Abstract

Puruliya is a drought prone district of India, situated in the state of West Bengal. Monsoonal vagaries along with ustic soils and poor groundwater availability augment the sufferings of the district’s residents from acute water scarcity. In such a condition, rainwater harvesting is the viable solution of the problem, as the district gets ample of rain in the monsoonal months. Bandu River is a tributary of river Kangsabati. Its basin area covers 14,764 hectares of land divided into four micro watersheds .The basin receives 1,150 mm of rainfall even in the driest years. The runoff available from that amount of rain is estimated through four empirical formulae postulated by Sir Aiexander Binnie, T.G. Barlow, Ingels- De Souza and Lacey. All of the calculations indicate the amount is a healthy one.