Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zone and Indexing of Groundwater Quality of Nand Samand Catchment Using RS and GIS

Abstract

Groundwater is a life-sustaining resource that plays a central part in irrigated agriculture and influences the health of many ecosystems. But unsustainable groundwater depletion has been documented on both regional and global scales. Groundwater quality is equally essential to its quantity due to water suitability for various purposes. The groundwater scarcity in Rajasthan is of more significant concern due to less influx and more outflux. The climatic variability in rainfall and evapotranspiration rates causes high water losses from a subsurface in a semi-arid region. Out of 5842 units assessed (blocks/taluks/mandals/watershed), 802 units are overexploited , 169 units are critical , 523 units are semi-critical , 4277 are safe , and 71 are saline . In the context of semi-arid regions, Rajasthan is the largest state in India, covering an area of 342,239 square kilometres, which is more than 10% of the total topographical area of the country and sharing only about 1% of the whole surface water resources of the country. The Nand Samand catchment (study area), located in the hard-rock topography of Udaipur and Rajsamand districts in Rajasthan, is afflicted by land degradation, declining water tables, deteriorating water quality, and biodiversity loss as a result of a lack of sustainable water resource management. Thus, a study was conducted to establish a sustainable groundwater management system using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).Contd..... newline