Bringing Sustainability to Drinking Water Systems In Rural India-2015

About Dataset

"Bringing Sustainability to Drinking Water Systems in Rural India is a comprehensive technical resource focused on improving the long-term reliability of rural drinking-water sources. It presents practical approaches for conserving rainwater, recharging groundwater, restoring local water bodies, managing watersheds, and selecting suitable source-sustainability measures according to local hydrogeological and agro-climatic conditions. The document combines traditional Indian water-management practices with modern scientific methods. It describes indigenous systems such as tankas, khadins, baoris/step-wells, ooranis, cheruvus, temple tanks, nadis/johads, and bamboo-split pipe harvesting, and explains how these can be revitalised alongside satellite imagery, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The opening chapter provides agro-climatic-zone-wise recommendations for water-harvesting and watershed works across 16 regions, including rooftop harvesting, ponds, check dams, contour bunding, gully plugging, percolation tanks, sub-surface dams, and stream diversion. A major section details groundwater-recharge methods and their design considerations. It covers khadins, nadis/johads, percolation tanks, check dams, nala bunds, gabion structures, groundwater dams/sub-surface dykes, farm ponds, recharge shafts, injection wells, contour trenches, gully plugging, and half-moon terraces. For example, the diagrams and photographs on pages 6–22 illustrate the design and functioning of khadins, nadis, percolation tanks, check dams, gabions, and underground bandharas. The document also discusses maintenance, erosion control, pollution prevention, water-quality protection, and community supervision of recharge structures. The guide further explains the use of remote sensing and GIS for identifying groundwater-potential zones and selecting locations for borewells and recharge structures. Pages 23–27 describe groundwater-prospect mapping using lithological, geomorphological, structural, hydrogeological, and base-map layers. It includes examples of how satellite-based mapping has been used to improve borewell success rates and plan recharge structures, followed by a watershed case study from Chhattisgarh."