artificial recharge has thus become inescapable. It has been estimated that about 865 km~3 of surplus monsoon runoff is available in 20 river basins in the country. Keeping in view various governing factors, feasible additional recharge to ground water is estimated as 214 km~3 out of which 160 km~3 is retrievable. A number of artificial recharge projects have been implemented in varied hydrogeological conditions. A few case studies are presented in this paper.