NEWS – The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in a latest intervention has taken up Shallow Aquifer Management (SAM) model on a pilot basis in the city

HIGHLIGHTS

• Project Details:
  • AMRUT scheme under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs oversees the project.
  • Kakatiya Park chosen for its large watershed area and rainfall potential.
  • Aims to recharge groundwater and mitigate urban flooding.
• Technical Interventions:
  • Drilling shallow water injection borewells to depths of 100-120 feet.
  • Pumping water from shallow aquifers to recharge underlying layers during rainfall.
  • Collecting water from the watershed and channeling it through recharge pits.
• Expansion:
  • Implemented in other parks like KLN Yadav Park, Indira Park, etc., as part of the initiative.
  • Involves training programmes for plumbers and masons on rooftop rainwater harvesting systems.

SHALLOW AQUIFER MANAGEMENT (SAM)

• Sustainable urban water management addressing groundwater depletion and flooding issues.
• Project concept involves drilling shallow borewells, pumping out water, and channeling water through recharge pits.
• AMRUT scheme’s SAM pilot across various Indian cities aims at aquifer recharge and sustainable water management.
• Nodal implementing agency: National Institute of Urban Affairs
• In 2022, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) initiated a SAM pilot across 10 cities in nine states: Bengaluru (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Hyderabad (Telangana), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Kolkata (West Bengal), Pune and Thane (Maharashtra) and Rajkot (Gujarat).

AQUIFER

• Porous rock or sediment saturated with groundwater.
• Groundwater enters aquifers from precipitation, can resurface through springs and wells.