I live in a place where the water table is shallow and quality of uninterrupted water supply is extremely good. Under this circumstances what is the need of water harvesting in my area?
A. Shallow water table does not guarantee that the water table will remain at the same level forever. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation has seen many a cities facing problems due to groundwater depletion. The reason being the decreased rate of groundwater recharge compared to the higher rate of extraction of the same. In Delhi for example water table has gone down by the extent of 30 m at certain locations. Hence it would be a better to utilise fully the runoff of during rainy seasons for the groundwater rather than to push us into a crisis. (According to a study conducted by Central Groundwater board (CGWB) at various locations in India, it had been found that the intake capacity of the aquifer (the rate of recharge) is high if the static water table is more than 15 m below the ground level). Q.
