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Examining climate change impact on the variability of ground water level: A case study of Ahmednagar district, India

2019; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 128; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/s12040-019-1172-z

2347-4327

Nagaiyavedu Adalarasu Sivarajan, Anoop Kumar Mishra, Mohammd Rafiq, V Nagraju, Sagarika Chandra,

Geophysics and Gravity Measurements

This study focuses on examination of variability in the depth to water below ground level (bgl) from 1996 to 2016 in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, India in changing climate. Spatial variability of groundwater depth was mapped and classified as shallow, normal, deep and moderate using GIS modeling. Groundwater decline rates during successive decades were examined and critical areas with a significant fall in groundwater levels (GWL) were detected. Present study also focuses on examination of block-wise variability of GWL. Ground water level shows significant variability during 1996–2016 at confidence level 95%. The long term ground water level fluctuation indicates that water levels in major parts of the study area have declined drastically. The depth to ground water in major parts of the study area ranges between 6 and 15 m bgl except in Parner and Shrirampur blocks. Furthermore, depth to water level is $${>}15\ \hbox {mbgl}$$ over Sangamner block during the drought year 2004. Present study reports a significant decadal increase of about 0.7 m in water leval decline over the study area. Groundwater depletion over the study area has been observed with decrease in groundwater recharge and increase in temperature and urbanization. Groundwater depletion shows coherent variability with temperature. Our results report a significant decrease of about 0.61 cm/year in ground water recharge as a result of decrease in precipitation and a decadal increase of about $$0.1{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}$$ in temperature over the study area. Evapotranspiration (ET) shows yearly increasing trend of about 9.6 mm over the study area. Results reported in this study highlight the importance of sustainable groundwater resource management over the study area.