Groundwater recharge by rain harvesting

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I want to design a rainwater harvesting system to recharge groundwater, the community uses well water for domestic use and the volume is not sufficient to serve the community, how can I go about it please.

 

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17 Answers

  1. There are many approaches from very costly to very cheap, depending upon topography, types of soil. In hill slopes best is trenches at suitable spacing. In loam soils in plains, simply drill a bore hole and fill back by pebbles and small stones of up to 3" size. 

  2. Simplest way to recharge ground water is to collect rainwater in natural depressions/low lying areas/ natural lakes and allowing it to seep into ground acquifers naturally. Percolation rate into acquifer can be increased suitably by providing vertical pipes between bottom of water collection chambers or lake upto top of suitable percolation strata.A suitable filter will have to be provided at top of  each such vertical pipe to ensure ground water is filtered before water enters vertical downtake  pipe. Details of recharge pits are available in literature on the subject.

  3. Simplest way to recharge ground water is to collect rainwater in natural depressions/low lying areas/ natural lakes and allowing it to seep into ground acquifers naturally. Percolation rate into acquifer can be increased suitably by providing vertical pipes between bottom of water collection chambers or lake upto top of suitable percolation strata.A suitable filter will have to be provided at top of  each such vertical pipe to ensure ground water is filtered before water enters vertical downtake  pipe. Details of recharge pits are available in literature on the subject.

  4. One suggestion is to rephrase as stormwater harvesting. Rainwater harvesting refers to collecting rain off of roofs. I would do this with tanks. It can be collected very clean. Stormwater is water on the ground. It can be filtered naturally as many of the suggestions would allow. 

  5. Dear Hajara,

    The most important fact is that- where do you want to recharge the ground water? - it's may be in an urban area or in the open ground condition of village and parks.  Anyway, while you can harvest rainwater, then think about the method how to inject the harvested water into the ground, it's important.

    First think over it. I will write other things latter

    Well wishes, Good bye!

    Narayangopal Ghimire

    CDG, TU Kathmandu, Nepal

  7. You may construct a circular recharge pit along the circumference of the well around the brim. Bring the runoff water by any means to spread on this recharge pit. It will definitely recharge the aquifer below the well. The materials to be used in recharge pits are: Boulders, stones, pebbles, sand, charcoal and Jute cover on the top of the recharge pit. This is easy way to do water recharging with local resources/materials. Please see the pictures of recharge pits from websites for greater clarity and construction. Its simple and I need not write here. 

     

  8. Dear Hajara dmusa.

    Valued Readers have all given many points for doing RWH.

    Use reverse bore method and recharge a zone as done by others.

    And let the water percolate and go into lower stratas.

    Now from these lower stratas you may source water forcyour community uses.

    This may be studied and adjusted for consumption.

    The upper stratas would function as S A T ie soil aquifer treatment Etc.

    Well wishes.

    Prof Ajit Seshadri. INDIA .. 

     

     

  10. My simple suggestion is to retain the rain water  on the  ground surface as much time as possible, by suitable  methods and allow it to percolate, if the soil is permeable.Otherwise,  construct  deep boreholes and direct the rain  water flow to these boreholes with suitable filtering arrangements.

  11. Aquifer recharge is a basic process once established the right location of the aquifer recharge zone and you are able to transport (gravity, pressure, pump) the flow to that point. You do have two main options:

    1- If you are talking about a very local aquifer and household pumping wells: You can select and use a pumping well to pump water into the aquifer through it. You need to be sure selected pumping well is really connected to the aquifer you will use after. It is important to use clean water previously filtered ensuring sediments will not clog the pumping well screen or gravel filter. The "Transmissivity" of the aquifer will determine your recharge method as a function of your recharge flow and time. Be sure of the quality of recharge water.

    2- If you are talking about a pumping field for water service: The best option is to contract a hydrogeological study including geological/geophysical prospection, conceptual model update, hydraulic properties determination/update, numerical model update, and management scenarios simulation. Climate change is running and you will need a management tool to ensure long-term sustainable use of groundwater. This study will tell you recharge points location, recharge flow, quality of recharge water and maximum pumping flow to guarantee a constant piezometric level or water table.

    Good luck with your project. 

    CE. MCE. Alejandro Gomez.

     

  13. I think you need to provide a lot more details. If you discharge straight onto permeable ground them it depends on the nature and direction of the fissures where rain water eventually lands up. A better solution might be to calculate the amount of water you need and by using pipelines divert the flow from streams etc directly to a storage reservoir from which water is eventually abstracted,treated and put into supply. The rainwater could therefore be left to naturally charge the strata. This idea however is based purely on speculation in the  absence of mote definite details. good luck 

  14. The City of Pendleton, Oregon uses aquifer storage and recovery for it's water needs. Hasn't had to with draw native ground water for 10 plus years. Winter, when river flows are high, river water is processed through a drinking water plant and excess is stored down the wells used in the summer.

     

  15. You may have to provide further information like; type of geological setup in the area, Do you have information about the depth of water yielding layer in your existing borewell - depth & thickness. (this information will help you to plan the structure to take rainwater to that depth). Type of catchment and its area to capture rainwater and annual average rainfall of your area - What is the catchment in your case - Is it roof of the building or ground surface?. (this will help you to estimate the quantity of rainwater you would capture & type of filtration to be planned). After filtration rainwater can be stored in a tank which will be connected to the recharge well/borewell/ shaft. Depending upon site-specific condition type of sturcture can be planned. 

  16. As the previous post says, the key is to cause the maximum amount of water to soak into the ground (assuming sufficient porosity of the soil and underlying rock) - collecting it from roads, roofs and reinserting it in the well ,and perhaps even by diverting small streams across prepared gravel beds.  If you are collecting road runoff and you have a lot of road traffic, you may want to divert the water into a rainwater garden, so the soil can break down pollutants such as oil or rubber or brake dust before it goes into the well.

    Also - I don't know what type of climate you live in, but have you thought about using shiny surfaces or fog nets to capture overnight dewfall as condensation?  People can use that water for some needs such as washing, which avoids having to pump as much ground water.