Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Groundwater in Bhiwani District, Haryana | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

Groundwater is the world’s largest fresh water resource available for human use on earth. It plays a significant role in providing food security through use for irrigation and domestic purposes. Groundwater resources are rapidly shrinking throughout the world either in the form of quantity or quality or both. India is one of the largest users of this resource as more than 50 percent of irrigation is done through groundwater. The demand of groundwater is continuously increasing in Bhiwani district for the irrigation as well as domestic and industrial purposes. Due to the continuously depleting groundwater in the district, the present study has been conducted to analyse the block wise trends of groundwater levels during the study period from June, 2006 to June, 2016. Three out of nine blocks of Bhiwani district have observed depletion in groundwater levels. Heavy groundwater drafting has been reported in Badhra and Loharu blocks as depth to water table has increased at a rate of 2.65 and 1.75 meteryear respectively during the study period. However, depth to water table has shown slight positive changes in other six blocks. Maximum decline in groundwater storage has occurred in Loharu block (16622.49 hamyear) followed by Badhra (14219.96 hamyear) indicating excessive groundwater drafting. The present study shows that the two blocks (Loharu and Badhra) of the district are in critical situation of groundwater levels and recommends immediate action for the control and management of continuously depleting levels of groundwater in these blocks.