Karjat taluka, a part of the district of Raigad, lies about 100km from the IITB campus. A small number of rivers, some sleepier than others, flow in the area. However, most hamlets depend on open wells and handpumps for their water supply in these region because of their relative proximity. These groundwater fed sources have been drying up as early as February in the northern tip of Karjat taluka, leaving over a hundred villages in the taluka without safe, sufficient and reliable access to water.
We can imagine a number of potential solutions to this problem. One such solution would involve enhancing ground water recharge so that supplies last from one monsoon to the next. Another option would be to transport water in pipes to north Karjat from a river that has sufficient water throughout the year
This summer (2010), students of Civil Engineering, Earth Science and have come together under Professor Milind Sohini to work on the following objectives aimed at alleviating the water stress in north Karjat:
1) The creation of a document that a layperson can use to understand all the salient features of a well. The idea is to empower villagers with knowledge they can use to improve the water management in their community such that their ground water lasts an entire year instead of drying up long before the monsoons.
2) To understand the geotechnical and geological properties of the target area to give a more accurate data of ground water availability and various factors to be considered for its improvement.
3) The development of a design for a piped water distribution system for north Karjat, and documenting our methodology of design such that it can be used to design such a system elsewhere. In equal measure this project is about assessing the technoeconomic feasibility of a piped water distribution networks for this region.
We aim to regularly update this website such that all developments and documents related to these projects will be available here.
