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Riverbank filtration: a case study of four sites in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand, India

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Abstract

Riverbank filtration (RBF) schemes based on the filtration of the river water through adjacent aquifers have been successfully implemented in the plains globally. In the mountainous regions, alluvial aquifers are generally narrow and restricted to the riverbanks. The present study assesses the possibility and potential of RBF in the lower Himalayan region for drinking water supply. Production wells (18–30 m deep) were commissioned on the banks of the rivers (1) Alaknanda in Srinagar (546 m a.m.s.l.) and Kaleshwar (Karnaprayag; 778 m a.m.s.l.); (2) East Nayar in Satpuli (576 m a.m.s.l.) and (3) Mandakini in Agastyamuni (783 m a.m.s.l.) in Uttarakhand, India. Waters from the rivers, production wells, and hand pumps were analyzed for major ions, coliforms and stable isotopes (δ18O and δ2H). The wells delivered coliform- and turbidity-free water even during monsoon. The proportion of the bank filtrate was site specific and also varied from monsoon to non-monsoon periods. The Satpuli scheme draws almost completely bank filtrate round the year. The other three schemes substantially draw groundwater and its proportion increases in monsoon. In Srinagar, the well water was chemically similar to the ground water but isotopically similar to the river water. The region also has a complex hydrology with paths that deliver river water containing coliforms and even suspended silt up to ~ 0.5 km inland. A severe flooding event during the study period affected the RBF sites in Srinagar and Kaleshwar, thereby indicating the need to make RBF wells flood proof. In general, the study shows RBF to be an effective and sustainable option to supply drinking water in a few regions of lower Himalayas.

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Acknowledgements

These investigations were primarily conducted within the framework of the project, titled “Development of Riverbank Filtration in Hill Regions of Uttarakhand for Sustainable Quality and Quantity of Drinking Water”, that commenced in March 2010 and was funded by the ‘Water Technology Initiative’ of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. The wells were drilled under the supervision of the Uttarakhand State Water Supply Organisation—Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan (UJS). The logistic and technical support of UJS, especially Mr. P.C. Kimothi as principal investigator and Mr. L.K. Adlakha as co-investigator of the project, are gratefully acknowledged. The assistance and services of the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology as coordinator, especially Dr. R.R. Dobhal and Dr. D.P. Uniyal, the Cooperation Centre for Riverbank Filtration as a partner and Mr. Arun Gulati of the well-drilling company Akshay Jaldhara is appreciated. The authors are also grateful to the project ‘Riverbank Filtration Network (BMBF IND 08/156)’ funded within the program ‘India and Germany – Strategic Partners for Innovation’ of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the “Sustainable Urban Water Management” (project no. 50016952) funded within the program ‘A New Passage to India (2009–2014)’ of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for supporting the mobility to conduct the scientific work. Special thanks are due to J. Ebermann and M. Ruppert for accompanying the well-drilling activities, conducting the sieve analysis and preparing the original borehole profiles, and P. Bahner, T. Wohlgemuth, F. Musche and E. Ballmann for assisting with the pumping tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India

    Medalson Ronghang, Ankush Gupta, Indu Mehrotra, Pradeep Kumar & Pooran Patwal

  2. National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India

    Sudhir Kumar

  3. Division of Water Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Dresden, Friedrich-List-Platz 1, 01069, Dresden, Germany

    Thomas Grischek & Cornelius Sandhu

  4. Civil Engineering Department, Bineswar Brahma Engineering College, BTAD, Kokrajhar, Assam, 783370, India

    Medalson Ronghang

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  1. Medalson Ronghang
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Correspondence to Ankush Gupta.

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Ronghang, M., Gupta, A., Mehrotra, I. et al. Riverbank filtration: a case study of four sites in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand, India. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 5, 831–845 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-018-0255-3

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