Combating Urban Waterlogging with Support from Underlaying Over Exploited Aquifer: A Case Study from India

Urban waterlogging and groundwater depletion are two diverse but major challenges of Indian cities under changing climatic conditions. The enhanced extreme events of rainfall in recent years along with rapidly altered hydrological conditions in the urban environment pose a conducive situation for urban waterlogging. On the other hand, intense and large withdrawal of groundwater, higher than the natural annual recharge has depleted the groundwater level severely in many Indian cities. A pilot project is executed in Faridabad Smart City of National Capital Region India, to combat waterlogging and also to rejuvenate groundwater resourceGroundwater resource. In the study, all steps were undertaken meticulously, beginning with hydrogeological study, site selection, rainfall analysis, calculations of runoff generation, framing well design after identification of suitable recharge zones within depleted aquiferAquifers”, and determination of its intake capacity. It further elucidates the estimation of the suitable dimension of the desilting chamber, fixing a suitable dose of ferric chloride for coagulation, and assessment of recharge volume. The constructed recharge system is tested whether it is working effectively as per the feedback obtained from independent sources. It has high scalability in similar hydrogeological situations in other parts of India.