Understanding and managing groundwater-Metering a borewell

At an IT company in Bangalore every bore well is metered. A reading is taking every day at 8.30 a.m. to keep track of the amount of groundwater consumed daily. When recharge mechanisms are put in place a company's responsibility would be to ensure that they recharge annually as much water as they draw. That would be ecological stewardship of water.
Meter readings also help in understanding the cost of water per kilo-litre. This helps to make economic decisions on water sourcing. For example once the aquifer is recharged through rainwater, the marginal cost of production of water from various sources would determine which water is to be used first i.e. given first charge. A tanker load of water costs Rs 30/- to Rs 40/- per kilo-litre, the water from the Cauvery river -the main source of water in Bangalore- costs Rs 72/- a kilo-litre,treated waste water can cost Rs 10/- to Rs 15/- a kilo-litre and bore well water approximately Rs 8/- a kilo-litre. The first choice would therefore be bore well water as long as it is sustainably managed.

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Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• bore
• wells
• aquifer
• management
• rainwater
• harvesting
• managed
• recharge
• artificial
• water