Groundwater recharge models for rainfed regions

Abstract

India’s groundwater position is in precarious situation. Depletion of groundwater has been a major concern in rainfed regions depend upon groundwater for irrigation. The centres of All India Coordinated Research Projects for Dryland Agriculture developed groundwater recharge models according to soil strata and rainfall situation. In Maharashtra, artificial groundwater recharge
models for open well as well as bore well were developed, tested and evaluated. Due to artificial recharging, the groundwater level is increased in the tune of 0.3–0.4 m. Groundwater recharge in treated bore well was in the tune of 19.78–29.10% with an average of 23.28% as against average recharge of 5.56% in untreated bore wells. In northern dry zone of Karnataka, using normal size wells (5 m × 5 m × 10 m), it is possible to recharge around 4–5 lakh litres of water during a normal rainfall year. In Bengaluru artificial recharging has improved the water level and groundwater recharge.