7. Locating good underground water resources

No textbooks are as yet available that offer guaranteed routes to the accurate location of good water sources under the ground. This alone underscores the fact that detection of water sources under the ground is still not an exact science, but only a refined art, if at all. Alacrity’s own persistent and systematic efforts over a decade to locate good water sources in its complexes have only served to confirm this observation. These efforts have involved: utilising the data accumulated from soil investigations done on every plot to decide the nature of the foundation that would suit the soil conditions. utilising the services of experienced hydro-geologists to conduct electrical resistivity studies to locate aquifers and give their recommendations. utilising the services of water diviners who use beads or dousing rods. Dousing, incidentally, has been stated to be an empirical science and often capable of yielding accurate data, in an authoritative book on ground water resources . That the uncertainty in accurately locating a good water source underground is not unique to water, but is common to locating any liquid underground is highlighted by the variable record of no less an authority than the ONGC itself in locating good underground oil sources, inspite of their employing hi-tech equipment and highly qualified, experienced personnel, both foreign and Indian. Even after a water source is located based on the approaches detailed above one cannot assume the continued availability of both the quality and yield from that source. This is because of two factors: 1. While water is constantly tapped, the water table is not replenished by rain water. 2. Interference by a neighbouring well or borewell i.e. Another well or borewell installed in the neighbourhood at the same depth or even greater depth affects the performance and output of this well. Technically to avoid such interference, wells and borewells are to be spaced, preferably, 100 metres away from one another, but in the context of the proliferation of residential constructions, such spacing is not practicable. However the uncertainty can be considerably reduced by implementing certain simple measures that Alacrity has found to be very effective in its projects over the last three years. These can be easily adopted by individual houses as well as by apartment complexes with great benefit.