Vol. 11, Special Issue 7 (2022)

Author(s):
Sonu, Sanjay Kumar and Basanti Brar

Abstract:
Haryana is primarily an agricultural commodity dominating state which mainly depends upon irrigation. The state has witnessed a drastic increase in agricultural production and irrigated area since its inception in the year 1970. The surface water resources in the state as well as in the country are scarce and now a day’s approx. 50.4 per cent of the cultivated area is irrigated by natural groundwater resources. This phenomenal use of natural groundwater through large number of submersible pumps has caused severe decline in groundwater level, resulting in depletion of natural groundwater resources. Therefore, an understanding about the groundwater pattern, trends, development and accessibility are must for devising judicious management. Due to the fast growth in population and the connected land-use have led to a groundwater resources are overexploited in different region of the India. Haryana state has witnessed a stunning increase in agricultural production with continuous scarcity of groundwater because river water is not sufficient to meet the demands of household and agricultural practices; farmers are withdrawal groundwater through a large number of submersible pumps has increased from 0.02 million in 1974 to 0.93 million in 2021 showing alarming sign of over development. The main aim of this study has analyzed the variability in groundwater depth and to identify the groundwater serious zones, and explore the influences of climatic and anthropogenic factors based on secondary data sources pertaining to annual rainfall, area under irrigation, tubewells irrigated area, canals irrigated area, net irrigation demand of crops, technical stipulations of canals, number of wells, and groundwater level data of 204 pizeometric wells obtained from the Groundwater cell, Department of Agriculture, Government of Haryana with respect to seven community development block of district Rohtak during 1974-2021. The results indicated a mix of negative and positive trends in the groundwater depths. However, the positive were much more pronounced than negative ones. Significant increase in groundwater depth is found in 82.12% of observation wells as obtained through Mann-Kendall analysis at 95% confidence level. The average groundwater depth in the Rohtak district has ranged from 21.04 to 28.48 m with the mean of groundwater depth was found to be 24.26 m. The groundwater fluctuations in foremost part of the district may be considered to indiscriminate recharge and abstraction for irrigation purpose and fluctuation in rainfall trend. Additionally, both climatic and anthropogenic factors have led to groundwater fluctuation in the study area. The research will be ready to lend a hand for planners and policy makers in the direction of judicious use of groundwater resources in the Rohtak district.