 Chandigarh is the capital of States of Haryana & Punjab. The Population of the town as per 2001 census is 6,00,000. It is gateway to state Himachal Pradesh .The population of town is cosmopolitan. The civic authorities are tacking larger issues like sanitation , supply of water & other infrastructure areas. The increasing population has increasing load on civic infrastructure, which has resulted in depletion of water table at the fast rate of 2-3ft every year. Presently the water table is encountered at the depth of 250-300ft from the ground level. The Present alarming scenario calls for immediate steps so that the water table does not fall further. The situation is fast deteriorating as in other areas around Chandigarh the potable water table has fallen to 200 – 300 ft.
Rain water harvesting is one such technique in which precipitation in the from of rain water is collected and can be stored or put to directly recharge into the ground water in areas where rain fall occur throughout the year, barring a few periods, one can make use of small size storage tanks for storing rainwater, since the period between two spells of rain is short. On the other hand in areas where the majority of the rainfall occurs during 3 to 4 months of monsoon, the storage will require large size storage tanks and therefore it may be better to use rainwater to re-charge ground water sources. However, a combination of two systems may have to be adopted where hydro-geology of the area makes recharging uneconomical because of deeper aquifers and nature of strata etc. Since Chandigarh falls in the zone where majority of rain fall occurs during 3 to 4 months of Monsoon, the storage will require large size storage tanks and therefore it would be much better to use rain water to recharge in to the ground water by artificial means.
Artificial recharge to ground water is a process by which the ground wear reservoir is augmented at a rate exceeding that under natured conditions of replenishment. Any man-made scheme or facility that adds water to an aquifer may be considered to be an artificial recharge system. Rainwater harvesting through artificial recharge is a concept in which surplus rainwater is injected to ground water for augmenting the ground water reservoir and for improving the ground water quality. . Different types of recharge techniques such as surface, sub surface, combination of surface- subsurface and induced recharge techniques are used which are as under: -
1. Recharges Pits.
2. Recharges Trenches.
3. Abandoned Dug wells.
4. Hand pumps.
5. Recharge wells.
6. Recharge Shafts.
7. Lateral Shafts with Bore Wells.
8. Spreading techniques like percolation ponds, check dams, nala bunds, cement plugs.
Considering the economics and requirement, the recharge wells seam to the best technique of rainwater harvesting which can be adopted in the Chandigarh. In this technique recharge wells of around 300 mm diameter are generally constructed for recharging the deeper water bearing strata and surface run off and roof top rain water diverted to recharge well for recharge to ground water. The run of water is passed through filter media to avoid choking of recharge well. The Club plans to construct at least 3 recharge wells.For this 2 sites have already been identified (1) School for the Blind, Sector 26, Chandigarh (2) Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, Chandigarh and 3rd site is being decided soon. | 
