Groundwater Recharge

Featured Articles
July 11, 2022
Greening of barren lands – the local way
The Chauka system of Rajasthan can not only provide a sustainable way to manage water resources in water stressed regions, but also support livelihoods through development of pastures.
Can greening of barren lands happen? (Image Source: India Water Portal Flickr photos)
April 26, 2022
Making the invisible, visible
The water stewardship initiative by WOTR that developed a tool to visualise aquifers has not only helped farmers understand groundwater as a shared resource, but also led to a behavioural change among water users and helped implement groundwater laws and policies.
Groundwater, a fast disappearing resource (Image Source: India Water Portal)
July 29, 2021
Demystifying groundwater for collective action
Experiences from participatory groundwater management efforts in Maharashtra
Unless work on managing the demand is undertaken, the notion of ‘infinite’ groundwater will be hard to address. (Image: Rucha Deshmukh, ACWADAM)
July 23, 2021
Yavatmal’s water security crisis
Improper location, poor operation and maintenance of water harvesting and recharge structures threaten water security in Yavatmal
A study assesses the current status of the water harvesting and recharge structures in Yavatmal (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
March 23, 2021
Efforts towards skilling local communities in water management
Enhancing community based water resource management
Women are involved in the process of developing the water budget from a gender lens. (Image: Samerth)
February 23, 2021
MARVI: Securing groundwater supplies through engaging village communities
Improving decision-making for sustainable groundwater use
Designing participatory processes to assist village level discovery and implementation of solutions for sustaining groundwater use and improved livelihoods (Image: MARVI)
A reflection on multi-faceted droughts in Bundelkhand region
Alternatives have to be re-adapted to the understanding of droughts in the wake of climate change.
Seema Ravandale
NC Narayanan
Rohit Kumar Prince
Reshma Sahoo
Posted on 01 Jul, 2020 03:10 PM

Drought conditions are not new to Bundelkhand. The acute situation now is a convergence of three types of droughts – meteorological, agricultural and hydrological - cumulatively coinciding as witnessed in Nunagar village in Panna district, Madhya Pradesh. We saw hundreds of vessels queuing up at the panchayat well.
Child walks through the parched field for kilometers to fetch water in peak summer in village Banjari (Image: Reshma Sahoo)
Pumping groundwater to harnessing rainfall: A tale of two states
Saurashtra, and Vidarbha and Marathwada have similar climatic and aquifer characteristics. Why do the latter suffer from droughts when Saurashtra has been able to improve its groundwater levels?
Praharsh M.Patel
Dipankar Saha
Tushaar Shah
Posted on 01 Jul, 2020 12:04 PM

Groundwater depletion, a growing challenge for India
Groundwater decline in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Need to protect the unique geological features in the Upper Ken basin
An attempt to document the geological features, water potential, and traditional wisdom around them in the Upper Ken basin.
Seema Ravandale
Posted on 07 Jun, 2020 12:52 PM

Kathayi, a scheduled tribe (ST) dominated village in the midst of the forested stretches of Shahnagar block in Panna district faces acute water scarcity during the 3-4 summer months. Through the government schemes, three wells and two hand pumps were installed in this 75 household village in the last 10-15 years, but most of them are dysfunctional now.
Panghata Kund in village Aloni, Panna (June 2014, after initial monsoon) (Image: Seema Ravandale)
Developing an effective participatory groundwater monitoring program at village level
Issues in groundwater management and recharge have been dealt with in a series of booklets as a part of the MARVI project.
Amita Bhaduri
Aarti Kelkar Khambete
Posted on 16 May, 2020 03:52 PM

The ‘Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention’ (MARVI) project is being undertaken since February 2012 with the overall aim to improve the security of irrigation water supplies and enhance livelihood opportunities for rural communities in India.
One of the Bhujal Jankaars measuring groundwater levels manually (Image: Basant Maheshwari)
Facing up to the water crisis
Conservation measures such as rainwater harvesting and recharging of groundwater need to be generally well established in both rural and urban areas.
Qazi Syed Wamiq Ali
Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 11:58 AM

The conventional freshwater sources available in India are being currently overexploited, leading to widespread environmental degradation and depletion of freshwater resources especially groundwater. To sustain the needs of an increasing population and ecology, our consumption of water far exceeds the rate at which we are recharging water sources.
Water conservation measures invariably have a positive effect on water quality and the environment (Image: Joel Bassuk / Oxfam; Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Springing back to life
Jal Jeevan Mission can go a long way to promote springshed management and ensure source sustainability of spring based piped water supply.
Amita Bhaduri
Manisha Shah
Posted on 20 Apr, 2020 11:45 PM

Springs are the key source of water for rural households in Uttarakhand, yet they have seen an overall neglect over the decades with discharge from many springs declining bit by bit. The depletion of aquifers, changes in land use and ecological degradation have led to several initiatives to address springshed management in the state. We speak to Dr.
Image: Flickr Commons
USD 450 million loan from the World Bank for Atal Bhujal Yojana
Policy matters this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 22 Feb, 2020 09:39 PM

World Bank to provide USD 450 million loan for Atal Bhujal Yojana
Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to arrest the country's depleting groundwater levels (Source: IWP Flicke photos)
Budget 2020: Is the allocation enough to meet the piped water dream
Experts discuss if the budget has enough funds for water access and security.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 09 Feb, 2020 09:25 PM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget announcement on February 1, 2020 made a push for piped rural drinking water supply and promised full coverage of all households by 2024.
Just 21.4 percent of India’s households have access to piped water, as per NSSO data (Image: Niyantha Shekar, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC 2.0)
Managing commons: Need and challenges
How can technology, knowledge and capacity creation help in management of commons?
Manisha Shah
Manohar Rao
Posted on 06 Feb, 2020 07:17 PM

Common pool resources, popularly known as “commons”, are those resources which are accessible to the whole community or village and to which no individual has exclusive ownership or property rights. Commons have two essential characteristics: non-excludability and high-subtractability.
Plantation in Gomala (Image: Foundation for Ecological Security)
Perils, politics and prospects of groundwater in India
How can India change the game on groundwater management to deal with its overexploited aquifers?
Manisha Shah
Bishwadeep Ghose
Posted on 05 Feb, 2020 03:15 PM

After independence, India was largely food insecure but post Green Revolution around the 1970s, foodgrain production increased manifold consequently reducing food insecurity and poverty in the country, in spite of rapid population growth. Its ability to achieve targeted results was largely dependent on the explosion of groundwater abstraction mechanisms like tubewells.
An irrigation well at Randullabad, Maharashtra. (Image source: India Water Portal on Flickr)
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