Pune: The Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM) has started monitoring water levels of unconfined aquifers in and around the city. Himanshu Kulkarni, Executive Director, ACWADAM said that about 25 to 30 per cent of groundwater is informally used every day by the citizens, which is over and above water supplied from Khadakwasla.

ACWADAM is a not-for-profit organisation that aims at establishing a groundwater management agenda in the country. Last year, the organisation had mapped five to six aquifers in the city.

““We are looking forward to install automated water level sensors at prominent place of the city including Sadashiv Peth, Ganesh Peth, Sarasbaug, Yerawada, Bund Garden, Camp, Rasta Peth, Hadapsar and NIBM-Mohammadwadi,” Kulkarni told Sakal Times.

Kulkarni further said that the aim of the project is to collect information about the aquifers’ behaviours, where are the recharge areas, and how much of water is daily distracted from these aquifers. By the end of March, the sensors will be installed and it will take one year to monitor them.
“”It will be a citizen-based activity. The project will be further conceptualised as a part of urban groundwater management system”,” Kulkarni added.