Aquifer recharged including rainfall chart

For Auroville’s aquifer recharge, the monsoon rains were a blessing, as all water bodies filled up and even spilled over, thus guaranteeing sufficient water for the dry months. Water statistics, provided by Charlie from Aurogreen, show that this year the rains were a whopping 2084 mm, a figure that exceeded the heavy rainfall in 2010.

All the granite and concrete dams built in the Auroville area functioned well. The newly made earth dams and bunds in Aurodam, in the International Zone, in Hermitage and at other places had some surface erosion and some broke, but there was relatively little damage.

The percolation of the watershed Sukhavati-Aurogreen-Bommaiyarpalayam went faster than expected. The basin near Bommaiyarpalayam filled up after receiving 264 mm in 24 hours and spilled over. The last time this happened was five years ago. Then the dam was raised by one meter to catch exceptional rainfall. Within eight days this water percolated. The village settlement at the end of the canyon was safe.

This monsoon shows very clearly that water bodies are important and should be monitored, maintained and improved where necessary. For Auroville, it means that many water bodies should be cleaned, some bunds and dams raised and spillways widened or deepened.

Total rainfall:

2010 - 1,916 mm

2011 - 1,722 mm

2012 - 899 mm

2013 - 918 mm

2014 - 1,293 mm

2015 - 2,084 mm