Rainwater harvesting for groundwater recharge: A case study on sustainability of watershed development initiative in Aravali hills of Rajasthan

Groundwater meets multiple needs of the society but is depleting at a fast rate because of over exploitation particularly in arid and semi-arid ecosystems of India. Watershed development is reported to augment groundwater supply but agricultural development that follows often leads to more extraction causing sustainability concerns. The fact remains that rainwater harvesting has to be scaled up to augment the groundwater supply to the extent possible so that food security risks are kept at bay. This paper reports the results of a corporate supported project on rainwater harvesting for groundwater recharge by the construction of series of earthen dams and in situ rainwater conservation by levelling and terracing the wastelands. A case study of one typical village out of 35 covered in Aravali foot Hills of Alwar district of Rajasthan was taken for detailed analysis. Total investment made from the year 2008 to 2014 was Rs. 41.75 lakh out of which 67.08% was spent on land levelling and field bunds, 18.41% on 16 earthen dams and gully plug, 7.60% on plantation, 5.87% on village development activities and 1.03% on crop demonstrations. Two dams were selected for monitoring rainwater harvesting by installing gauges and result extrapolated for 16 dams.