Objectives

The objectives of the IFCGR research is to:

• Understand the structure and the functioning of the crystalline and the weathered-fractured coupled system of the aquifer at the catchment/watershed scale through hydrodynamic flow modeling
• Understand the geochemical mechanism of groundwater contamination of groundwater through study of rock-water interaction and mass transport modeling.
• Establish the spatio-temporal variability of various vital aquifer parameters and designing optimal groundwater monitoring network.

Major part of the Peninsular India constitute the hard rock aquifers and due to their strong apparent heterogeneity, these aquifers (plutonic and metamorphic rocks) have not yet been studied at the scale of the watershed, which is an important solution to allow a global and integrated management of the water resources for the long term and sustainable development.

The results of the research will be useful to address the following problems:

• How groundwater is recharged in areas where the fractured basements is covered with weathered rock, as is common both in India and many parts of the world.
• How boreholes can be best located to tap the acceptable quality of groundwater in the weathered zone and underlying fractured basements.
• What is the best management strategy to exploite the aquifer yields, minimize the losses, and how can this yield be developed by artificially increasing the recharge.