Good option: The city needs multiple sourcing of water and open wells have the potential to provide up to a third of the requirement
Just how a city can be arbitrary with its policy on water management and therefore leading to sub-optimal conditions is made clear by a recent example one came across. Balasubramanian had an old open well dug to a depth of 30 ft. when he first built his house in the early 80s. The well had yielded water for quite some years but then subsequently had gone dry.
He read about rainwater harvesting in the papers and its potential to recharge the aquifer and so he connected his rooftop through a series of pipes and a basic filter to his open well. Remarkably, in a very short span of time, the water level in his well increased.
Successful
While his neighbours struggled to get water and sometimes had to buy from private water tankers he just fit a small pump and was able to meet his entire year’s water requirement from the shallow well.