SMALL EARTHEN STRUCTURES FOR GROUND WATER RECHARGE Introduction Rainwater is the most important potential source of moisture and water for agricultural farming system particularly in rainfed area. The project site is located at foot hills of Shiwalik which fall under Jammu District of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, locally known as Kandi belt. This unit is extension of the kandi belt in the state of Himanchal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Uttrakhand. The upper portion of kandi consists of low hills covered by shrubs and forest, and lower terrain has cultivated lands and gully beds. It has undulating topography, steep and irregular slope, erodible and low water retentive soils and badly dissected terrain by number of gullies. Agriculture of this area is totally depends upon mercy of rain.The soil loss has affected the agricultural production and hydrological regime to large extent. Flashy flow has denuded most of the top fertile soil and due to excess runoff of water, the area remain short of water except in rainy season. The major land and water management problems being faced in this area includes excessive runoff, the area remain short of water except in rainy season. The major land and water management problems being faced in this area includes excessive runoff, soil erosion, land degradation and erratic distribution of rainfall with space and time results in sizable loss of soil and nutrients are primarily responsible for low productivity and poor economic status of the farmers. Agrarian community suffers from water scarcity. Ground water table is deep. In hilly region due to availability of perched aquifer small quantity of water is available at upto depth of 50 feet which are generally utilized by the local people for drinking, livestock and other purpose through the construction of open wells. But these well becomes dry during winter as well as in summer season. To augment the ground water recharge and to reduce soil erosion 15 number of small recharging tanks were constructed with 100 m3 and 48 m3 capacity under DST-SEED Project entitled “Demonstration of technologies for improving productivity of rainfed area of Jammu District” which was completed during March 2021. Design features: Five number of trapezoidal shape recharging pond with top dimension of 9 m x 9 m, depth of 2 m and side slope 1:1 (H:V) and ten number of trapezoidal shape recharging pit with top dimension of 7 m x 7 m, depth of 1.5 m and side slope 1:1 (H:V) were constructed at the potential site having a catchment area 500 to 1200 m2. As per availability of surface area and budgetary provision these type structures are recommended near the upstream site of open well. In case of hand pump these must be constructed at downstream site so that waste from the hand pump can also be utilized for recharging purpose. But in farmers’ field it must be constructed at the point of lowest elevation. Cost: Considering the soil profile of the area two types of recharging tanks are recommended with different capacity and depth. One small recharging pit of 48 m3 capacity with depth of 1.5 m and another one recharging pond is of 100 m3 capacity with 2 m depth. Cost of recharging pond with top dimension of 9 m x 9 m, depth of 2 m and side slope 1:1 (H:V) is Rs. 20000 and cost of recharging pit with top dimension of 7 m x 7 m, depth of 1.5 m and side slope 1:1 (H:V) is Rs. 6000. Suitability: These structures are suitable for recharging of the ground water particularly in rainfed area of hill region. The structure must be constructed near the water source like open dug well and hand pump to recharge the perched aquifer. These structures serve the many purpose like retarding soil erosion, enhancing moisture regime in the downstream section and finally recharging the groundwater. These structures can also be constructed in irrigated areas to collect the surplus water at one location of the field resulting through excess irrigation or rainfall. By adopting this practice the crop can be saved from water logging and same time it will help in augmentation in groundwater recharge. Impact of technology: Five number of recharging tank of 100 m3 capacity and 10 number recharging pit of 48 m3 capacity were constructed at selected village Gargal/Kandi/Godhan of Akhnoor tehsil under DST-SEED project Demonstration of technologies for improving productivity of rainfed area of Jammu District. One recharging pit (48 m3) is constructed near the open well. Observation data reveals that the average water table in the well has been increased by 1-1.5 m. Longevity of the water in the well has been increased by 30-45 days.