Assessing current and future risk to Groundwater due to Climate Change in a sugarcane growing area

Abstract

It has been estimated that the groundwater table at Rasulpur Jattan village declines at about 1.36 m annually due to excessive drafting for irrigation purpose. Adaption of climate resilient irrigation system and change in cropping pattern leads to higher water use efficiency. It minimizes the wastage of water in the agricultural _field. The changed cropping pattern, adoption of underground conveyance pipeline system and improved irrigation practices like drip and rain gun could save irrigation water to the tune of 50% in the village. The groundwater recharge through recharge structures such as cavity well is found to be an appropriate method of artificial recharge for improvement of the aquifer storage. Based on the above analysis, the study recommends reducing the area under sugarcane, bringing more area under improved irrigation application and conveyance system, and establishment of artificial recharge structures such as recharge cavities to reverse the groundwater table falling trend in the study area. The installation of about six numbers of recharge cavities in the village may be most suitable for achieving the sustainable groundwater balance in future years.