Trend analysis of groundwater levels in Northern Haryana, India
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Date
2022-08
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CCS HAU, Hisar
Abstract
Groundwater use in the past few decades, has increased tremendously to meet the growing demands of irrigation which has caused its over-exploitation to unsustainable levels. It provides agricultural social security due to assured irrigation and requirement of small investments, and is the main source of irrigation water. This study was conducted to find out the fluctuations in groundwater levels and its trends in northern Haryana for the period 1974-2020. Arc GIS was used to find the spatial distribution and fluctuation of groundwater depth and to delineate the area under different categories of depth. Parametric tests Mann-Kendall test and Sen‘s slope estimator and non-parametric test linear regression were used to detect the trends in the data series whereas, non-parametric tests Pettitt test, Buishand test and Standard Normal Homogenity test were used to identify the abrupt change points in groundwater level. The results revealed that the groundwater depth is increasing for majority of the study area except in western parts of Ambala. The average groundwater table in north Haryana declined from 8.95 m in the year 1974 to 21.83 m in the year 2020, and hence showing an average decline rate of 27.4 cm per year. The worst affected district in north Haryana has been identified as Kurukshetra with an average groundwater table decline rate of 57.02 cm per year, followed by Panchkula (14.27 cm per year), Yamuna Nagar (12.55 cm per year) and Ambala (12.14 cm per year). The maximum area (43.82%) for the period 1974-2020 lied in the groundwater depth fluctuation range -10 m to 0 m while minimum area lied in the range of 5 m to 8 m fluctuation (0.04%). The groundwater depth was found to have maximum positive correlation with area under rice followed by area under wheat cultivation, net irrigated area, gross irrigated area and number of tubewells. Whereas it was found to be negatively correlated with area under maize cultivation and forest cover. However it shows no significant correlation with rainfall. Crop diversification, participatory groundwater management, artificial groundwater recharge and precision irrigation methods would help in better management of the resource in a sustainable manner.