TN-103 : Infiltration studies in India

Abstract

For optimum and sustainable use of soil, water and land resources, soil infiltration studies are of vital importance. Important hydrological parameters such as surface runoff, soil moisture, evaporation, ground water recharge etc. are influenced by infiltration properties of soils and therefore these studies are important to improve irrigation projects efficiency and drainage design of any particular area.

Infiltration studies in India have been done by a variety of organisations such as State Ground Water Departments, All India Land Use Survey and Planning, National Bureau of Soil Survey 8 Land Use Planning, National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee and its regional centres. But all these studies have been extremely scattered and no compiled document on infiltration properties of soils of the country exist. The main objective of this report is to first produce a compilation of all the existing data on infiltration rates of soils of different states and then to point out the gaps in these studies so that further studies in this field may be planned. The present report first deals with the basic concepts of infiltration and measurement techniques for infiltration rates including recent develop-ment in instrumentation for the same. Then, the existing data on infiltration rates of soils have been presented state wise and broad interpretation from these data have been made.