Recharging of Borewells — Why & How?

Groundwater is the largest resource of fresh water. Over the years, the efforts to extract groundwater has accelerated, causing the waterbed to sink lower into the ground and causing alarm bells to ring among the environmentalists.

We need to stop plundering and start harvesting. We need to look at ways to give back to nature. Hence, the need to take recharging Borewells into account.

Water, if you think carefully, impacts the social & economic structure of a country.

Water scarcity would lead to food shortages, thereon the challenges for the economy would escalate.

If we do not take action now before the problem intensifies, which if continue the way we have so far, is a given.

So, how does one do that?

Well, let us start with the basics:

• STOP misuse of water

• RECYCLE wastewater

• STORE rainwater.

Next comes looking at ways to recharge groundwater.

Some options to look at are:

• Man-made recharge structures such as recharge wells, check dams,

• Rainwater harvesting.

If you have a domestic borewell, you can initiate a borewell recharge via recharge wells.

Borewell Recharge through recharge wells helps control and mitigate flooding and help ensure rainwater percolates into groundwater.

Let us understand what is a recharge well and how to construct it.

Two methods are used, to recharge Borewells: Direct and Indirect.

Direct recharge is recommended only for a dry borewell or borewell with very low yields.

Indirect recharge is recommended only on well-performing borewells.

What is a Direct Recharge–

For a Direct recharge — rainwater is filtered, with the help of casing pipes poured into the borewell casing pipe.

What is an Indirect recharge–

For indirect recharge, a recharge well is constructed within a 5-meter radius of the borewell.

A minimum of 1-meter distance needs to be essentially maintained between the recharge well and the bore well.

How to construct a recharge well?

Recharge wells are of lower depth and radius than conventional open wells.

This makes the construction of recharge well is cheaper and simpler than conventional open wells. The size of recharge wells depends on the need.

Standard Sizes for the recharge well is 90cm width and 600cm depth, to 180cms width 1200 cms depth

Let’s take a look at the steps to construct a recharge well

• Land excavation:

• Digging well to the desired depth as suggested by a Hydrologist.

• Depth must be well above the water table.

• The well location must be away from the sewage line and the foundation of the house.

• Disposal of mud post-excavation — do it sensibly & responsibly.

• Place precast RCC rings. The External diameter of the RCC rings should be 15cm-21cms lesser than the diameter of the well.

Avoid the use of plaster to close the gap between the two slabs. Use jelly to fill the gap between RCC rings and the well. The gap should be filled very tight. Make sure that the well wall does not collapse.

• The next step is to slit holes into the casing pipe and wrap it with mesh.

• Use manhole covers to cover the pit. To prevent an accident, use a good quality iron grill or RCC covers. Pack the remainder part of the pit with stones, sand, and jelly.

•A recharge well of one-meter diameter and six-meter depth can store around 5,000 litres of water. What it pushes into the ground varies between 2,500 litres and 10,000 litres daily.

Think about it!

According to India Water Portal, in Bangalore alone, as much as 3,000 million litres falls daily as rain during the monsoon. On one acre, this works out to roughly 3.6 million litres annually. If the city manages to recharge even 30% of the rainwater it gets, it will have more than what the Cauvery River is currently supplying to the city, minus the huge energy bill.

#VinylPipes #upvcpipes #pvcpipes #submersible #solarpowered #borehole #waterwell #waterwelldrilling