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ABSTRACT
The necessity of artificial recharge of aquifers is increasing day by day due to
excessive demand of water by the ever-growing population and also because of the
scarcity of good dam sites available for construction. Artificial recharge of aquifer is
the process of adding water to an aquifer through human effort. The main purpose of
artificial aquifer recharge is to store water for later use while improving upon the
quality of water. This paper will review the existing methods of artificial recharge of
aquifers such as infiltration basins and canals, water traps, cut waters, surface run off
drainage wells, and diversion of excess flow from irrigation canals etc with the help
of various case studies conducted in the recent past at various places.
Key words: recharge, human effort, aquifers, infiltrations, artificial
INTRODUCTION
The vital purpose of artificial aquifer is to preserve superfluous water to meet
the needs of the future generation. It is one of the man made efforts to add water to
the aquifers. Hundreds of techniques have been developed in the past few years for
the sufficient supply of water for the human use. Thus, the ground water has been
considerably amplified and the salinity of water has been declined, thus improving
the quantity and quality of water. The artificial recharge methods are proving to be
effectual in maintenance and replenishment of the aquifers [Fred 2006].
The recharge of ground water occurs both naturally and artificially. The
natural recharge occurs through the process of infiltration where the water percolates
from the surface to the bed of the aquifer. But due to rapid development and
stupendous growth of population in the recent past the areas for natural infiltration
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have been lessening day by day, hence the scope for natural recharge of the ground
water is also declining. Thus anthropological methods have been implemented to
supplement the natural process of infiltration. A wide range of techniques are being
made use to recharge the ground water artificially. The selection of the technique
depends upon the hydrological frame work of that particular area. The various
methods can be broadly categorized as follows:
1. Direct Surface Techniques
2. Direct Sub surface technique
3. Combination surface-sub surface technique
4. Indirect techniques
Apart from the afore mentioned methods, some conservational structures such
as ground water dams, sub surface dykes ,etc are also utilized to arrest the sub surface
flow. Many other techniques are being followed to interconnect the various fractures
in the hard rocky areas to augment the ground water. The case studies of the existing
methods of artificial recharges in various nations have been discussed in this paper
[Asano 1985].
India being a country with wide variation in the geological and hydrological
conditions had to adopt various techniques of artificial recharge at various places
depending on their geography. Rapid agricultural development in the state of Gujarat,
has led to the deterioration of the Mahesana alluvial aquifer, having a long history
of irrigation from shallow wells. This also led to an increase in the salinity of the
water in the aquifer. Hence artificial recharge was done through spreading method to
increase the water table and to steadily decrease the salinity [Kumar and Aiyagari
1997; O'Hare et al.1986; Dillon et al.2009]. Similarly in the UK, the infiltration rate
is bare minimum ie, less than 0.5 meters per year. This is mainly due to the chalk
deposits in the various areas in and around the Lincolnshire region. The accessibility
of the ground water becomes low due to the various outcrops in the same region.
Efforts are being made to pump this ground water into the rivers to make the water
more available in the needed areas. Thus an appropriate method of artificial recharge
of aquifer is being established to replenish the aquifer yield continuously.
the continuing fall in the water table [Sinha 2005; Bhattacharya 2010; CGWB 1994,
2000, 2004].
The Mehsana district extends from the North latitude 240217 to 240517 and
East longitudes 7204500 to 7204713 covering an area of 25.25 sq. km. A
collaborative research was conducted in this area under the name of Augmenting
Groundwater Resources by Artificial Recharge. The project consists of various
artificial recharge structures including three check dams (in Mumanvas, Bhanavas
and Samrapur villages), a pond in Nana Kothasana village, a percolation tank in
Nedardi village and two subsurface check dams in Samrapur village located in the
Satlasana taluka, of the Mahesana district as given in Table 1.
Table1. Capacity of Structures
[British Geological Survey 2004; Satchell and Wilkinsor 2001;Williams 2000]. Thus
consistent supply of fresh water is ensured in the U.K even in the period of low
supply and high demand.
(Courtesy: http://iahs.info/redbooks/a262/iahs_262_0195.pdf)
CONCLUSION
Thus the paper gives an overview of the existing techniques in the artificial
recharge of aquifers. It can be now observed from the case studies mentioned in the
paper, that the artificial recharge aids in improving the natural yield and capacity of
the aquifers. This ensures a consistent and continuous supply of safe and fresh water,
even during the dry periods.
REFERENCES
Abdulaziz A-T (1991). Effectiveness of recharge from a surface reservoir to an
underlying unconfined aquifer Hydrology of Natural and Manmade Lakes,
Proceedings of the Vienna Symposium, August T991, IAHS Publ. No. 206.
Bhattacharya A K (2010). Artificial ground water recharge with a special reference
to India, Academic Research Publishing Agency Press, Vol 4(2).
Asano, T (1985). Artificial Recharge of Groundwater, United Nations Environment
Programme, Butterworth Publishers. United States of America. p.767. ISBN:
0-250-40549-0.
British Geological Survey (2004). Natural Environment Research Council, NERC,
accessed online 30-8-2010, www.nerc.ac.uk.
Herman B (1978) Ground Water Hydrology, New York: McGraw-Hill, accessed
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Cite as:
Kavuri M, Boddu M and Annamdas V G M (2011) New Methods of Artificial
Recharge of Aquifers: A Review IPWE 2011, Proceedings of 4th International
Perspective on Water Resources & the Environment, January 4-6, 2011, National
University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Poster on: Artificial Recharge of Aquifer,
No: 1j