Artificial Recharge of Ground Water

A Central sector scheme “Groundwater Management & Regulation” formulated and implemented during the XI Plan had component of Demonstrative Recharge Projects with an outlay of  100 Crore with the objectives of facilitating improvement in groundwater situation in areas of over-exploited & critical assessment units, urban areas showing steep decline in ground water levels and areas affected by problem of ground water quality deterioration in the country, and capacity building of State Govt. organizations for  replication by States under similar hydrogeological environments.

Demonstrative Recharge projects were approved under the scheme in 21 States/ UTs and have been/ are being implemented by the State line departments. State-wise details of demonstrative recharge projects implemented during XI Plan are given below:-

S. No.	State	No. of projects sanctioned	No. of structures	Cost of projects approved during XI Plan ( in lakh)
1.	Andhra Pradesh	5	119	573.41
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	5	80	493.11
3.	Bihar	2	11	96.01
4.	Chandigarh	1	54	776.03
5.	Chhattisgarh	2	34	268.80
6.	Delhi	1	10	43.44
7.	Gujarat	2	116	316.24
8.	Himachal Pradesh	13	20	250.08
9.	Jammu & Kashmir	5	5	143.47
10.	Jharkhand	2	69	191.35
11.	Karnataka	6	192	588.09
12.	Kerala	7	91	94.14
13.	Madhya Pradesh	4	51	860.91
14.	Maharashtra	1	49	15.15
15.	Nagaland	2	64	224.14
16.	Orissa	14	66	464.36
17.	Punjab	3	86	260.33
18.	Rajasthan	49	52	404.78
19.	Tamil Nadu	4	273	526.35
20.	Uttar Pradesh	4	189	3286.23
21.	West Bengal	1	30	111.09
	Total	133	1661	9987.51

Recharge to groundwater can be facilitated by constructing structures for arresting runoff and water conservation such as stop dams, gabions, gully plugs, ponds etc. These structures allow natural infiltration of runoff to recharge groundwater. Such methods also formed a component of demonstrative recharge projects in the scheme.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Water Resources & Minority Affairs Shri Vincent H. Pala in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.