Assessment of groundwater at Kurukshetra district

Abstract

Abstract Mankind depends on surface water and groundwater resources to meet basic requirements. Groundwater is a limited resource that can be replenished. Instead of surface water, groundwater can be an alternate supply to meet a region's water demand for household, agriculture, and industrial uses. As a result, a thorough assessment is required to ensure the resource's long-term viability. The main aim of the research is to identify potential zones using remote sensing and quantification of groundwater resources. In the present study, the potential zones were identified by using the weighted overlay technique in ArcGIS software by considering eight influencing factors, and the estimation of groundwater was carried out using GEC 2015 methodology. The study discovered that the study area has a good potentiality of groundwater in the southern region. Further estimates were made for the period April 2020–March 2021 by taking into account recharge by rainfall, irrigation return flow, seepage by canals, and draft by industries, domestic, irrigation, and evapotranspiration. The research reveals that the net groundwater recharge of 0.16284361 million ha-m was depleted in the study area. This analysis concludes that the groundwater in the study area is critical and becoming an overexploited zone.