Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Groundwater in Bhiwani District, Haryana

Water, a unique renewable resource on earth, is essential for sustenance of all forms of life, food production and economic development. Both the surface water and groundwater play a major role in daily requirements of water, however, due to rapid urbanisation, population growth, global warming and deterioration in quality of surface water, the dependence on groundwater has increased. In the last few decades groundwater has been drafted with a high rate throughout the world. This over-drafting or over-exploitation of groundwater resources for the increasing demands of irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes has led to the permanent lowering in the levels of groundwater which is known as groundwater depletion. A remarkable change has been observed in groundwater scenario throughout India in the last few decades. The use of groundwater for irrigation purpose has tremendously increased in country after green revolution. The area under groundwater irrigation has increased by 105% between 1970 and 1994, whereas, the area under surface water irrigation has increased only by 28% (Shah, 2002). NASA has reported that from August 2002 to October 2008, 109 km3 of groundwater has been drafted in the northern region of India (Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi) with a rate of 4.0 ± 1.0 cm/year (Rodell et al., 2009). Levels of groundwater in Haryana are also deepening sharply. The stage of groundwater depletion has reached from 109 in 2004 to 133% in 2011. According to Central groundwater board (CGWB, 2011) 71 out of 116 blocks of the state including 5 blocks of Bhiwani district are over-exploited where stage of groundwater development is more than 100%. Groundwater levels in Bhiwani district have been depleted with a rate of 0.03 meter/year in the last four decades (Kharb, 2017). Geographical information system (GIS) technique has been widely used as an important tool for groundwater depletion assessments all over the world. So, the present study has been conducted to assess the changing scenario of groundwater levels, their rate and magnitude in different blocks of Bhiwani district by applying GIS techniques.

Bhiwani (created on 22 December 1972) is eighth district situated between 28º 19 & 29 05 N latitude and 75º 26 & 76º 28 E longitude in south-western part of Haryana. It was the largest district of state by

district has 5140 km2 geographical area with 4 divisions, 5 tehsils and 444 villages. The district is a landlocked area surrounded by Hisar in North, Rohtak in North-east, Jhajjar in East, Mahendragarh & Rewari in South and Rajasthan state in South-west. Geologically, Bhiwani district has flat plains with clusters of sand dunes in western parts and rocky ridges. The district has very less natural flowing water and Dohan river is the only stream in this region which ultimately dies in sands. Climate of the district is classified as tropical steppe, semi-arid and hot. The normal annual rainfall in the district is 420 mm which is unevenly distributed over the area and occurs mainly in monsoon season (July-September). Location map of study area is shown in figure 1.

The present study has been conducted for the block wise assessment of depleting groundwater levels in Bhiwani district by using secondary data from Groundwater cell, Bhiwani for the period of June 2006 to June 2016. applying the methodology approved by National Groundwater Estimation Committee (GEC, 1997). Groundwater storage changes for all the blocks were estimated using following formula: Δ GWS = Aaq x GWT x Sy Where, Δ GWS – change in groundwater storage; Aaq – area of aquifer; GWT – fluctuation in groundwater table; Sy – specific yield Different ranges of specific yield have given by GEC for different type of geological formations, however, a uniform value of 0.12 has been used in the present study (Singh and Jeet, 2016). Magnitude of the groundwater depletion for each block has been calculated using the following equation: Magnitude of depletion (m3/day) = ΔGWS (ham) x 10000/365 Mapping for temporal analysis of depleting levels of groundwater in different blocks of the district was done using ArcGIS-version10.

The levels of groundwater are tremendously depleting in Haryana state as more than 50% irrigation in the state is done through tube wells and the Bhiwani district is also not lagging behind in groundwater extraction. In the present paper, the rates of fluctuation and changes in groundwater storage of different blocks have been estimated to predict the current situation of groundwater in the district.

The block wise depth to water table data of all the nine blocks of Bhiwani district has been used for estimation of total fluctuation in groundwater during the period from June 2006 to June 2016 and rate of groundwater fluctuation was calculated for each block (table 1).

A range of + 7.35 to -26.51 m fluctuation in water table has been observed in blocks of Bhiwani district during the analysis period of last 10 years. Badhra block has reported maximum decline in water table with highest fluctuation rate of -2.65 m followed by Loharu block (-1.75 m). Dadri-II block has also shown slow depletion of groundwater, however, six blocks (Bawani khera, Bhiwani, Dadri-I, Kairu, Siwani and Tosham) have shown positive changes in groundwater fluctuation i.e. levels of groundwater have risen up in these blocks. The water table depths were mapped for June 2006 (figure 2) and June 2016 (figure 3). Rate of groundwater fluctuation has been presented in figure 4.

The depth to water table and geographical area data of each block of the district from June 2006 to June 2016 taken from Groundwater cell, Bhiwani was used for the computation and analysis of changes in groundwater storage (table 2). Maximum decrease in average groundwater storage has been found in Loharu block (-16622.49 ham/year) followed by Badhra (-14219.96 ham/year) and Dadri-II blocks (-297.79 ham/year). Average groundwater storage has increased in six blocks with values ranging from 287.82 (Bawani khera block) to 6156.36 ham/year (Siwani block). The average changes in storage of groundwater are shown in figure 5.

assessed by quantifying the magnitude of its depletion within specific time period. Block wise magnitude of groundwater depletion has been calculated and analysed (table 2). Maximum magnitude of groundwater depletion (-455410.85 m3/day) has been observed in Loharu block followed by Badhra block (-389588.06 m3/day). A low magnitude of depletion has also been reported in Dadri-II block (-8158.68 m3/day). Rest all the six blocks have shown a magnitude of groundwater recharge ranging from 7884.93 to 168667.39 m3/day indicating some rising levels in water table as well groundwater stores for future use. The decreasing average groundwater storages and high magnitude of groundwater depletion in Loharu and Badhra blocks might be because of excessive drafting for irrigation purposes, less recharge and low rainfall in these areas. Kumar et al. (2015) has also reported depleting quantity as well as quality of groundwater in Loharu block (Bhiwani district) where depth to water table has been observed between 60-70m.

The block wise levels of groundwater in Bhiwani district were assessed from the data of June 2016. The ranges of water table depth in different blocks were categorised into various categories as 0-3, 3-10, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40 and more than 40m. The areas of each block having range of depth to water table are shown in table 3. The percent areas of different blocks falling in different categories of groundwater levels have been depicted as bar graphs in figure 2.

Table 3 and figure 2 shows that groundwater situation in Badhra and Loharu blocks is in extreme scarcity conditions as 87.32 and 92.28% area of the respective blocks falls in category more than 40 m of water table depth. Dadri II, Kairu, Siwani and Tosham blocks are in scarcity condition of water table depths as more than 50.58, 92.43, 90.26 and 58.13% areas of the respective blocks have groundwater below 10m depth. The levels of water table were satisfactory only in three blocks i.e. Bawani Khera, Bhiwani and Dadri I [here for better understanding the blocks, according to water table depth, have been divided into extreme scarcity (more than 40m), scarcity (more than 10m) and satisfactory (less than 10m) categories]. The present scenario of groundwater levels is in alarming stage and the levels will go deepening if the efficient groundwater recharge and draft policies have not been implemented in the district.

CONCLUSION

The depleting levels of groundwater in Loharu and Badhra blocks have reached to the alarming situation of groundwater for irrigation as well as domestic and other purposes and if the groundwater extraction continues with this rate, these two blocks will be dry off of groundwater. The levels of groundwater are also depleting rapidly in Dadri II, Kairu, Siwani and Tosham blocks. So, there is an immediate need of action to control the drafting of groundwater, shifting from high water consuming to less water consuming crops, strict rules on digging of tube wells and artificial recharge policies of the groundwater in the district.

REFERENCES

Central Groundwater Board (2011). Dynamic Groundwater Resources of India. Ministry of Water Resources, Govt of India, N Delhi. Groundwater cell, Bhiwani (2006 and 2016). Central Groundwater Board, India. Groundwater Estimation Committee (1997). Groundwater Resources Estimation Methodology-1997. Report of the Groundwater Resources Estimation Committee, Ministry of Water Resources, Govt of India, N Delhi. A temporal analysis. Environment & Ecology 35(4C): pp. 3172-3178. Rodell, M., Velicogna, I., Famiglietti, J.S. (2009). Satellite-Based Estimates of Groundwater Depletion in India. Nature 460: pp. 999-1002. Shah, T (2002) The socio-ecology of groundwater in India. Water Policy Briefing, Issue No 4, International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Singh, S. & Jeet, I. (2016). Assessment of rate and magnitude of groundwater depletion in Mahindergarh district (Haryana). International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research 7(1): pp. 712-717.

Research Scholar, OPJS University, Churu, Rajasthan, India priyankaskharb@gmail.com