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Map of study area (Maheswharam, Ranga Reddy District, AP, India) with location of pumping borewells (730) and observation borewells (155). IFP5, IFP8 and IFP9, location of borewells presented in Figure 1.
Source publication
In most parts of India, and particularly in South India, groundwater levels are hazardously declining, which entails drought and inherent water-quality problems. The need of the hour is to adapt the exploitation of groundwater to its availability. To find sustainable solutions, it is indispensable that the policy makers be equipped with suitable pr...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Maheshwaram watershed (Figure 2), 53 sq. km in area and located 35 km south of Hyderabad, has been selec- ted as the pilot site because it well represents the South Indian rural catchment in terms of geology (two-thirds of India is covered by hard-rock formations), overexploitation of the aquifer, cropping pattern, rural socio-economic context, etc. ...
Context 2
... seasonal water-level fluctuations were accom- plished thanks to detailed piezometric levels based on up to 155 borewells (mainly abandoned borewells, Figure 2). Mean seasonal water levels were obtained from mapping and kriging of field data (water-level measurements); the associated uncertainties have been calculated by geosta- tistics. ...
Context 3
... abstraction was evaluated by combining a well inventory database (i.e. discharge rate of each borewell, Figure 2) and daily duration of pumping. The abstraction, in total 190 mm/yr, has been evaluated for all usages, i.e. rice (87% of PG), vegetable (0.7% of PG), flowers (0.8% of PG), fruits (2.5% of PG), grapes (5.1% of PG) culture, domestic (1.7% of PG) and chicken (2.2% of PG) poultry. ...
Citations
... It denotes the importance of litho-contact in borehole productivity. According to several researchers (Cho et al., 2003;Dewandel et al., 2007;Wyns et al., 2004), fissuring or dense fracturing occurs subparallel to topographic surface of that time and intensifies over time due to overlying laminated layer as a result of swelling of certain minerals during weathering process. Similarly, numerous fractures are seen subparallel to bedding orientation or litho-contact close to depth of 142.5 m as in Fig. 10 (b) and (c). ...
Exploration of groundwater sources are increasing worldwide due to the water scarcity. In this study, groundwater exploitation was carried out around Southern Johor Bahru in Malaysia, to understand the subsurface geology, identify potential high yielding aquifers, assess the drilling challenges and determine required mitigation to deal with these challenges. Three exploratory wells were developed for this purpose; 2 wells located in volcanic-sedimentary rock and 1 in Older alluvium. It was found that the volcanic-sedimentary rocks have higher potential for groundwater extraction compared to Older alluvium in Southern Johor Bahru. The fracture with major opening (>4 cm) and litho-contact dominantly control the groundwater occurrence and productivity of volcanic-sedimentary rocks. In addition, the nature of fissures or fractures such as density and aperture influence the groundwater productivity. Whereas the primary porosity of rocks (<5%) is found not to control groundwater productivity except at completely weathered to residual soil zones (up to 47%). Also, the thickness of weathered layer does not substantially contribute to the groundwater productivity at the study area. The optimum depth for well development is more than 150 m for an approximate yield of 37–60 m³/hr at the study area. The length of casing is approximately 30 m depending on the thickness of weathered zone. Finally, the drilling issues such as air loss and mud loss were encountered in volcanic-sedimentary rock and Older Alluvium respectively.
... This facilitates simulating the groundwater resource evolution for different scenarios, viz. changing cropping patterns, artificial recharge, climatic conditions etc. (Dewandel et al. 2007). This has been transferred to the then Andhra Pradesh State Groundwater Department and Rural organizations for implementation. ...
... It helps the farmers to create a large number of scenarios mainly by altering the cropping pattern and impact of all the scenarios on groundwater level. This is experimented in a small watershed (area: ~53 km 2 , Maheshwaram, Ranga Reddy District, Andhra Pradesh) (Dewandel et al., 2007). By using this tool, a farmer is able to select a suitable crop pattern in accordance to the availability of water for irrigation. ...
The groundwater research was one amongst a few programmes started in the early days of CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI). The researchers have worked on a wide range of scientific issues that include development of new instruments and exploration techniques, aquifer mapping and source findings, groundwater modelling and management. This article briefly summarizes the selected contributions of CSIR-NGRI in the field of groundwater research.
... In India, HRA water resources greatly contributed to the "Green Revolution" that initially allowed food self-sufficiency in that country (Foster 2012). This has now been partly lost due to aquifer overexploitation and groundwater quality degradation (Maréchal and Ahmed 2003;Dewandel et al. 2007bDewandel et al. , 2010Perrin et al. 2012). ...
... The five orange ellipses represent potential targets, of various interest, for water-well siting use this combined method. Similar methods have been applied to overexploited HRA in India Dewandel et al. 2007bDewandel et al. , 2010, even through use of soil and water assessment tools (SWAT models) that are applicable in such a hydrogeological context where groundwater vertical fluxes prevail over regional lateral flow at km-scale (Ferrant et al. 2014;Perrin et al. 2012). Such models can be used for water resources mapping and simulation of scenarios such as land use changes, changes in water uses and climate change. ...
... Decision support tools have been developed from these methodologies (Dewandel et al. 2007bMizam et al. 2019;Lachassagne et al. 2016), and strategies built, some integrating climate change impacts (Ferrant et al. 2014;Mizam et al. 2019;Fig. 13). ...
Hard rocks (HR) or crystalline rocks (i.e., plutonic and metamorphic rocks) constitute the basement of all continents, and are particularly exposed at the surface in the large shields of Africa, India, North and South America, Australia and Europe. They were, and are still in some cases, exposed to deep weathering processes. Since about 15 years, it has been formally demonstrated that the storativity but also and mainly the hydraulic conductivity of HR, and thus their groundwater resources, are controlled by these subsurface weathering processes that lead to the development of weathering profiles. Hard Rock Aquifers (HRA) then develop mainly within the first 100 m below the ground surface, within these weathering profiles. Where partially or non-eroded, they comprise: (i) a capacitive but a generally low permeability unconsolidated weathered layer (the saprolite), located immediately above (ii) the permeable Stratiform Fractured Layer (SFL). The development of the SFL’s fracture network is the consequence of the stress induced by the swelling of some minerals, notably biotite. To a much lesser extent, weathering, and then hydraulic conductivity, also develops deeper in the unweathered rock, at the periphery of or within preexisting geological discontinuities (joints, dykes, veins, lithological contacts, etc.). The demonstration and recognition of this conceptual model allowed to understand the functioning of such aquifers. Moreover, it enabled to develop a comprehensive corpus of applied methodologies in hydrogeology and geology that is described in this review paper: water well siting, mapping hydrogeological potentialities from the local to the country scale, quantitative management, hydrodynamical modeling, protection… of HRA groundwater resources, even in thermal and mineral aquifers, computing the drainage discharge of tunnels, quarrying of HR, etc.
... Although there is considerable rainfall of 806 mm in the watershed, the decline in groundwater storage is mainly due to overextraction of groundwater aided by limited natural recharge and high ET. Considering the unabated current trend, a further decline in groundwater is expected as supported by previous studies (e.g., Dewandel et al. 2007;Shah 2009). Nevertheless, a judicious reduction in groundwater extraction can be seen as a compensation for reviving aquifer storage, but it is hard to achieve this goal under the current agriculture setup. ...
Semi-arid regions across the globe are fronting water crises, signaling a challenge to ensure future water security. Given the high inter-seasonal rainfall variability and unrestrained groundwater extraction, the precise quantification of groundwater flow components in an aquifer system is a priority. To address this challenge, we used high-resolution remote sensing (RS) data (Landsat and IRS) and GIS modeling (SEBAL, ArcCN) to spatially quantify major groundwater balance (GWB) components, viz., evapotranspiration (ET), rainfall recharge (R), surface runoff (Q), groundwater extraction (PG), irrigation return flow (IRF), and ultimately changes in groundwater storage (ΔS) in a small semi-arid crystalline representative watershed. Results show that a total of ~ 230 mm of groundwater is extracted during 2008–2009, creating a negative impact on the groundwater resource, which is further enhanced by limited recharge and high ET. A decrease of approximately 65 mm in groundwater storage is observed in a single hydrological year, and given a very low specific yield, this decrease will introduce large water level decline. The study establishes that declining groundwater level in the watershed is a direct result of over-extraction, and owing to this scenario, efficient irrigation and land use policies are suggested as potential approaches to minimize extraction specifically in the dry season. Our methodology provides a systematic assessment of vital GWB components at a high spatial resolution and an insight on various sustainable mitigation methods. This methodology is useful in the planning and management of groundwater resources, particularly in water-stressed areas.
... These promising results encourage us to use the methodology proposed here for the next seasons. Table 4 gives the accuracy of the satellite data set to detect crop covers, and both corresponding crop area extent and amount of irrigated water required at the catchment scale, based on previous estimates over the studied area (Dewandel et al., 2007(Dewandel et al., , 2010 which was used in the agro-hydrological modeling study (Ferrant et al., 2014a). ...
Sentinel-1 (S1) radar and Sentinel-2 (S2) optical detections of agricultural areas allow spatio-temporal monitoring of crop growth and surface water dynamics since 2015 at the global scale. This project have explored two ways of exploiting these newly data at high spatial and temporal resolution (respectively 10-20 meters and 5-10 days): 1- the long term assimilation of Leaf Area Index derived from Sentinel-2 type time series over 5 years in an agro-hydrological model to simulate the nitrogen excess in south of France river water and 2- the monitoring of highly variable surface water, rice and irrigated areas extents in south-India to quantify the variation in space and time of irrigated water extraction from groundwater resources. The results presented in this report shows that:
a long term LAI time series derived from S2 allows to re-set soil parameters at the pixel level to better simulate the spatial heterogeneity of crop growth into account. The nitrogen uptake by the crops is better constrained. The assimilation methodology is foreseen to improve the prediction of nitrogen leaching into the water resources. S1 will be used to improve the method by retrieving biomass and soil moisture in future work.
the S1&2 synergic detection of fast crop growth (rice over 3 months) in a semi arid area in South-India is extremely efficient to estimate inundated rice and monitoring non perennial surface water dynamics from rivers and dams influenced by the succession of monsoon rainfalls and dry seasons. The S2 multi-spectral data is complemented during the monsoon cloudy season with S1 acquisitions to improve the rice detection. A workflow based on S1 data has been tested to provide surface water dynamics in time. Both rice inundated and surface water area extents are important agro-hydrological variables that control the groundwater fluctuations in these semi-arid areas. The first is a proxy of 80% of the irrigated water consumption extracted from aquifers, whereas the second is a non negligible source of aquifer recharge.
This project demonstrates the importance of S1&2 in monitoring water uses and crop growth at regional agricultural watershed to improve the existing monitoring programs, predictive models set-up to manage the water resources. The methodology tested in this project can be transposable and extended to other agro-hydrological contexts as Sentinel are acquired everywhere.
... The Maheshwaram watershed (55 km 2 ) close to Hyderabad is now in transition from rural to urban context and counts approximately 900 borewells. It has been investigated to develop geological and hydrogeological models Maréchal et al. 2004aMaréchal et al. , 2006, assess chemical evolution (Perrin et al. 2011b;Pettenati et al. 2013) and develop decision support tools for water management (Dewandel et al. 2007). The Gajwel watershed (84 km 2 ) has been used for modeling with forecasting scenarios (Perrin et al. 2011a;Ferrant et al. 2014) and for assessing water user's vulnerability . ...
... Numerous studies have been published during the last decade describing the dominant hydrogeological processes that affect the groundwater budget in this specific semi-arid irrigated context [19][20][21][22][23][24] . Perrin et al. 25 calibrated an agro-hydrological model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT 26 ) in a small watershed (84 km 2 , Andhra Pradesh) on seasonal aquifer recharge using agricultural land-use map derived from remote sensing and the associated GWEs for irrigation, groundwater-capacity maps derived from field observations and percolation-tank locations and capacity. ...
... In the hard rock terrains of southern India, overexploitation of groundwater for domestic and/or irrigational purposes and deterioration of water quality due to excessive pumping has been reported recently by Maréchal et al. (2006a, b), and Dewandel et al. (2007). In these terrains, the natural groundwater recharge is almost equal to irrigational return flow (infiltration of water which is used for irrigational purposes; Maréchal et al. (2006b)), which has a negative impact on the groundwater quality (Perrin et al. 2011). ...
Systematic monitoring of subsurface hydrogeochemistry
has been carried out for a period of one year in
a humid tropical region along the Nethravati–Gurupur
River. The major ion and stable isotope (d18O and d2H)
compositions are used to understand the hydrogeochemistry
of groundwater and its interaction with surface water.
In the study, it is observed that intense weathering of
source rocks is the major source of chemical elements to
the surface and subsurface waters. In addition, agricultural
activities and atmospheric contributions also control the
major ion chemistry of water in the study area. There is a
clear seasonality in the groundwater chemistry, which is
related to the recharge and discharge of the hydrological
system. On a temporal scale, there is a decrease in major
cation concentrations during the monsoon which is a result
of dilution of sources from the weathering of rock minerals,
and an increase in anion concentrations which is contributed
by the atmosphere, accompanied by an increase in
water level during the monsoon. The stable isotope composition
indicates that groundwater in the basin is of
meteoric origin and recharged directly from the local precipitation
during the monsoonal season. Soon after the
monsoon, groundwater and surface water mix in the subsurface
region. The groundwater feeds the surface water
during the lean river flow season.
... Over the last decade, large parts of India, particularly Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, have suffered from drought and severe drops in groundwater levels, often by as much as 1-2 m/year (Singh and Singh, 2002;Negrel et al., 2011;Rodell et al., 2009). Unmanaged and intensive use of groundwater, particularly in hard-rock regions of semi-arid southern India has also led to a groundwater-quality deterioration and overexploitation of the resources (Maréchal et al., 2006a;Dewandel et al., 2007). ...
... For agricultural groundwater withdrawal (PG Agri ), the landuse/ landcover method uses the mean daily water input to the crops, the surface area of the crops and the number of days in a cultivation season to determine the groundwater withdrawal (Maréchal et al., 2006b;Dewandel et al., 2007), as: ...
... The C f is different for different crops and seasons. They are 51% in the wet season (June-October) and 48% in the dry season (November-May) for paddy; 26% in June-October and 24% in November-May for vegetables; 13% in JuneÀOctober and 11% in May for flowers and 10% for domestic and industrial purposes, (Maréchal et al., 2006b;Dewandel et al., 2007). Return flow was computed separately for dry and wet periods for crops like paddy, vegetables and flowers. ...
... Recent studies have focussed on groundwater resource management tools especially designed for the semi-arid hard rock context. For an example, a decision support tool (DST) is developed by Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research to simulate the groundwater resource in hard rock aquifer (Dewandel et al. 2007. The DST simulates the groundwater resource evolution for different scenarios, viz. ...
Borehole logging is a very robust tool to accurately locate transitions between weathered layers and fractures in hard rock settings; therefore, it can help substantially in the construction of regional and local hydrogeological models. A simple and low-cost resistivity probe, named dual resistivity logger (DRL), was experimented to map the formation resistivity at two investigation distances by means of three active electrodes. Forward response of DRL was analysed on the synthetic data generated for a conceptual hard rock hydrogeological model as well as tested at two field sites in hard rock aquifers of southern India. The DRL was proven efficient in demarcating the aquifer into successive hydrogeological zones, i.e. the laminated-fissured (L-F), the fissured-semi-fissured (F-SF), and semi-fissured-basement (SF-B) layers. The results were verified by comparison with well lithologs based on rock cuttings and temperature logging. The DRL has proven its ability to locate the hydraulically active fractures as well as contacts between weathered layers. It offers a simple but efficient way to acquire underground data for building hydrogeological models.
