Managed Groundwater Recharge and Rainwater Harvesting for Sustainable Development: Research, Practices, and Policies from Developing Countries

Groundwater is a critical and strategic natural resource. Globally, it plays a pivotal role in meeting societal demands and providing ecosystem services. Across large areas, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, increasing extraction of this resource is causing over-exploitationOver-exploitation and depletion. The main manifestations in such cases are: fall in groundwater levels and subsequent dwindling yield or drying up of water wells, rise in groundwater salinityGroundwater salinity, reduced environmental flow in rivers, shrinking inland wetlands, saline water intrusionSaline water intrusion in coastal aquifersAquifers, subsidence of land, and a host of associated implications. Such a situation potentially adversely impacts agricultural production and food security, widens inequity, and triggers social tension and conflicts. Climate changeClimate change is further adding woes to the situation with unpredictable rainfall, increasing temperatures, and rising seawater levels. Rainwater harvestingRainwater harvesting has been practiced since the dawn of some of the oldest civilisations in different corners of the world to ameliorate water shortfall. Managed groundwater recharge , also referred to as artificial rechargeArtificial recharge or managed aquifer rechargeManaged aquifer recharge, is a later idea, being practiced increasingly over the last six decades or so as a dominant supply-side intervention to augment groundwater availability and reliability of water supply in general, but importantly during droughts and dry periods. This chapter provides an introductory view on managed groundwater recharge and rainwater harvestingRainwater harvesting (MGR/RWR), their objectives and possible synergies, efficacy, impacts, policies, and practices, illustrating their diverse benefits in developing countriesDeveloping countries across a wide array of terrain, land use, geology, and climatic conditions. The chapter also gives a synopsis of eighteen  ensuing chapters from a wide range of contributors representing fifteen countries, illustrating the multitude of applications of rainwater harvestingRainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge augmentation and management, providing useful lessons for a broader audience.