Category: Technology

The Ranthambore National Park is situated at the confluence of Aravali and Vindhya mountain ranges i.e. the Great Boundary Fault in Northwestern India. It is a unique and highly bio-productive terrestrial ecosystem that enables all levels to optimally sustain life. In this ecological wonderland, The Royal Bengal Tiger  flourishes in its best form.

The Ranthambore Tiger Reserve situated within the park is the western-most habitat of the majestic Tiger in the Indian subcontinent. The park is spread over 1700 km² spanning Sawai Madhopur, Karauli, Tonk & Bundi districts of the Indian state of Rajasthan.

The park is bounded by the Chambal river in the west, which is one of the least polluted perennial rivers in the world. The seasonal rain-fed Banas river bisects the park. With the passage of geological time the Aravalis, one of the oldest mountain systems of the world, have weathered to yield more soils. On the other hand the comparatively younger Vindhyas have withered much less and support the growth of unique flora in the region.

This rich landscape is a major hub of biodiversity. It is home to viable populations of six species of predator cats (Tiger, Leopard, Desert Cat, Jungle Cat and Fishing Cat). Large populations of Jackal, Wolf, Hyena, wild dogs and marsh-crocodiles also rule over a food-chain with over 40 mammal species, including spotted deers & rare antelopes (such as Black-Buck, Chinkara and Blue bulls), 320 bird species, 40 species of reptiles and 402 species of plants.

Not so long ago, there existed many such forests along the foothills of Aravali and Vindhya mountain ranges. Unfortunately, owing to human population pressure and interference many such habitats have been lost.

It is worth noting that because of positive human intervention, the plateau of Ranthambore forest remains as the only big expanse of dry deciduous Anogeissus Pendula forest in India.

Modern conservation adopts the approach that natural forests should be left alone since it is a self-sustaining ecosystem. However, by artificially limiting the area for natural expansion and growth of forest cover, human activities continue to hamper nature reserves.

This can be observed by the ever increasing number of villages and settlements not just along the boundaries of forest reserves but also squeezing into forest areas for fodder and space.

In this era of nature conservancy, humans are still forcing increasing animal populations to get confined in smaller areas where they may become vulnerable and extinct due to natural infections, diseases and even greater competition for food and water.

Tiger Conservation at Ranthambore

Ranthambore is known for its large population of the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger. During the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the Tiger population in Ranthambore where the present tally is around 55. 

This has been possible due to the multi-fold, dedicated efforts of the forest administration, use of modern surveillance technologies across the reserve, and continuous manual monitoring including fortnightly stock taking of wild animals.  

The sincerity, commitment, passion and emotional attachment of the forest officials to this noble endeavor can be seen from top officials to the frontline forest guards posted round the clock at various check posts (Nakas) deep in the forest reserve.

The growing tiger density in Ranthambore forest has already paved the way for relocating some tigers to strengthen tiger populations in other reserves such as Sariska & Mukundra in Alwar & Kota districts of Rajasthan.

Ranthambore’s Climate, Topography and Water Crisis

The Park has a dry climate with three well defined seasons – summer, winter and monsoon. The hot & dry summer months last from March to June with maximum temperatures around 45℃, negligible relative humidity and hot dry winds. Winter generally lasts from late October till February with the temperature often ranging below 10 ℃ to 20℃. The monsoons with average annual rainfall of 800mm and about 35 rainy days per year, last from July to September.

The park landscape varies dramatically from the vertical slopes (cliffs & knolls) to the sharp and pointed hills as the geography changes from Vindhyas to Aravali ranges.

The park has an approximate elevation ranging between 300-500 meters above mean sea level with mostly rugged and hilly terrain. The Aravalis have ridges on one side and gentle slopes on the other with few small plateaus and valleys. Gazella Peak, the highest peak of the Vindhyas, has an elevation of 507 m. 

The top tableland, locally called Daang & valleys called Kho are prominent geo-features dotted with springs & geysers. These valleys are the richest wildlife areas of the reserve making them favorite spots for the tigers.

Most of the narrow, seasonal monsoon-fed water streams are very short lived. The streams flowing in the northern tract drain into the Banas river and ones on the southern tract drain directly into the Chambal river.

The deep, long and narrow gorges created due to erosion caused by these short-lived streams has created ravines that are prominent features valuable in enhancing the flora and fauna of the region.

Water scarcity for wildlife in long dry-spells and peak summer months is a cause of serious concern for forest officials. This is especially critical for territorial predators such as Tigers and animal groups that cannot migrate large distances in search of water.

Solving the Water Crisis with SILVERON 

On the official invitation of Sh. Arbind Kumar Jha, Asst. Conservator of Forests at the Ranthambore National Park, our CEO Sh. Sunil Sharma visited the Tiger Reserve on Oct. 24-25th, 2020. The purpose of this visit was to understand the landscape and explore possibilities for water conservation to combat scarcity of water for wildlife especially during peak summer months.

The early morning session gave a general feel of the forest and as luck would have it the day began with these lovely welcome sights. 

1. Developing Bunds: The park is situated in a low-rainfall region with thin alluvium. The hilly terrain and steep to mild slopes facilitate rapid rainwater runoff. It is important to identify sites and make intermittent hurdles in the flow path using available stones and bush across small gullies and streams. 

The spacing between these bunds will be decided by soil permeability and angle of slope at each site. The bunds must be closer on steeper slopes where permeability is less. This will prevent flowing water from attaining erosive velocity thereby conserving soil moisture.

The accumulation of small quantities of water behind the bund also facilitates percolation wherever possible. This technique allows harnessing rainwater locally and reduces erosion through runoff. 

2. Recharging through abandoned bore wells: The park has a number of bore wells that were abandoned due to non-availability of water. These boreholes can be re-developed into groundwater recharge structures. Small streams flowing nearby can be guided towards such boreholes. 

Rainwater percolating through these structures would find fractures at various depths and develop flow paths to enrich groundwater levels.

3. Rejuvenating Shallow Dug Wells: A number of shallow dug wells are scattered throughout the forest. These wells get their water through percolation from rock fractures and water levels in them keep declining in the post monsoon months.

These dug wells, some even managing to retain water throughout the year, are an important lifeline for wildlife. Each such well should be numbered and monitored on a monthly basis to ensure effective use of waterstock.

Dilapidated shallow wells should be restored, de-silted and cleaned to increase their holding volumes and prevent collapse. Further, repaired dug wells should be covered using secure frames and strong wire mesh to prevent these wells from becoming safety hazards for thirsty animals.

New well locations can be identified on the downstream side to collect and preserve more rainwater before run-off.

4. Rainwater Collection and Transportation: During monsoons, surface water is plentiful in small or large ponds and depression areas specially on the down stream side. This water can be effectively transported and used in times of need.

The forest does not have tall trees and the major fire risk is from dry grass on the ground. This threat is especially severe seasonally during the long dry-spells. 

Water tankers can be placed at designated Nakas to transport water to locations running short of water.  These tankers can be especially useful to extinguish bushfires or other emergency uses. 

This technique improves availability of emergency water supply and reduces stress on natural reservoirs especially during the dry season.

5. Adopting solar water pumps: Replacing diesel pumps at wells with solar water pumps would also go a long way in reducing pollution, noise and wastage of water. With set levels, solar pumps can be programmed to extract only limited quantities of water each day. 

The extra generated power can be leveraged to deliver water via pipelines to other areas or to higher locations for storage or pumping.

In the first phase, SILVERON offers to provide Ranthambore National Park services of their experts, material and manpower at no-cost to design & demonstrate methods of recharging abandoned boreholes and rejuvenate & equip existing wells with solar pumps. 

This effort is a reflection of our commitment to conserving India’s natural biodiversity and the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger.

The ever-increasing population, urbanization, industrialization and rise in agricultural activity are major reasons for growing water demand. Rapid decline in the water table can be attributed to over exploitation of ground water resources for meeting these demands.

The basic purpose of artificial recharge of groundwater is to replenish water into aquifers that have depleted due to excessive groundwater extraction. Artificial groundwater replenishment systems involve techniques that modify the natural movement of surface water and use civil construction methods to enhance the sustainable yield of groundwater in areas where over extraction has depleted underground aquifers.

SILVERON’s dedicated team led by Sunil Sharma started experimentation to determine the various factors affecting groundwater conditions such as thickness of alluvium, depth to rock, the extent and depth of aquifer and quality of ground water. The team conducted several Geophysical Vertical Electrical Soundings  in the targeted areas.                                          

In our earlier blog Geophysical Survey: An essential tool for Rainwater Harvesting, we discussed the importance of variations in soil formation and presented sample data from our records showing major variations in ground strata.

Geophysical measurements are based on the fact that subsurface consists of a sequence of distinct layers of finite thickness. Each layer is assumed to be electrically homogeneous and isotropic and the boundary planes between layers are assumed to be horizontal.

Lessons from Field Experiments

Based on the Geophysical Survey and analysis of soil samples obtained from various depths while drilling trial bores using a Rotary drilling machine, it was observed that the changing compositions of soil components are very diverse. The soil strata keeps changing as we drill deeper into the earth and we are likely to encounter some layers that absorb more water, some which absorb less and some which absorb no water.

Since it is impossible to modify this naturally occurring soil strata, hence the research team came to the conclusion that for rain harvesting, Diameter of the recharge bore has less meaning while its depth is more important.

Team SILVERON also studied existing rainwater harvesting designs and observed that most structures had worked well in the initial months but gradually their efficiency reduced, and water started stagnating in the structures. This happened as most existing structure designs were not in line with natural laws but rather attempted forcing water absorption against natural processes.

The conclusion drawn was that for rain harvesting, supporting natural process is a sure path to success while going against nature is a recipe for failure.  

In view of the above valuable lessons, Sunil Sharma and his team started experimenting with multiple design ideas to be able to develop an Eco-friendly shaft design which would recharge the ground water in a sustainable way closest to the natural recharge process.

The Vision

SILVERON’s dream was to create a Rainwater Harvesting System that recharges ground water aquifers and simultaneously enriches the root zone with moisture supporting trees, shrubs and foliage. The vegetation generated by this enriched root zone forms a network of roots, binding the soil together to check soil erosion and provide fodder for animals.

Increased moisture content in the top soil and vegetation raises the humidity in the air that in turn helps in the survival of diverse interdependent friendly organisms like bacteria and earthworm etc living both over and below the soil surface.                                   

The conceived design would allow water to flow down an unlined borehole in direct contact with soil starting from the root zone. This matches the natural process where the rainwater is not flowing through artificial ducts such as a failure-prone slotted pipe system .

An Ingenious Design

We had determined that the soil profile is not uniform and there are layers of varying composition, porosity & permeability. It is conceivable that in the natural process, rain water on the surface would runoff since it was the easiest path and droplets which percolated into the ground due to gravity encounter other obstacles in the flow that may delay movement and point of contact with groundwater.

To facilitate both vertical and horizontal flow of water across the varying permeability of soil strata, SILVERON shaft depth was planned in a way that pierces through all layers and provides easy passage for the flow of water. The shaft’s bore hole is filled with material of high permeability providing an automatic connection between all layers in the ground.

It was observed that the recharge shaft had its own absorption (or intake) speed and any excess quantity of water reaching it would tend to runoff on the ground surface.

Encouraged by the success of recharge due to the vertical inter-connectivity that the shaft provided through natural formations inside the ground, it was decided to interconnect the adjoining recharge shafts by PVC pipe at the top so that the excess water entering the shaft could reach an adjoining recharge shaft without evaporation losses. This would help in avoiding flood hazard during storm showers by capturing the rainfall run-off which would otherwise overwhelm sewer or storm drains and also results in soil erosion.

The team while examining choked recharge structures observed that most rain water harvesters focused entirely on silt removal before the water was allowed to enter the recharge structure.  SILVERON recognizes that silt is the finest particles of soil, suspension of silt in flowing rain water is natural and since the turbulence is high during monsoon season, silt does not get time to settle making the water appear murky. 

The challenge is not only to ensure unhindered recharge performance in condition of normal silt naturally flowing into the structure but also to incorporate design features that would make silt removal and cleaning an easy & cost effective process.

SILVERON designed recharge shafts such that the silt which enters the shaft in the previous monsoon is removed easily by back wash arrangement before onset of next monsoon, at almost negligible cost and as simple process.

SILVERON shaft was designed conceived that rain water transported from roof tops, paved surfaces or low-lying areas to the recharge shaft would percolate and make the soil wet all around the entire depth of the borehole.

This in turn would attract naturally percolating rainwater coming from any direction, any distance and at any depth – since the shaft column is available to provide easy downward flow passage. The main design principle was to let nature develop an inter-connected network of streams below ground howsoever minute, since once created these channels would remain available as a path for water to flow when it rains.

The SILVERON Edge

We at SILVERON, understand the importance of considering all natural factors when designing a rainwater harvesting structure. These variations make the scope of work differ from location to location. Site specific work of such magnitude calls for years of experience and understanding on the part of the harvester.

Ingenuity, untiring efforts, trials, determination to succeed and decades of experience stand behind the performance of SILVERON Rainwater Harvesting Systems.

The wide acceptance and appreciation of the performance of SILVERON recharge shafts makes SILVERON the first choice in the field of water conservation.

Experiencing nature gives us immense joy & pleasure. Be it in walking along a park trail lined by lush green trees, seeing vast green spaces or perhaps even seeing puddles and little streams after a rain shower. We love the sound of the humming birds, enjoy the weather and the fresh cool breeze. We love the sight of bright flowers all around and the squirrels crossing our path.

Does anyone spare a moment to think about the earth under their feet?

The world continues to move from the stone age to the space age because the principles of physics remain the same. It is only as we understand them better and experiment do we make advancements that benefit our lives.

We know more about the Sun, Moon and other planets in space but hardly know our Earth. Ever wondered how we can accurately predict solar and lunar eclipses but are caught off guard by disastrous flash floods, earth quakes, tsunamis and landslides?

The earth underneath us is so diverse and alive that the more one thinks about it, the more magical and mysterious it appears. It is the place where at each moment every law of physics is in action and which is holding within it the entire periodic table, innumerable organic and inorganic compounds and minerals and air and water and the living and the decomposing.

The core of the earth is about 6300 Km. from where we stand but humans have not been able to drill below 12 km (see ref). Most people do not even know that the ground well below our feet is may be hotter than the surface of the sun.

The layers of earth based on chemical variations from shallowest to deepest are:-

1. Crust: Earth’s crust is the outermost layer of earth and ranges from 5–70 kilometers in depth.
2. Mantle: Mantle lies between Earth’s crust and dense super-heated inner core and is about 2,900 km. thick.
3. Outer Core: Earth’s Outer Core is largely liquid iron layer of the earth that lies below the mantle. The outer core is about 2,300 km. thick.
4. Inner Core: Earth’s inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km. The inner core is believed to be composed of an iron–nickel alloy with some other elements.

Our aim here is to give some insight to our readers that our earth is magical and that the earth’s resources are major components which impact the environmental factors which make planet earth habitable.

We do not wish to wade into a theoretical discussion about permeability or porosity of soil or about range of validity of Darcy’s law or velocity of flow of water. We would restrict our discussion to shallow depth of the earth’s crust since no man has ever explored the other layers in person – in fact at a maximum depth of 12kms, our civilization has barely scratched the surface.

The most common components with varying percent found in composition of the soil.

Sand has pockets which hold air hence aeration is good and the voids are interconnected hence water holding capacity is low and drainage rate is high. This causes the compact-ability to be low and its use as a sealer to prevent leakage is not advisable.

This is the reason why it is beneficial to till the sandy land after rainfall. Planting of trees and bushes and construction of check dams are recommended to prevent soil erosion by air and water.

Some form of clay when added to sandy soil, enhances the cultivation output because it reduces soil erosion both by air and water and increases the compact-ability, water retention capacity & plant nutrient holding capacity of the soil.

If we explore the properties of soil we come across a list which is unending.

• Soil not only serves as an anchor but also provides the required minerals and water to the plants. In fact this resource provides 99% of the food consumed by human beings.
• Soil is a major raw material required for manufacture of many types of building materials. Soil is the foundation of construction projects.
• Soil absorbs and cleans rainwater as it percolates through it and also holds it in the aquifers. This quality of soil not only serves as a source of ground water when needed but also protects us from floods and in time of droughts.

Interestingly, it has been observed that many animals deliberately ingest soil as it absorbs toxins, and facilitates digestion and checks diarrhea and it is also a source of rare minerals. The practice of eating soil is referred as Geophagy

Soil protection and conservation is very important since soil is the home for many organisms living in such interconnected harmonious diversity both inside and outside the soil like earthworms, snails, slugs, millipedes, centipedes, potworms, nematodes, bacteria, fungi and algae, to name a few. Aerobic processes of soil have a major role to play in waste management while handling effluent from septic tanks and elsewhere.

It is estimated that soil restoration will offset the effect of increases in greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming. About 60% of the biotic content is carbon and this makes the Biological component of soil is very important. Even in desert crust, cyanobacteria which are microorganisms related to the bacteria but capable of photosynthesis, lichens and mosses capture and hold a good quantity of carbon by photosynthesis.

When we talk about water conservation, it is intricately tied to soil conservation as well. Preventing the erosion of soil through water conservation, rain water harvesting, green-belt development, responsible agricultural and industrial practices therefore has many inter-linked benefits – from improved soil quality to reducing the effects of global warming.

When water is not absorbed by a Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) system and it stagnates around the structures or if the structure itself collapses, we consider it as a failure of the RWH system.

There are innumerable designs and ideas floated on the internet for Rain Water Harvesting. We evaluated several designs and have found that many of these have inherent shortcomings which can cause RWH systems to fail. We observed that these designs have not been properly tested in real-world scenarios over a period of several monsoons or their designers simply do not report failures.

Through our decades of experience designing & developing Rain Water Harvesting solutions, we recognize the multitude of factors which can lead to failures of Rain Water Harvesting structures.

The idea of this post is not to comment on the design of any individual person or entity but to select a few basic reasons which can defeat the entire RWH effort.

To illustrate these scenarios, we have randomly picked up two designs for Rain Water Harvesting structures commonly circulated on the internet, which in our experience are not successful in practical applications.

a. RWH systems using hollow cement rings with slots

This design proposes using hollow cement rings with holes to construct a Rain Water Harvesting bore up to a depth of 10 feet to 30 feet, with a diameter of about 3 feet approximately. The hollow cavity of the bore stacks cement rings of diameter 2.5 to 3 feet over each other from the base till the top. The top is covered with a slab as you see in the pictures below

Expectation:  The designers of such a system imagine that the rain water will fill the hollow space in the pit and the water will pass through the slots in the cement rings and when it comes in contact with the soil surrounding the cement rings, the water will be absorbed by the soil.

Reality:  In practice, while the rain water fills the empty space in the pitit thereafter moves out of the holes in the cement rings and forms a watercolumn outside the rings. Now as the soil which has come in contact with thewater dissolves in this water column, this mixture of mud and clay re-entersthe hollow space and tries to fill the hollow space with soil.

This processcontinues as and when the remaining empty space is filled with water. Thisprocess stops once the empty space in the rings is completely filled andcompacted by the adjoining soil.

At this stage,any chance of ground water recharge stops due to compaction of soil. The soilwhich has moved in through the holes in cement rings leaves a hollow space adjoiningthe structure causing it to eventually collapse around the structure as isvisible in the photo above.

This fundamentally flawed design increasesthe risk of soil shifting and structural damage to nearby constructions.

b. RWH Systems using percolation Bore-Pits

This design proposes creation of percolation bore-pits for of rain water absorption through creation of 15 to 30 feet deep bores where the top end is enclosed in a 2 x 3 feet deep bore-pit covered with a perforated RCC slab as shown in the image below.

Expectation: The designers here imagine that the flowingrain water over paved surfaces (such as streets or parking lots) will effortlesslyfall into the chamber through the perforated RCC cover slab and thereaftersettle around the bore-pit to eventually be absorbed by the bore.

Reality: Having observed a practical implementation of this design on one of our sites, we recognized that when water flows over a perforated slab it forms a film of water and thereafter most of the water flows and passes over. Some rain water laden with silt and clay enters the perforation and deposits in the pores in the shape of a cone further reducing the opening size of the hole on the inside of the slab and finally the hole gets completely blocked.

Further, below the cover in the bore-pit in the silt-removal chamber:

Expectation: It is imaginedthat the flowing rain water that reaches the silt removing chamber will gentlyfall on the coarse sand and all the silt and clay suspended in the rain waterwill be restricted by the coarse sand from moving further down. After this onlyclean water will pass through the pebbles and enter the recharge pit pushingthe air out through the air vent and letting the soil absorb the water.

Reality: During rainfallthere is massive turbulence in water leading to the water appearing muddy andalso there is no time for decantation – silt mixed with clay and small pebbles flowswith rain water and fill the chamber to the brim as intake speed of anyrecharge structure is relatively slow.

The turbulence in the chamber also disturbs and suspend the coarse sand inthe water. This water with suspended silt, clay, coarse sand and small pebbles formsa paste which tries to find a passage into the air vent chokes the air ventpipeshown below the perforated cover within the chamber.

Once the air-vent pipe gets choked, the recharge process completely stopssince choking of the air vent pipe is like somebody closing a pipette with athumb to stop the water column from falling down.

Other factors like the shallow depth of pit, chances of choking of recharge bore pit by infiltrating coarse sand mixed with silt and clay entering with rain water into the bore hole as well through the pebbles, the unmentioned size of pebbles and unclear relevance of the diameter of the pit are likely to jeopardize the performance of this structure design.

The success of SILVERON rain water harvesting designs is a result of decades of untiring experimentation and experience in field work across diverse topographies.

At SILVERON, Learning & Innovation are the heart of what we do.