Managing Groundwater Sustainably in Rural Areas

August 01, 2023

Over 60 per cent of India’s population—who lives in rural India—depends heavily on groundwater, extracted though handpumps, borewells and wells, as their source of drinking water. India has launched programmes around drinkingwater supply to rural areas six times post-Independence. Each of the programmes failed to meet the goal of total coverage of households. Due to drying of sources, many villages slipped from total coverage to partial coverage and even no coverage. Sustainability of the sources—both for quality and quantity—had never been central to the programmes until the recent Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM). This toolkit presents options for recharging underground water sources through different technologies. It details the planning and designing of groundwater-recharge structures to specific hydrogeological conditions and application of advanced tools for planning the correct structure at the appropriate location. It also showcases success stories where these structures were used while giving the context of the technologies. It emphasizes the importance of community engagement for the sustainability of groundwater recharge structures.