Dry Water Bodies Revival

I think the problem you are having is that any water is flowing down into the underground aquifers, which are being depleted by having so many people drawing from them. I can't come up with any answer, but to restrict water use until things get topped back off. I would look seriously at other methods of rainwater collection and storage in order to relieve some of the pressure on the lake area and underground water.

Check the quality of discharge water from your waste water treatment plant. Perhaps with the addition of a fountain, which is common practice, waste water can be added to the lake water.

This would be especially useful if the lake is not used for drinking water.

It would also be useful to know, how long has the lake been there and adequately filled by rain. Do streams also flow into the lake, and does it have an outflow.

Please tell us the history of this lake.

hiring a geologist would be a good starting point.

To answer your question would require a complete audit of the watershed. Knowing the available water, infiltration, groundwater withdrawal rates, and history of ground water levels and the losses. Defining the watershed is required and that means defining the types of aquifers and the influenced area. Is the water in the wells getting deeper with time? If the lake level is above the static level of the wells, then you are in a groundwater recharge area. Conversely, if the static water level in the wells is above the lake, your lake is a discharge lake. Basically, you need to know the amount of water entering the watershed versus the amount lost due to use, evaporation, and evapotranspiration. If you are in a loss, and your recent lake levels suggest a loss, you may have to curtail the volume of water use to be sustained from season to season. Designing irrigation that will optimize use and prevent waste. Storage and a lined lake may be an answer to your demands as suggested by Lyn. If the area is under a lot of sunlight, you may even want to provide a cover of some sort. Good luck Zaffer and consider hiring a hydrogeologist to help.

Easy. Put a well in ground next to.the dry lake and use the well to fill the lake again. .. On a serious note can you spray some clay into the lake so it will drain more slowly?

Dear All,

Thanks for the response. The location of this water body is in India, Andhra Pradesh State Ranga Reddy District.This man made water body was serving as a Minor irrigation tank for a very long period. unfortunately there is no record of its catchment and Ayacut etc.It has a sluice for drawl of water for irrigation, it has a surplus weir, it has three inflow channels and an outflow channel. A big township is proposed to be developed closed to this water body and this lake is part of the entire layout and proposed to be developed as a recreational spot.We do have proposal to feed this water body with treated water from proposed STP which may take time. similarly we have plans to bring the surface flow through S.W drains connected to this water body, this again will take time. Lining the entire 30 Acres water spread area may not be a good idea as the basic function of a water body ie Recharging the ground water will get defeated.Hope this answers all the points raised.

Regards

Zaffer

They are going to build a recreational community around a lake that's been dry for 10-12 years?????

I agree that if you line the lake you will run your aquifers dry. You're problem is that you've got more water needs, than you have water. I'm no expert, but I would look at digging more man made reservoirs in the surounding areas.............smaller and with linings, catching as much rain in the rainy season as possible in those, and setting up a system where that water could be used to top off the main lake.

Another option would be large underground holding tanks.

GA. A good reply Zaffer for the queries. Few more thing I want to know are- what is average rain fall there? What is the extent of catchment area? What kind of cultivation there, is it paddy? Cultivation fields are above or below the pond level? What is full form of STP?

You really need to work on watershed management as suggested by many. Think of channelising rainwater from more areas nearby, if you can't then it is a wrong location for pond. Contact some experts in the field like Anna Hazare and Ayyappa M. Magasi, director , Water Literacy Foundation, Bangalore.

You seriously need to conduct a watershed study to determine the inflows and outflow + evaporation and percolation rates affecting the lake. This will involve Civil Engineers and a Hydrogeologist.

Since we do not yet know the soil conditions present under the lake any study will involve extensive soil borings and laboratory examinations to ascertain the permeability rates of the in-situ soil conditions.

Can an appropriate department of the Indian Government help you out with this study? Is there an Indian government equivalent to the US Army Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation there?

In the end it is my feeling that you're going to have to drain the lake sufficiently to install some sort of barrier, be it either a plastic liner or the inclusion of a Bentonite clay remediation (mixed with the existing lake bottom soils). Whatever you do to solve this problem it'll be costly and labor intensive.

Good luck!

You have a leak in your lake. Now I've never been to India, but, in Oklahoma we have had several ponds of varying sizes that developed leaks and were repaired by using drillers mud. Not very expensive and a little will go along way in stopping a crevice. If you use more water than you have in the acquifer you will be without water. Lake or no lake..

at Joshua tree lake, in Josha tree, california, they had a natural lake which was dry

due to the water table going down, so they did indeed drill a well to replenish it,

and now its a campground and stocked with fish. see http://www.jtlake.com/

is the area undermined? fissures that are draining water should be obvious