Aggarwal, RajanSingla, Chetan2022-10-162022-10-162022Singla, Chetan (2022) Development of groundwater indices for water resource management in Central Punjab (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810188994Central Punjab is worst affected zone of Punjab in terms of groundwater exploitation as all the blocks are over-exploited in this zone. This study was carried out in Central Punjab to analyze the factors affecting groundwater depletion during the study period 1998-2019 and to find suitable management strategies for sustainability. The trends analysis was quantified by non-parametric Sen’s slope and their significances were assessed by Mann-Kendall test at 5% level of significance. The abrupt change in different parameters was analyzed using Pettitt’s test. Rainfall and minimum temperatures did not show any trend in Central Punjab. The maximum temperature showed significantly increasing trend in Fatehgarh Sahib, Kapurthala and Patiala. Potential evapotranspiration (PET) showed significantly increasing trend. Groundwater level were found to be decreasing all over Central Punjab, varying from 0.3– 1.07 m annually. Sangrur was found to be worst affected in terms of exploitation in Central Punjab. Artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple linear regression (MLR) were used as modeling tool to develop groundwater model. The composite groundwater sustainability index (GSI) was developed using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Pettitt’s test revealed that paddy area and tubewell density showed change point in 2008. ANN performed better as compared with the MLR statistically in Central Punjab. Potential management strategies identified and evaluated were shifting area under paddy to non-paddy crops, shifting area under long duration variety to area under short duration variety of paddy and increasing canal irrigated area for improving GSI. Presently, GSI was found to be in poorly sustainable (level III). It can be upgraded to level II i.e. moderately sustainable by adopting 4% paddy diversification for 2 years annually in conjunction with adoption of 5% area under short duration variety of paddy each year.EnglishThesis