Water Supply and Sanitation Department

The management of groundwater poses challenges in basaltic terrain as its availability is not uniform due to the absence of primary porosity. Indiscriminate excessive withdrawal from shallow as well as deep aquifers for meeting increased demand can be higher than natural recharge, causing imbalance in demand and supply and leading to a scarcity condition. An innovative artificial recharge system has been conceived and implemented to augment the groundwater sources at the villages of Saoli and Sastabad in Wardha district of Maharashtra, India. The scheme involves resectioning of a stream bed to achieve a reverse gradient, building a subsurface dam to arrest subsurface flow, and installation of recharge shafts to recharge the deeper aquifers. The paper focuses on analysis of hydrogeological parameters like porosity, specific yield and transmissivity, and on temporal groundwater status. Results indicate that after the construction of the artificial recharge system, a rise of 0.8–2.8 m was recorded in the pre- and post-monsoon groundwater levels in 12 dug wells in the study area; an increase in the yield was also noticed which solved the drinking water and irrigation problems. Spatial analysis was performed using a geographic information system to demarcate the area of influence of the recharge system due to increase in yields of the wells. The study demonstrates efficacy, technical viability and applicability of an innovative artificial recharge system constructed in an area of basaltic terrain prone to water scarcity.

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