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Scope for Artificial Recharge in Overdeveloped Watershed GV-41, District Aurangabad, Maharastra, India Using RS - GIS Techniques
Bhagyashri Maggirwar
Junior Geologist, G.S.D.A., Aurangabad, India
Bhavana N. Umrikar
Lecturer, Department of Geology, University of Pune, India.
Email:bnumrikar@unipune.ernet.in
Abstract
Since last few decades the demand for water had rapidly grown and with the increasing population would continue to rise in future. In Maharashtra, the assessment of groundwater potential and scope for artificial recharge in the overdeveloped watersheds is very crucial. The groundwater occurring in unconfined shallow aquifer needs to be augmented by undertaking suitable artificial recharge methods and structures of water conservation in order to ensure economically viable yields of wells and increase the groundwater availability on sustained basis.
Detailed hydrogeological surveys are carried out in Watershed GV-41, Aurangabad District to find out the feasibility of artificial recharge structures. The present study is an attempt to find out the scope for artificial recharge in overdeveloped area of GV-41 (5 and 6) mini watersheds using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (RS - GIS) techniques.
Keywords: artificial recharge, overdeveloped watershed GV-41 (5 and 6), RS - GIS
Introduction
The assessment of the groundwater potential has been carried out in the existing river basins of Maharashtra considering watershed as a basic unit (Maggirwar, 1990). Further, the miniwatershed assessment has been undertaken to find out the scope for development of groundwater on micro-level. As per the norms of VI Ground Water Assessment it has been found that watershed GV-41 is falling under “critical” category and water level trends in both pre- and post monsoon seasons are declining (G.S.D.A. Data). The watershed GV-41 is further assessed on the basis of miniwatersheds to understand the groundwater status on micro-level (Table 1). An attempt has been made to find out the scope for artificial recharge by studying various characteristics of watershed (geomorphology, soil, land use and drainage) using RS - GIS dataset.
Remote Sensing with its advantages of varying spatial and spectral resolutions and temporal availability of data covering large and inaccessible areas within short time has become a very handy tool in assessing, monitoring and analyzing the groundwater potential. Thematic layers like geology, geomorphology, drainage network, land use/land cover etc. generated using remote sensing data can be integrated in a Geographical Information System (GIS) framework to find out the further scope for artificial recharge in selected miniwatersheds.
STUDY AREA:
Watershed GV-41 (5 and 6) is a significant drainage system contributing to river Godavari. The watershed lies between longitude 74° 58' 55” and 75° 07' 24” East and latitude 19° 53' 33” and 19° 45' 27” North. It is included in Survey of India topographic sheet No. 47 I/13 and 47 M/1 on 1: 50,000 scale. The area covering mini-watersheds 5/8 and 6/8 is drought prone (GSDA report) and covers 17 villages with areal extent of 125.28 sq km (2001 Census). The area is characterized by hot summer and dryness in all seasons except during monsoon period. The average rainfall is 634 mm. The area is well served by a network of metaled and unmetaled road (Fig 1). The elevation of the ground within the watershed varies from 472 to 606 m above mean sea level. The density of wells in this area is maximum i.e. about 12 wells per sq km (GSDA report).
General Geology and Hydrogeology:
The district is covered by Deccan Trap basaltic flows of Upper Cretaceous to Lower Eocene age. These flows are further classified as vesicular/zeolitic basalt, greenish colored amygdaloidal basalt, jointed / fractured basalt and hard massive basalt. In general, depth of weathering of these flows varies from 3 to 9 m (CGWB report). Weathered vesicular / zeolitic basalt, jointed – fractured basalt and the weathered basalt act as an aquifer in the area. In the Northern parts of the district shallow murmic soil is observed while deep fertile black cotton soil is observed near the higher order drainage (GSDA report).
In this area groundwater occurs under both phreatic and semi-confined conditions. Long-term water level data (1985 – 2005) of 17 villages (Table 2) reveals that the successful rate of bore wells is more over the dry and poor yield conditions. However, the observation well fixed at Gajgaon shows the pre-monsoon water level at 10.00 m bgl and post-monsoon water level at 8.30 m bgl with the fluctuation of 1.70 m (GSDA report). The main water bearing formations of the area are vesicular basalts as well as weathered fractured and jointed massive basalt. Due to the presence of alternate units of vesicular and massive basalt the Deccan Trap acts as multi-aquifer system (CGWB report).
Methodology:
A reconnoitary survey has been taken up with the help of above mentioned toposheets and satellite imageries to understand the framework of topography, geomorphology and structural features prevailing in the area (GSDA, CGWB reports).
The Survey of India toposheets were also used for the preparation of the Base Map on 150,000 scale in GIS environment. The thematic layer of drainage was also prepared by making use of the same. The village map was prepared from the maps available with the Revenue Department. The Soil map was prepared with the help of information available with National Bureau of Soil Survey (NBSS). The Geomorphology and Land Use themes were prepared from Resource sat satellite data. All the themes were digitized and converted into the GIS dataset in the form of thematic layers using Arc-Info software and brought on the scale of 1:50,000 using Regional Conformal Conic (RCC) Projection. Further, the data was converted to Tab files and all the study- and analytical work was carried out in the Map Info software.
The overlay analysis of geomorphology and drainage was carried out by superimposing the geomorphology and drainage thematic layers for identification of the suitable sites for water conservation structures. The database so generated was also helpful in exploring the scope for artificial recharge in the study area. The terrain was found to be exhibiting mainly Moderately Dissected Plateau (MDP) and was further classified into MDP-A, MDP-B, MDP-C classes based on the weathering index along with the slopes (Fig.2).
Different morphometric parameters such as drainage density, stream frequency, elongation ratio, and circularity ratio were calculated in Arc Info (Fig 3).
The thematic layer of Soil was studied on the basis of depth, texture and erosion factors for identifying the type of structures suitable to the specific location (Fig 4). The land use land cover data reveals total 7 features (Fig 5) using Supervised Classification Technique
Results and Discussions:
The morphometric analysis of the miniwatersheds is summarized in Tables 3 and 4. The drainage network was classified into orders according to the number of bifurcations using the methodology given by Strahler (1952). The linear aspects such as stream order, stream length and bifurcation ratio were determined and results are presented in Table 3. According to Strahler (1952) a bifurcation ratio greater than 5 indicate the structural control over the area supported by sub parallel drainage pattern. As the values obtained for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 4.54, which is suggestive of development of lineaments in the study area. According to Horton (1945) the length ratio (Rl) gives general idea about the relative permeability of the rock formations in a basin and the value obtained for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 2.92 that is indicative of less permeability in the area. Drainage density (Dd) of the area is 1.35 km/km, indicative of the medium texture of the basin (Horton 1945). The factor of the constant of channel maintenance (Schumm, 1956) shows that 0.74 sq km area is required to maintain one kilometer of stream channel supports the less permeability of the area. Stream frequency (F) for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 0.93 indicates the moderate surface runoff of the area. The morphometric analysis thus throws light on the variation in the permeability of the flow units exposed in the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds.
The RS - GIS dataset on land use / land cover and soil reveal various geomorphic units, major landforms, farming pattern, tanks and built-up areas suitable for water conservation structures.
The state irrigation department has constructed about 21 percolation tanks and 3 K.T. (Kolhapur Type) weirs with storage capacity of 2897 and 107 TCM respectively (CGWB Report). The average rainfall in the area is 634.8 mm. Therefore according to Strenge’s table total available runoff will be 7952.77 TCM.
Conclusion RS - GIS dataset have proven to be a very handy and efficient tool to the researchers and planners in delineation of drainage and water resources. Geomorphological map reveals moderate slope (<10%) which forms recharge zone for the watershed. This zone has less drainage density, less runoff and more infiltration and has thick zone of weathering. Hence this zone is suitable for recharge structures.
The shallow (10-25cm), moderate (25-50cm) and deep (>100cm) soils are found in the MDP-A, MDP-C and MDP-B morphological terrains respectively. The area is predominantly drained by moderately well drainage that can be selected to check the runoff. The dominance of Khariff (rain fed) crops over the area indicates the dependability over the rainfall. Thus, the residence time of the surface water can be increased by suggesting following recharge measures.
From existing water conservation structures in the area (CGWB), 3004 TCM runoff has already been arrested and there is further scope for 4948.77 TCM runoff that can be checked by additional water conservation structures. An attempt has been made to quantify the possible recharge through proposed structures, which comes around 2474.77 TCM. This would help in strengthening of existing drinking water sources by supplying total 17 villages (19127 souls) on sustained basis.
Acknowledgements:
The authors are fully thankful to the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency, for all the information needed in the study of the miniwatersheds. B.N. Umrikar is thankful to Head, Department of Geology, University of Pune.
References:
CGWB Report (2001). Artificial Recharge Project Study in Watershed G.V.-41, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra, Annual Action Program.
Maggirwar, C.N. (1990). Suitability of Water Harvesting, Conservation and Artificial Recharge Techniques in Relation to Watershed Behaviour in Maharashtra. In: “All India Seminar on Modern Techniques of Rain Water Harvesting, water Conservation and Aritificial Recharge for Drinking Water, Afforestation, Horticulture and Agriculture” Pune, Maharashtra.
Narendra, K. and Nageswara Rao, K. (2006). Morphometry of the Meghadrigedda Watershed, Visakhapatnam Distirct, Andhra Pradesh using GIS and Resourcesat data. J. Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 34(2):101-110
Murthy V.V.N. (1982). Land and Water Management Engineering, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi/Ludhiana, 275p.
Horton, R.E. (1945). Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins: Hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Bull. Geological Society of America, 56: 275-370.
Strahler, A.N. and Strahler, A.H. (2002). A text book of Physical Geography. 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons Publishers, New York, 748p.
Kulkarni, H. and Deolankar, S.B. (1995). Hydrogeological Mapping in the Deccan Basalts – An Apprisal; J. Geological Socity of India,46(4), 345-352.
Strahler, A.N. (1952). Dynamic Basis for Geomorphology; Bull. Geological Society of America 63:923-938.
Schumm, S.A. (1956). Evolution of Drainage Basins and Slopes in Bundland of Perth Amboy-New Jersey; Bull. Geological Society of America, 67: 597-646.
GIS Dataset, Village report, Drilling Information, VI Groundwater Assessment, Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency.
Bhagyashri Maggirwar
Junior Geologist, G.S.D.A., Aurangabad, India
Bhavana N. Umrikar
Lecturer, Department of Geology, University of Pune, India.
Email:bnumrikar@unipune.ernet.in
Abstract
Since last few decades the demand for water had rapidly grown and with the increasing population would continue to rise in future. In Maharashtra, the assessment of groundwater potential and scope for artificial recharge in the overdeveloped watersheds is very crucial. The groundwater occurring in unconfined shallow aquifer needs to be augmented by undertaking suitable artificial recharge methods and structures of water conservation in order to ensure economically viable yields of wells and increase the groundwater availability on sustained basis.
Detailed hydrogeological surveys are carried out in Watershed GV-41, Aurangabad District to find out the feasibility of artificial recharge structures. The present study is an attempt to find out the scope for artificial recharge in overdeveloped area of GV-41 (5 and 6) mini watersheds using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (RS - GIS) techniques.
Keywords: artificial recharge, overdeveloped watershed GV-41 (5 and 6), RS - GIS
Introduction
The assessment of the groundwater potential has been carried out in the existing river basins of Maharashtra considering watershed as a basic unit (Maggirwar, 1990). Further, the miniwatershed assessment has been undertaken to find out the scope for development of groundwater on micro-level. As per the norms of VI Ground Water Assessment it has been found that watershed GV-41 is falling under “critical” category and water level trends in both pre- and post monsoon seasons are declining (G.S.D.A. Data). The watershed GV-41 is further assessed on the basis of miniwatersheds to understand the groundwater status on micro-level (Table 1). An attempt has been made to find out the scope for artificial recharge by studying various characteristics of watershed (geomorphology, soil, land use and drainage) using RS - GIS dataset.
Remote Sensing with its advantages of varying spatial and spectral resolutions and temporal availability of data covering large and inaccessible areas within short time has become a very handy tool in assessing, monitoring and analyzing the groundwater potential. Thematic layers like geology, geomorphology, drainage network, land use/land cover etc. generated using remote sensing data can be integrated in a Geographical Information System (GIS) framework to find out the further scope for artificial recharge in selected miniwatersheds.
STUDY AREA:
Watershed GV-41 (5 and 6) is a significant drainage system contributing to river Godavari. The watershed lies between longitude 74° 58' 55” and 75° 07' 24” East and latitude 19° 53' 33” and 19° 45' 27” North. It is included in Survey of India topographic sheet No. 47 I/13 and 47 M/1 on 1: 50,000 scale. The area covering mini-watersheds 5/8 and 6/8 is drought prone (GSDA report) and covers 17 villages with areal extent of 125.28 sq km (2001 Census). The area is characterized by hot summer and dryness in all seasons except during monsoon period. The average rainfall is 634 mm. The area is well served by a network of metaled and unmetaled road (Fig 1). The elevation of the ground within the watershed varies from 472 to 606 m above mean sea level. The density of wells in this area is maximum i.e. about 12 wells per sq km (GSDA report).
General Geology and Hydrogeology:
The district is covered by Deccan Trap basaltic flows of Upper Cretaceous to Lower Eocene age. These flows are further classified as vesicular/zeolitic basalt, greenish colored amygdaloidal basalt, jointed / fractured basalt and hard massive basalt. In general, depth of weathering of these flows varies from 3 to 9 m (CGWB report). Weathered vesicular / zeolitic basalt, jointed – fractured basalt and the weathered basalt act as an aquifer in the area. In the Northern parts of the district shallow murmic soil is observed while deep fertile black cotton soil is observed near the higher order drainage (GSDA report).
In this area groundwater occurs under both phreatic and semi-confined conditions. Long-term water level data (1985 – 2005) of 17 villages (Table 2) reveals that the successful rate of bore wells is more over the dry and poor yield conditions. However, the observation well fixed at Gajgaon shows the pre-monsoon water level at 10.00 m bgl and post-monsoon water level at 8.30 m bgl with the fluctuation of 1.70 m (GSDA report). The main water bearing formations of the area are vesicular basalts as well as weathered fractured and jointed massive basalt. Due to the presence of alternate units of vesicular and massive basalt the Deccan Trap acts as multi-aquifer system (CGWB report).
Methodology:
A reconnoitary survey has been taken up with the help of above mentioned toposheets and satellite imageries to understand the framework of topography, geomorphology and structural features prevailing in the area (GSDA, CGWB reports).
The Survey of India toposheets were also used for the preparation of the Base Map on 150,000 scale in GIS environment. The thematic layer of drainage was also prepared by making use of the same. The village map was prepared from the maps available with the Revenue Department. The Soil map was prepared with the help of information available with National Bureau of Soil Survey (NBSS). The Geomorphology and Land Use themes were prepared from Resource sat satellite data. All the themes were digitized and converted into the GIS dataset in the form of thematic layers using Arc-Info software and brought on the scale of 1:50,000 using Regional Conformal Conic (RCC) Projection. Further, the data was converted to Tab files and all the study- and analytical work was carried out in the Map Info software.
The overlay analysis of geomorphology and drainage was carried out by superimposing the geomorphology and drainage thematic layers for identification of the suitable sites for water conservation structures. The database so generated was also helpful in exploring the scope for artificial recharge in the study area. The terrain was found to be exhibiting mainly Moderately Dissected Plateau (MDP) and was further classified into MDP-A, MDP-B, MDP-C classes based on the weathering index along with the slopes (Fig.2).
Different morphometric parameters such as drainage density, stream frequency, elongation ratio, and circularity ratio were calculated in Arc Info (Fig 3).
The thematic layer of Soil was studied on the basis of depth, texture and erosion factors for identifying the type of structures suitable to the specific location (Fig 4). The land use land cover data reveals total 7 features (Fig 5) using Supervised Classification Technique
Results and Discussions:
The morphometric analysis of the miniwatersheds is summarized in Tables 3 and 4. The drainage network was classified into orders according to the number of bifurcations using the methodology given by Strahler (1952). The linear aspects such as stream order, stream length and bifurcation ratio were determined and results are presented in Table 3. According to Strahler (1952) a bifurcation ratio greater than 5 indicate the structural control over the area supported by sub parallel drainage pattern. As the values obtained for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 4.54, which is suggestive of development of lineaments in the study area. According to Horton (1945) the length ratio (Rl) gives general idea about the relative permeability of the rock formations in a basin and the value obtained for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 2.92 that is indicative of less permeability in the area. Drainage density (Dd) of the area is 1.35 km/km, indicative of the medium texture of the basin (Horton 1945). The factor of the constant of channel maintenance (Schumm, 1956) shows that 0.74 sq km area is required to maintain one kilometer of stream channel supports the less permeability of the area. Stream frequency (F) for the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds is 0.93 indicates the moderate surface runoff of the area. The morphometric analysis thus throws light on the variation in the permeability of the flow units exposed in the GV-41 (5 and 6) miniwatersheds.
The RS - GIS dataset on land use / land cover and soil reveal various geomorphic units, major landforms, farming pattern, tanks and built-up areas suitable for water conservation structures.
The state irrigation department has constructed about 21 percolation tanks and 3 K.T. (Kolhapur Type) weirs with storage capacity of 2897 and 107 TCM respectively (CGWB Report). The average rainfall in the area is 634.8 mm. Therefore according to Strenge’s table total available runoff will be 7952.77 TCM.
Conclusion RS - GIS dataset have proven to be a very handy and efficient tool to the researchers and planners in delineation of drainage and water resources. Geomorphological map reveals moderate slope (<10%) which forms recharge zone for the watershed. This zone has less drainage density, less runoff and more infiltration and has thick zone of weathering. Hence this zone is suitable for recharge structures.
The shallow (10-25cm), moderate (25-50cm) and deep (>100cm) soils are found in the MDP-A, MDP-C and MDP-B morphological terrains respectively. The area is predominantly drained by moderately well drainage that can be selected to check the runoff. The dominance of Khariff (rain fed) crops over the area indicates the dependability over the rainfall. Thus, the residence time of the surface water can be increased by suggesting following recharge measures.
From existing water conservation structures in the area (CGWB), 3004 TCM runoff has already been arrested and there is further scope for 4948.77 TCM runoff that can be checked by additional water conservation structures. An attempt has been made to quantify the possible recharge through proposed structures, which comes around 2474.77 TCM. This would help in strengthening of existing drinking water sources by supplying total 17 villages (19127 souls) on sustained basis.
| Sr. No. | Name of structure proposed | No. of structures proposed | Runoff that can be checked (TCM) |
| 1 | Recharge trench | 36 | 360 |
| 2 | Water harvesting pit | 108 | 540 |
| 3 | Recharge shaft | 60 | 600 |
| 4 | Nala bund | 65 | 1950 |
| 5 | Filter point | 60 | 300 |
| 6 | Farm pond | 115 | 1150 |
Acknowledgements:
The authors are fully thankful to the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency, for all the information needed in the study of the miniwatersheds. B.N. Umrikar is thankful to Head, Department of Geology, University of Pune.
References:
CGWB Report (2001). Artificial Recharge Project Study in Watershed G.V.-41, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra, Annual Action Program.
Maggirwar, C.N. (1990). Suitability of Water Harvesting, Conservation and Artificial Recharge Techniques in Relation to Watershed Behaviour in Maharashtra. In: “All India Seminar on Modern Techniques of Rain Water Harvesting, water Conservation and Aritificial Recharge for Drinking Water, Afforestation, Horticulture and Agriculture” Pune, Maharashtra.
Narendra, K. and Nageswara Rao, K. (2006). Morphometry of the Meghadrigedda Watershed, Visakhapatnam Distirct, Andhra Pradesh using GIS and Resourcesat data. J. Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 34(2):101-110
Murthy V.V.N. (1982). Land and Water Management Engineering, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi/Ludhiana, 275p.
Horton, R.E. (1945). Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins: Hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Bull. Geological Society of America, 56: 275-370.
Strahler, A.N. and Strahler, A.H. (2002). A text book of Physical Geography. 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons Publishers, New York, 748p.
Kulkarni, H. and Deolankar, S.B. (1995). Hydrogeological Mapping in the Deccan Basalts – An Apprisal; J. Geological Socity of India,46(4), 345-352.
Strahler, A.N. (1952). Dynamic Basis for Geomorphology; Bull. Geological Society of America 63:923-938.
Schumm, S.A. (1956). Evolution of Drainage Basins and Slopes in Bundland of Perth Amboy-New Jersey; Bull. Geological Society of America, 67: 597-646.
GIS Dataset, Village report, Drilling Information, VI Groundwater Assessment, Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency.