Evaluation of groundwater drought characteristic for few basins in Bundelkhand region of Central India

Abstract

Drought is recognised as on the most disastrous extreme events in terms of severity, aerial extent, and the number of people affected annually across the world and is linked to the destabilisation of the hydrological cycle and is initiated by the deficit rainfall. In such situations, groundwater is the only alternative source of water available during periods of drought. Therefore the study of the groundwater availability and ground water drought aspects is rather significant in the context of sustenance of human and aquatic habitats. Bundelkhand region in Central India is in the limelight because of continuous droughts in the last decade resulting in acute water shortages. Groundwater is a the predominant source of domestic water supply as well as irrigation supplies in most districts of Bundelkhand and therefore detailed investigations are required to assess the ground water droughts as the entire population is dependent on this precious resource which has been carried out for few basins including Sonar and Bearma basins in Madhya Pradesh, India. The trend analysis using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test of the seasonal ground water levels reveals that significant falling trends in groundwater levels at 5% significance level have been observed at many observation wells in these basins. A standardized groundwater level index (SGLI) has been developed to evaluate the groundwater drought characteristics for the selected basins in Bundelkhand. The negative values of the index reflect the fall in groundwater levels as a consequence of the ongoing drought prevailing in the region. The spatio-temporal variation of the groundwater drought have been studied as there exists a time lag in the translation of a meteorological drought to a groundwater drought, and similarly the groundwater drought continues to remain even after the cessation of the meteorological drought. This analysis helps to identify zones predominantly affected by groundwater drought and understand the progression and withdrawal of groundwater drought in subsequent months and can be effectively used for planning artificial recharge schemes on a priority basis for the replenishment of the depleted aquifers.