3-Groundwater Management in the State of Punjab.

Abstract

Groundwater management strategy was considered as shifting the cropping pattern in such a way so as to reduce the area under the crop having high water requirements thus helping to reduce the demand for irrigation water. The crops of Sirhind Canal Tract in kharif season are paddy, cotton, maize and groundnut. Since paddy is a crop having higher water requirement, different percentage of the area under paddy was shifted to cotton, maize and groundnut in the ratio 3:1:1. The reduction in draft values were computed corresponding to 5, 10, 20 and 30% reduction in paddy area. The draft values were subtracted from the normal draft values for each node to get the reduced draft for different reductions in paddy area as an input to the model. The results reveal that area under depth range of 10-15 m diminished from 48.38 per cent to 47.42, 46.43, 44.11 and 41.62 per cent when paddy was shifted by 5, 10, 20 and 30% respectively, whereas the area under depth range of 5-10 m increased. Thus the shifting of paddy crop with cotton, maize and groundnut would help to arrest declining water table situation in the state of Punjab. The policy issues for management of groundwater in the state have also been discussed.