Augmenting Groundwater Recharge by Water Harvesting Structures in Northwest India

Several types of water harvesting structures (WHSs) exist in India, which not only act as surface water resource but also augment groundwater resources. In some areas where surface water potential is limited, there is more importance of groundwater resources to meet various requirements, particularly irrigation. It has been observed in Shivalik region of India where there is high infiltration rate, WHSs, essentially recharge the groundwater. This is important in areas where groundwater and surface water are being used for irrigation. A significant impact of recharge was observed in the downstream side of the WHS under study up to the distance of 200 m in Mandhala. Zone of influence was further confirmed by Groundwater Modelling System (GMS) also in the range of 30 to 240 m. Groundwater recharge from water storage structures in Shivalik region of Northwest India has been estimated by water table fluctuation method. Potential recharge to groundwater was estimated from 8,101 to 13,420 m³ for WHS of Mandhala for the years 2003 to 2009. A recharge function depicting the relationship between potential recharge from storage structures and successive day averaged storage depths was better predicted by a power function. A relationship correlating the rainfall to the potential recharge from water storage structures has been developed to explain the characteristics of the WHS for Mandhala.