Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Hydrogeological Research in India
in Managing Water Resources
K.D. Sharma and Sudhir Kumar
National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee 247667, India
INTRODUCTION
India is a vast country with a total geographical area of about 3.28 × 10
6
km
2
. Due to diversified geological, climatological and physiographic setup,
groundwater situations in different parts of the country are divergent. Uneven
distribution of surface water in space and time, man's interference, and over-
exploitation of groundwater have caused regional imbalances in the supply
and demand of water both in the alluvial tract of north India and in the hard
rock formations of Peninsular India. The total annual water resources of
India are about 1960 km
3
. The utilizable water resource is 1140 km
3
(690
km
3
from surface water and 450 km
3
from groundwater). The present
utilization is 750 km
3
(500 km
3
from surface water and 250 km
3
from
groundwater). The projected demand for the year 2025 is 1050 km
3
indicating
that by that point of time the total available water resources have to be put
to use.
Groundwater has to fulfill about 33% of the water demand by the year
2025. Availability of groundwater varies from free flowing wells in parts of
Indo-Gangetic plains to deep aquifers (>100 m) in Rajasthan depending on
the hydrogeological conditions. Also, availability of groundwater in hard
rock areas depends on the thickness of weathered material and fractures and
fissures.
In view of the above, there is a need to understand the distribution and
occurrence of groundwater in different hydrogeological situations. In this
article, the hydrogeological setup of the country and occurrence of
groundwater in different geological formations have been presented. Also,
the research carried out in the areas of groundwater recharge, water quality
and remote sensing and GIS have also been included.
