Cost-effective Approaches for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Alluvial Aquifer Systems

The consequences of unsustainable use of groundwater are becoming increasingly evident worldwide, particularly in developing nations. Groundwater management is a serious problem in many parts of the world. The prime concern is how to achieve groundwater sustainability. Artificial recharge techniques coupled with water harvesting hold a great promise for groundwater sustainability. The main intent of this paper is to highlight salient cost-effective and easy-to-use methods for augmenting groundwater resources in the alluvial hydrogeologic setting. Based on the intensive field investigation in a groundwater basin of Japan, three low-cost and easy-to-implement recharge techniques are suggested for alluvial aquifer systems, viz., augmentation of river flow, recharge through irrigation/drainage canals, and recharge from paddy fields. The source of recharge water for these recharge techniques is surface water supply. The efficacy of these methods or approaches has been demonstrated. It is emphasized that such cost-effective methods of groundwater recharge are key to sustainable groundwater management in both developing and developed countries. These methods must not be overlooked in the midst of sophisticated and highly expensive methods.