Current World Environment

Introduction

With an estimated abstraction of around 230 billion cubic meter per year, India is reported as one of the largest groundwater users in the world. Nationally, groundwater accounts for 85% of India’s rural domestic water requirements and more than 60% of its irrigation requirements². This excessive use of groundwater has led to its depletion and deterioration of quality in north-west India and across the Gangetic basin which has been reported in many studies^3-18.

It has been reported that 20% of the world’s irrigated areas are affected by secondary salinization and India is one among these countries accounting for the most salinized soils to the tune of 9.38 million ha, out of which 3.88 million ha area is covered by alkali soils and 5.5 million ha area is covered by saline soils (IAB, 2000)¹⁹. Mewat district, Haryana, India is major agricultural land area with deficit of perennial surface water sources²⁰ and therefore, the main source of irrigation and domestic use is groundwater^20,21. The natural surface water sources like Kotla and Ujina lakes also remains dry most of the time of the year because of the limited number of rainy days²⁰. The major crops grown in this area are wheat, millet and mustard, which requires huge amount of water²² and result in extraction of large amount of groundwater.  The recharge is very less due to the low rainfall being hot and semi-arid zone with the diverse physiography.

On the other hand, high salinity adversely affects productivity by deteriorating soil quality and limits the choices of crops for farmers^1,23. Taking into account the twin problem of declining water level and high salinity the study was taken up jointly by National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee along with Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon and Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon has developed 40 monitoring wells in the Mewat district of Haryana where the continuous monitoring is going on.

In the present paper, groundwater level and TDS data was collected for the period 2011-15 to analyse the variations for the last 5 years.

Study Area

Recently named as Nuh, Mewat district is newly carved district among the 21 districts of Haryana state. The district lies between 26^o and 28^o N latitude and 76^o and 77^o E longitude and comprises of 5 blocks, namely Firozpur Jhirka, Nuh, Nagina, Taoru, Punahana (Figure 1).  The total population of Mewat is 1,089,263 (Census 2011)²⁴, and 88.6% of total population comes under rural population with agriculture as main occupation and has a crop intensity of around 150%. Cultivable area is 1,53,257 ha which is around 74% of total and it depends on two main sources for irrigation- (i) canal, which covers 16432 ha area (21.6%) and (ii) groundwater- tube wells/bore wells/open wells which covers 59527 ha (78.4%) out of the net irrigation area, i.e. 75959 ha. The principle crops (wheat, Millet and Mustard) covers 192000 ha area. Also, non-cultivable area is 108334 ha (around 70%) of land²⁵.

The land is extended by ridges of Delhi Quartzite and is majorly covered by alluvial plains. The land proximity to National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi and also being a part of aravalli range which comprises of rocky area having below average vegetation, gives the district some specific geophysical, topographical and ecological feature values. The elevation of the district is 189 meters in height, equivalent to 620 feet. The normal annual rainfall in the district is 594 mm, out of which maximum contribution (approximate to 75%) takes place during monsoon season. May-June is the driest months of the year highlighting the water issues at that time²⁵.

Figure 1: Location map of Study area, Mewat, Haryana (India) Click here to View figure

Methodology

Groundwater level and TDS were recorded for 40 monitoring wells during the time period 2011-15 (Table 1). These wells are developed by Sehgal foundation, Gurgaon and their distribution and location is shown in Fig. 2. The wells were mainly concentrated in the zones having problems of declining water level and TDS¹. The groundwater levels are recorded using water level indicator and are measured as ‘meter below ground level (m bgl)’ and TDS readings were measured in-situ with TDS meter as ‘parts per million (ppm)’. The database of five years groundwater level, TDS readings and average rainfall (IMD, New Delhi) has been prepared and analyzed for the changes and trends during the period of observations. The average of the rainfall was taken between December-May (pre-monsoon) and between June-November (Post-monsoon) (Table 2).  The pre-monsoon and post-monsoon groundwater levels and TDS were plotted as time-series plots with reference to average rainfall data (Figures 3-4). The data was analyzed statistically (Tables 3-8).

There’s a constraint in the analysis of TDS data for 15 wells which was not recorded for post-monsoon season in 2012 (i.e. for Nov, 2012). The wells for which data was not recoded are: Dalli well, Huch tower well, Abdul well, Haji Mauji Khan well, Bari masjid well, Sweet well, Panchayati Kua (school), Raheem well, Johad wala well, Kamrudden well, Balmiki wala kua, Rehman well, Rasheed well, Sayyad well, Nooru well.

Table 1: Details of the wells

Table 2: Rainfall Data (2011 - 2015)

*Source: Customized Rainfall Information System (CRIS), Hydromet Division, India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences²⁶.

Figure 2: Distribution of wells in Mewat, Haryana (India) Click here to View figure

Results and Discussions

Groundwater Level

The results obtained for groundwater level data of 40 wells in five aforementioned blocks during period of 2011-15 for pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season in Mewat district are given in Tables 3 & 4 and Figure 3.

As evident from the Figure 3, groundwater level in most of wells is almost constant but decline is also observed in some wells. The water level is found to increase after the rainfall events. In pre-monsoon season, the rainfall is very less or negligible except in May 2014, where the level of the groundwater has also raised above due to recharge in aquifers. In post-monsoon season, increase in water level is observed for most of the wells. Rainfall has a direct effect on the water level in the study area. From the Fig. 3, it is clearly visible that, recharge through rain water plays an important role for aquifers at Mewat, as decline water level during the pre-monsoon time was recouped by a rise in water level in post-monsoons.

Figure 3: Variations in Groundwater level for pre & post monsoon seasons for the period 2011-15 Click here to View figure

From the tables 3 & 4, it is evident that groundwater level is declining during five years’ time period. In the pre-monsoon season, the minimum decline is 1 m and maximum decline of 6.8 m with an average of 2.4 m was observed in Mewat, Haryana. For post-monsoon season, the minimum decline is 1.1 m and maximum decline of 13.3 m with an average of 2.7 m was observed in Mewat, Haryana.

Table 3: Statistical summary of groundwater level data (n = 40)

*readings are in ‘meter below ground level’ (mbgl).

As per the data presented in table 5, it has been found that during May 2011 to November 2015 out of 40 wells the rise in water level was observed in 4 wells while in 36 wells there was fall in water level.  Out of 36 declining wells, in 12 wells water level decreased between 0.0-2.0 mbgl; in 19 wells it decreased between 2.1-5.0 mbgl; in 3 wells it decreased between 5.1-10.0 mbgl and a decline of more than 10.0 mbgl was observed in 1 well during years 2011-2016. In pre-monsoon season, water levelrise was found in 5 wells while 35 wells have shown a decline. Out of these 35 wells, in 8 wells water level decreased between 0.0-2.0 mbgl, in 20 wells it decreased between 2.1-5.0 mbgl and in 5 wells it decreased between 5.1-10.0 mbgl. During the post-monsoon season, groundwater level rise was observed in 4 wells and a fall was observed in 36 wells. Out of these 36, 13 wells shown have decrease of 0.0-2.0 mbgl; 15 wells have shown decrease of 2.1-5.0 mbgl; 5 wells shown decrease of 5.1-10.0 mbgl and more than 10.0 mbgl decrease were observed in 1 well. The rate of decline in shallow well is faster than the deeper wells as decrease of 50% and 84.6% in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively was found in well having minimum water level and the well having maximum water level has decrease by 26.3% and 53.6% in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, respectively.

Table 4: Percent seasonal change in groundwater level during 2011-15 in Mewat (n = 40)

*readings are in ‘meter below ground level’ (mbgl).

Table 5: Quantification of groundwater level data (n = 40)

Total Dissolved Solid (TDS)

The results obtained for Total Dissolved solids (TDS) data of 40 wells in Mewat, Haryana during period of 2011-15 for pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season is given in Fig. 4 and Tables 5-8. As evident from the figure 4, TDS in most of wells is almost constant but decline is also observed in some wells. The TDS is found to decrease after the rainfall events. In pre-monsoon season, the rainfall is very less or negligible except in May 2014, where the level of the groundwater has also raised above due to recharge in aquifers. In post-monsoon season, decrease in TDS is observed for most of the wells.

Table 6: Statistical summary of TDS data (n = 40)

*readings are in ‘parts per million’ (ppm)
 

Figure 4: Variations in TDS for pre & post monsoon seasons for the period 2011-15 Click here to View figure

It is clearly indicated from figure 4 that during pre-monsoon season TDS is high but it comes down during the post-monsoon season. In 2014, TDS for all the wells was found near or below 3000 ppm, except 4 wells namely, Panchayati Dholposh Kua, kabristan well, Khalid well and Bari masjid well. In Kabristan well and Panchayati Dolposh Kua TDS is recorded more than 6000 ppm (Figure 4) in spite of high rains. Table 5 indicated that the minimum values of TDS for pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons which shown an increase of 37.7 and 57.7, respectively but the maximum and average values of TDS in groundwater has actually decreased. This may be due to the reason that the saline zone is increasing and intruding into fresh water zone¹.

Table 7: Percent seasonal change in TDS during 2011-15 in Mewat (n = 40)

*readings are in ‘parts per million’ (ppm).

Table 8: Quantification of TDS data (n = 40)

As per the data presented in Table 8, overall decrease in TDS during years May, 2011 to November, 2015 found in 11 wells and an increase is observed in other 29 wells. Out of which these 29, 7 wells have shown an increase of 0-200 ppm in TDS; 14 wells have shown increase of 201-500 ppm, 3 wells have shown increase on 501-1000 ppm and more than 1000 ppm increase was observed in 5 wells. In pre-monsoon season, 12 wells have a decreased TDS in 2015 as compared to year 2011, while 28 wells have shown an increase in TDS in 2015 as compared to 2011. In 6 wells, TDS have increased between 0-200 ppm, in 16 wells it increased between 201-500 ppm, in 2 wells it increased between 501-1000 ppm and in 4 wells it increased more than 1000 ppm. In post-monsoon season, TDS decreased in 14 wells and it increased in remaining 26 wells. Increased TDS values have between 0-200 ppm found in 7 wells, between 201-500 ppm in 14 wells between 501-1000 ppm in 4 wells have and more than 1000 ppm in 1 well. Increase in salinity during the years 2011-2015 in about 12% of wells in not good for the groundwater quality. Detailed study may be carried out in this areas to find out the water quality index as developed by Singh et al. (2015)²⁷; which was used by Krishan et al.^28-33 for evaluating the groundwater quality in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab.

Conclusion

In the present study, it has been observed that the groundwater is declining in some wells due to high extraction, low rainfall, and variable geographical conditions as fresh water sources are mostly situated along the steeper Aravalli hills. High salinity is found in some areas and is reported to intrude the fresh water zones¹. Over-exploitation is resulting in the intrusion of saline groundwater towards the fresh groundwater, speeding up the depletion fast by 300-500 mm every year³⁴. The groundwater in many wells which previously contained freshwater has now salinized. The new innovative technique of creating a pool of fresh groundwater within a saline aquifer is developed by the Sehgal foundation at a school and they are further planning to replicate the model for expansion and utilizing benefit of the same³⁵. This will require groundwater level and TDS data for estimation of physio-chemical parameters at Mewat district which lacks freshwater aquifers and few which are slowly moving towards turning saline. Since, the problems due to water scarcity and salinity in groundwater are more visible in the district; this study is fundamentally very useful for further investigations and research towards finding solutions of water issues at Mewat.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Director, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee for all support and encouragement. The support received from Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon and IIT-Roorkee is highly acknowledged.

References
 

1. Thomas N, Sheler R, Reith B, Plenner S, Sharma LM,Saiphy S, Basu N, Muste MM. Rapid Assessment of the Fresh-Saline Groundwater Interactionin the Semi-arid MewatDistrict (India). http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/intl-perspectives2011-12/home/outcomes/%E2%80%A (2015), (assessed on 04-07-2016).
2. World Bank. Deep Well and Prudence: Towards Pragmatic Actions for Addressing Groundwater Overexploitation in India. The World Bank. (2010).
3. Chopra RPS, Krishan G. Analysis of aquifer characteristics and groundwater quality in southwest Punjab, India. Journal of Earth Science and Engineering 4: 597-604. (2014).
4. Chopra RPS, Krishan G. Assessment of groundwater quality in Punjab. Journal of Earth Science and Climate Change 5: 243. (2014)
5. Krishan G, Rao MS, Loyal RS, Lohani AK, Tuli NK, et al. Groundwater level analyses of Punjab, India: A quantitative approach. Octa Journal of Environmental Research 2: 221-226. (2014)
6. Krishan G, Lapworth DJ, Rao MS, Kumar CP, Smilovic M, et al. Natural (Baseline) Groundwater Quality In The Bist-Doab Catchment, Punjab, India: A Pilot Study Comparing Shallow and Deep Aquifers. International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering 7: 16-26. (2014)
7. Krishan G, Rao MS, Purushothaman P, Rawat YS, Kumar CP, et al. Groundwater Resources in Bist-Doab Region, Punjab, India-an overview. NDC-WWC Journal 3: 5-13. (2014)
8. Krishan G, Lohani AK, Rao MS, Kumar CP. Prioritization of groundwater monitoring sites using cross-correlation analysis. NDC-WWC Journal 3: 28-31. (2014)
9. Krishan G, Singh RP, Takshi KS. Water Level Fluctuation as the Sum of Environmental and Anthropogenic Activities in Southeast, Punjab (India). Journal of Environmental and Analytical Toxicology 5: 298. (2015)
10. Krishan G, Singh RP, Khanna A, Singh S, Ghosh NC. Recent groundwater status of groundwater in Haridwar district, Uttarakhand. In: Proceedings of National Seminar on R & D Perspective for Rejuvenation of River Ganga during 16-17 December, 2015 at NIH, Roorkee, pp: 12-13. (2015)
11. Krishan G, Singh S, Sharma A, Sandhu C, Grischek T, et al. Assessment of river quality for river bank filtration along Yamuna River in AgraMathura districts of Uttar Pradesh. In: Proceedings of National conference on Monitoring and Management of Drinking Water Quality (MMDWQ) & XXVIII annual conference of National Environment Science Academy during 21-23 December, 2015 at UCOST, Dehradun, p: 48. (2015)
12. Lapworth DJ, MacDonald AM, Krishan G, Rao MS, Gooddy DC, et al. Groundwater recharge and age-depth profiles of intensively exploited groundwater resources in northwest India. Geophysical Research Letters 42: 7554-7562. (2015)
    CrossRef
13. Lapworth DJ, Krishan G, Macdonald AM, Rao MS, Gooddy DC, et al. Using Environmental Tracers to Understand the Response of Groundwater Resources in Nw India to Sustained Abstraction. In: Proceedings of 41st International Conference of International Association of Hydro-geologist (IAH2014) on Groundwater: Challenges and Strategies during Sep. 18-19, 2014. (2014)
14. Lapworth DJ, Krishan G, Rao MS, MacDonald AM. Intensive Groundwater Exploitation in the Punjab – an Evaluation of Resource and Quality Trends. Technical Report. NERC Open Research Archive pp: 34. (2014)
15. MacDonald AM, Bonsor HC, Taylor R, Shamsudduha M, Burgess WG, et al. Groundwater Resources in the Indo-Gangetic basin- Resilience to climate change and abstraction. British Geological Survey Open Report, p: 51. (2015)
16. Macdonald AM, Bonsor HC, Krishan G, Rao MS, Ahmed KM, et al. Groundwater in the Indo-Gangetic Basin: Evolution of Groundwater Typologies. In: Proceedings of 41st International Conference of International Association of Hydro-geologist (IAH-2014) on Groundwater: Challenges and Strategies during Sep. 18-19, 2014. (2014)
17. Macdonald AM, Bonsor HC, Rao MS, Krishan G, Steenburgen FV, et al. Groundwater Topologies in the Indo Gangetic Basin. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Advances in Water Resources Development & Management held at PU, Chandigarh. (2013)
18. Rodell M, Velicogna I, Famiglietti JS. Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion in India. Nature 460: 999-1002. (2009)
    CrossRef
19. Indian Agriculture in Brief. (27th edition). Agriculture Statistics Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi. (2000).
20. M., Sharma. D., Kathuria. P. Groundwater use dynamics: Analyzing performance of Micro-irrigation system – A case study of Mewat district, Haryana, India.” International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 3, 471-480. (2012).
21. Sitender, Rajeshwari. Delineation of groundwater potential zones in Mewat District, Haryana, India. International Journal of Geomatics and Geosciences, 2, 270-281. (2011).
22. Priyanka, Krishan, Gopal, Ghosh, NC, Sharma, LM, Yadav, Brijesh Kumar. A survey on the water issues in arid and semi-arid Mewat district, Haryana. unpublished. (2016).
23. Tanwar, B.S. and Kruseman, G.P. Saline Ground Water Management in Haryana State, India. Hydrogeology in the Service of Man. Mémoires of the 18th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists, Cambridge, 24-30. (1985)
24. http://www.census2011.co.in/
25. Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). Groundwater Information Booklet, Mewat District, Haryana. (2012)
26. Customized Rainfall Information System (CRIS), Hydromet Division, India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences (assessed on 14-07-2016).
27. Singh, Surjeet, Ghosh, N.C., Krishan Gopal, Galkate Ravi, Thomas T. and Jaiswal R.K. Development of an Overall Water Quality Index (OWQI) for Surface Water in Indian Context. Current World Environment. 10(3): 813-822. (2015).
28. Krishan, Gopal, Singh, Surjeet, Kumar, C.P, Garg, P.K., Gurjar, Suman, Ghosh, N.C. and Chaudhary, Anju. Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking purpose using water quality index in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, Uttar Pradesh, India. Hydrology: Current Research, 7:1. http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2157-7587.1000227. (2016)
    CrossRef
29. Krishan, Gopal, Kumar, C.P, Purandara, B.K., Singh, Surjeet, Ghosh, N.C., Gurjar, Suman and Chachadi, A.G. Assessment of variation in water quality index (WQI) in north Goa, India. Current World Environment. 11(1): 39-46. (2016).
30. Krishan, Gopal, Singh, Surjeet, Kumar, C.P, Gurjar, Suman and Ghosh, N.C. Assessment of water quality index (WQI) of groundwater in Rajkot district, Gujarat, India. Earth Science and Climate Change. 7:3, http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2157-7617.1000341. (2016).
    CrossRef
31. Krishan, Gopal, Rao, M.S. and Singh, Surjeet. Water quality index of groundwater in different geomorphological units in Bist-Doab, Punjab, India. The Research Journal. 2(2): 1-4. (2016)
32. Krishan, Gopal, Singh, Surjeet, Gurjar, Suman, Kumar, C.P, and Ghosh, N.C. Water Quality Assessment in Terms of Water Quality Index (WQI) Using GIS in Ballia District, Uttar Pradesh, India. Environmental and Analytical Toxicology. 6:3, http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0525.1000366 (2016).
    CrossRef
33. Krishan, Gopal, Singh, Surjeet, Sharma, Anupma, Sandhu, C., Grischek, T., Gurjar, Suman, Kumar, Sumant, Singh, R.P., Glorian, H. and Bornick, H. Assessment of river quality for river bank filtration along Yamuna River in Agra-Mathura districts of Uttar Pradesh. International Journal of Environmental Sciences. 7(1): 56-67. (2016).
34. Acharya, B.N. Summary of a Case Study to Promote Sustainable Groundwater Management in Rural Mewat District, Haryana, India. Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). http://www.iges.or.jp/en/natural-resource/groundwater/PDF/Groundwater_management_in_Mewat.pdf (assessed on 14-07-2016).
35. Sharma. L.M. Innovation for Making Potable Water Available in Saline Ground water Areas. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 6, 1284-1289. (2014).