News Excerpt:
A privately-funded non-profit organisation, United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe), a unit of the global United Way network, is pitching in to find a logical solution to Bengaluru’s water woes using Percolation wells.
What are Percolation Wells:
- A percolation well is nothing but a hole dug into the ground. It helps draw water downward through the soil, recharging groundwater.
- They are normally 12 feet deep and 4 feet wide earthen structures that are padded with concrete rings inside and filled with gravel.
- The gravel traps rainwater into the well and percolates down to natural aquifers.
- Rain falls into the percolation well, water leaks into the soil in multiple layers and it goes down to the ground and natural aquifers get activated, instead of allowing rainwater to run off or form a cesspool and evaporate.
Significance of Percolation wells for Bengaluru:
- In the best monsoon scenario, Bengaluru's water situation may not improve much as it would not be able to hold more than 10% of rainwater.
- Bengaluru can’t hold more than 10% of its rainwater because its unplanned development, unbridled growth and concretisation drastically brought down the water-holding ability of soil.
- So even if the City gets reasonably good rains, its water runs off, forms a cesspool, or gets evaporated.
- Percolation wells can help capture rainwater so that the groundwater table is restored, conserved and recharged as the created percolation and filtration environment triggers natural aquifers.
UPSC PYQs:
Q.1 The ideal solution of depleting ground water resources in India is water harvesting system.” How can it be made effective in urban areas? (UPSC 2018)
Q.2 Suggest measures to improve water storage and irrigation system to make its judicious use under depleting scenario. (UPSC 2020)
Q.3 In what way micro-watershed development projects help in water conservation in drought-prone and semi-arid regions of India? (UPSC 2016)
