The Western Ghats are made of up basalt rocks, which were formed from lava flows. These rocks are also known as water buckets as they are able to retain a lot of water. This unique feature helps create springs. At an event organised by IIT Mumbai and India Water Portal to mark World Water Day, Dr. Jared Buono talked about how springs were revived in Panchgani with the help of spring boxes. Spring boxes are structures that tap the water of a nearby village for drinking purposes.
Buno's field assistant, Dhananjay Pandit, shared how he had to learn to use Surfer, a technology that that was used to map aquifers. This has helped him collect data and map aquifers to understand the importance of managing groundwater. More details of this are available in his presentation titled 'Spring Protection: Safe and Sustainable Drinking Water in the Western Ghats'.
Students, researchers, faculty and a few guests attended the event. Dr. Buono answered questions about how communities managed their groundwater before and after the spring and also about the impact of bio-diversity after spring water is tapped for drinking purposes among others.
The video below shows key points that Dr. Buono made in his presentation about groundwater recharge and spring revival.