A Study on the Potential for Artificial Groundwater Recharge: in Dhaka City

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is facing an acute shortage of water supply during the summer. The water table becomes low and the tube-wells can not pump out the groundwater. This scenario is happening now because the only water supply authority for Dhaka city, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA), is mainly dependent on groundwater for providing water supply to the consumers. This had deteriorated the condition of groundwater. The groundwater table depleted to a very lower level for which the DWASA is abstracting water from a depth of 300 meter or more. With this the natural groundwater rechargeable area is diminishing with the increasing trend of urbanization. So the groundwater recharge rate has dropped too. A huge gap is created between groundwater abstraction and recharge. To reduce this gap artificial recharge method should be acquired. This study suggests the Percolation Pit with Bore method, which is used in various parts of India, to be used for artificial recharge. The study shows that a substantial increase in the groundwater recharge can be gained in this method.