IITM proposes groundwater recharge technology to manage floods, droughts

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have proposed to implement a rapid groundwater recharge technology for combined flood and drought mitigation near Ayankulam village in Tamil Nadu.

A proposal for the project has been submitted to the Tirunelveli district administration, which had requested IIT Madras to study this phenomenon.  An open agricultural well in Ayankulam was widely reported to recharge an estimated 1,500-2,500 litres of water every second for several weeks without overflowing. The recharge water for this well was from the excess overflow of an adjacent minor irrigation tank due to the record monsoon rains in November-December 2021.  

A team led by Venkatraman Srinivasan, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, visited the site to explore the potential of this well and possibly other wells in the region for use as rapid aquifer recharge during monsoon floods for storage and withdrawal during the dry summer months.  

Srinivasan said, “This is a win-win situation for all stakeholders. The excess water which causes devastating floods and would otherwise empty into the ocean is being channelled to recharge the groundwater for storage and retrieval in the dry summer months.” 

He said, “The unique hydro-geology of the region allows the implementation of this rapid aquifer recharge. In most other places, wells do not sustain such high injection rates and would easily overflow.” 

The rapid groundwater recharge technology proposed for this study area is different from conventional rainwater harvesting or well recharge. The proposed recharge technology at Ayankulam village will consist of a few dozen wells, with each well capable of recharging 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 litres of water every minute during floods events. 
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