Abstract:
Water is the most essential component for all the living things. Ground water is commonly used for
drinking, domestic purposes, Industrial, irrigation etc. In many parts of the world, ground water is depleting at
alarming stage. In recent years modern techniques such as remote sensing, GIS, Isotopes etc., along with
conventional hydrological methods are increasingly getting used for ground water resource development and
management .In the present study a multi- technique approach is taken up to identify and map ground water
vulnerable zones and suitable zones to augment the depleting ground water conditions in Bist – doab (Bist- ‘ Beas–
Satluj’ and doab- ‘a Persian i.e. a land mass between two rivers’) region of Punjab, India. Though the study area is
covered by two major perennial rivers: Beas and Satluj, yet the long term ground water trend clearly indicate a
continuous falling trend in major parts especially, in the central & south- central region. In this paper, conventional
data has been compiled to map the changing ground water conditions, modern techniques have been used to
generate land –use maps for estimation of spatio – temporal changing water demand, isotopic techniques to identify
effectiveness of surface water source in ground water recharges etc. The satellite images of the study area were used
as raw data for finding suitable location for constructing the water bodies in the study area. With the help of remote
sensing and GIS thematic maps such as land use and land cover map, slope map, and drainage map were generated
which are used for the identification of suitable water harvesting structures. The result obtained from the integrated
data has been used in developing a working plan to identify suitable sites to increase surface water potential,
measures to augment the falling water table and management plan to reduce excess pressure on ground water.
