Hydrology Project aims at assisting the Government of India and the 9 participating States in developing comprehensive easily assess and user-friendly data basis covering all aspects of the hydro geological cycle, including surface water and Groundwater in terms of quantity and quality and climatic measurement, particularly of rainfall. This should contribute to improving planning and management of water resources in India.
The main objective of the Hydrology Project is to collect hydrological data, create a data bank, validation of data and to analyze and disseminate the data to users. For the effective implementation of the project development of existing institutional and technical facilities and also to upgrade the same. The Hydrology Project also aims to improve the technical competence of officers in the Organization.
The Hydrology Project proposes to
- Make improvement in the methods of collecting water levels.
- Monitor groundwater availability and quality information.
- Compile information and transfer and upgrade data
- Computerize existing – and newly collected data.
- Provide data to the Hydrological Data Users Groups.
1) Background of the project
Hydrology Project Phase-I
Overview
Maharashtra State is one of the participating States in Hydrology project assisted by World Bank. (Credit No. 2774-IN). The project was structured as a 6-year operation from the year 1995-1996. The Hydrology project (HP) has been accorded extension up till December 2003.The overall development objective of HP is to support major aspects of the National Water Policy (NWP) through improvement of the institutional infrastructure and technical capacity building for measuring, processing and disseminating Quantity & Quality data both for Ground Water and Surface Water and related climatic data.
Works Completed
Through the system developed under HP-I, it will enhance the management of the GW resources and safeguard a sustainable use of it. The HIS established under HP-I, therefore, has important social & economic relevance.
Buildings: The offices of the Director, Regional Dy. Director, and District Senior Geologist, Pune were shifted to Bhujal Bhavan from 15/4/2002.
The training center and the Level II + Chemical Lab have been set up in the Bhujal Bhavan itself. Computer ‘B’ & D packages for Data processing centers: `B’ type package has been installed at SDPC at Bhujal Bhavan. “D” type of computer packages at 6 Regional Offices & 33 District Offices have become opera
Extension
The project was extended for one more year i.e. up to March 31, 2003, by both the World Bank and the Government of The Netherlands. The extension serves mainly two purposes such as, the attainment of the project’s development objectives by allowing critical remaining activities to be completed, mainly the consolidation of the groundwater data system and encouragement of data usage through Hydrology Data User Groups (HDUGs) and the hands-on experience for the agencies in using new data in a more meaningful way. The operationalisation of the Hydrological Information System is the main focus.
During the Appraisal mission’s wrap up meeting held on 9th December 2003, Maharashtra has been ranked first amongst all the participating states and Central agencies based on the performance of the HP-I project.Hydrology Project Phase –II
Objectives
India’s national water policy 2002 lays great stress on a well-developed information system for water related data in its entirety, at the national/state level, as a prime requisite for resource planning. It also emphasizes the promotion of free exchange of data among various agencies. Hydrology Project -I have brought about the establishment of Hydrological Information System and have helped in the creation of an environment for launching the next essential step of using hydrological data in a demand-driven mode for real life hydrological problems. It is proposed to develop Hydrological Design Aids / Decision Support System and Purpose Driven Studies in the Hydrology Project – II. For the implementation of the same, it is proposed to strengthen the organization and to develop the improved technical skills of the personnel and infrastructure of the organization.
“To extend and promote the sustained and effective use of the HIS by all potential users concerned with water resources planning and management, both public and private, thereby contributing to improved productivity and cost effectiveness of water-related investments in the implementing Agencies”
The Project is the World Bank financed as a loan to Govt. of India. The project is monitored by PCS (Project co-ordination secretariat), Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR), GOI Implementation by 13 states and 8 Central agencies. In Maharashtra GSDA (groundwater component) and Hydrology Project Division, Water Resources Department, Nashik ( surface water component) are Implementing Hydrology Project-II Duration 1st April 2006 to 31st June 2012. Closing date of the project is extended up to 31st May 2014.
There are two major components under Hydrology Project
A)Institutional strengthening
- Consolidation of HP
- Awareness raising and Data Dissemination
For Awareness raising and data dissemination 265 Taluka Level, 32 District Workshops were arranged. For this workshop State government officers, Zilla Parishad & Panchayat Samiti members, Sarpanch & Gram Sevak of the concerned Taluka and Districts were involved. Various topics related to data availability in Hydrology Project & its dissemination policy, Water security & safety, water Quality etc. were addressed in this workshop. 12 Workshops on Hydrological Information Need (HIN) Analysis Workshops were arranged at the Regional level. Apart from this, workshops covering different subjects like
Groundwater act (2006-07)
Workshops for GSDA officials for proper implementation of Hydrology Project (206-07)
Safety and sustainability of water (2011-12) etc were also arranged in Hydrology Project.
GSDA has participated every year in an International Kisan Exhibition since 2008 and Sant gauge Baba Swachata Abhiyan Prize Distribution ceremony for generation of Awareness among the common people.
GSDA also participates in 26th January Republic Day Celebrations by arranging floats at District level for water related awareness.
Brouchers, Reference book, water quality booklets, Film, stickers, posters were created as resource material
- Various scientific books, subscription of journals etc were procured under Publications component
- Dedicated annual calendars about GSDA and groundwater are being published and distributed every year since 2008
iii. Implementation Support
- B) Vertical Extension
- I) DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM:
How the need has identified
The issues in this area is the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater, reservoir operations for the command areas and drought management throughout.
The water resource issues in the Upper Bhima Basin highlighted by the State are:
- Twenty percent of the area is hilly, coming under high rainfall and falls in a run off zone. Hence ground water storage is only for a short duration.
- Pandharpur taluka is situated on downstream of Ujjain Reservoir which is managing floods.
- High evaporation from Ujjain Reservoir (Area at FRL-336.50 km).
- There are a number of major and medium dams constructed upstream of Ujjain Reservoir. The integrated operation of reservoirs is, therefore, necessary during the floods as well as during the drought.
- Similarly threat to the Pune City by releases from Panshet, Khadakwasala, Warsagaon, Temghar, and Pawana Reservoirs is critical (flood management).
- The pollution brought in, through the entire drainage area will be going to be an important issue of planning and regulation in the context of this reservoir.
- Water inflow to Ujjain Reservoir is polluted. In the upstream catchment, 68% of the project area is under surface water irrigation and due to heavy use of chemical fertilizers, ground water quality is affected. This is further aggravated by the industrial and domestic development upstream within the catchment.
- Indiscriminate groundwater withdrawal through irrigation bore wells is going on a large scale leading to over exploitation of groundwater.
Location
The Bhima basin lies between 180 3′ to 190 24′ North and 700 20′ to 750 18′ East covering an area of 14712 sq.km. This basin covers the area of Pune, Solapur and Ahmednagar district.
Geology And Geomorphology
The Basin is predominantly covered by multi-layered Deccan Trap formation formed of lava flows. It is overlain with recently formed alluvium mainly along the banks of Bhima, Ghod, Mula, and Mutha Rivers. About 25% of the area in the Basin is hilly and highly dissected, 55% is a plateau and 20% plain and valley filled.
Water Resources Of The Basin
Surface water – BhSurface water – Bhima is the main river of this sub-basin contributing to the main basin of Krishna river, the boundaries of the basin are as follows
North: Upper Godavari (Mula and Pravara component) Sub basin
East: Sina – Bori – Benetura (Sina component) Sub – basin
West: Sahyadri range, Konkan Region.
South: Remaining Bhima (Neera component) Sub – basin Other major tributaries in the area Mula, Mutha, Pavana, Indrayani, Mina Ghod, Kukadi, Hanga. The major dams are Khadakwasala, Panshet, Warasgaon, Temghar, Mulshi, Pavana, Askheda, Chaskaman, Dimbhe, Yedgaon, Pimpalgaon Joga, Visapur and Ghod.
Ground Water
The basin is primarily underlain by basalts with thin overlying soils. The ground water is limited to fracture zones within the basalt. The basin has been subdivided into 68 sub watersheds. Ground water has been assessed on sub watershed basis.The GEC1997 analysis conducted by the State in 2004 indicated that 13 out of 15 Talukas in the basin are drought prone: nine in the Pune District, three in the Ahmednagar District, and one in the Solapur Districts. The Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency has 321 groundwater-monitoring sites (236 Observation wells and 85 piezometers) and 50 water quality-monitoring sites in the Upper Bhima basin.
Defined Outputs and Benefits of the study
Drought monitoring, assessment, and management – With the DSS database kept up to date, users may calculate and publish drought indicators for internal use and to raise awareness of the current situation
Surface and ground water planning – It Includes derivation of long time series of surface water runoff, from sub-catchments within the selected basin. These are mainly used to generate scenarios of future flow. The time series may also be used to provide an assessment of the water availability at proposed project sites anywhere within the basin.
Conjunctive surface water and groundwater planning – The potential of strengthening water availability at the tail-end and limiting water-logging risk at the head-end of an irrigation canal is modeled using the generated long time series of groundwater recharge, introducing groundwater usage in the various parts of the command area, and modifying the canal operations accordingly. This combined use of surface water & Ground water will also help to decrease over exploitation of Ground Water by restricting ground water supply in the tail region.
Integrated operation of reservoirs – The integrated operation of reservoirs is also addressed using the river basin model of the DSS to identify potential improvements and drive operation rules to meet current and future demands. The DSS is also be applied to determine reservoir operations in semi-real-time considering the current water availability in each of the reservoirs, which may provide the required water.
Management of both surface and groundwater quality – The DSS may be applied to highlight areas with water quality problems, such as increased fluoride concentrations in groundwater, through the time series and GIS tools available.
Project Status
Various applications mainly Conjunctive use, Drought monitoring, Artificial recharge etc which are helpful to the organization has been developed. Field verification and testing and fine tuning are in progress. These applications will get finalized up to December 2012.
1 Effect of Sea water encroachment on GW quality in and around Mahim Village – Palghar Tqluka – Thane District.
2 Study of Groundwater Dynamics in the earthquake affected areas of Manjara Sub-Basin in Districts of Latur.
3 Techno Economic Feasibility of artificial recharge to aquifer as mitigatory measure in Fluoride affected area of Yavatmal District
Effect of Sea water encroachment on GW quality in and around Mahim Village Palghar Tqluka – Thane District Salient Features of Kelva-Mahim are as follows:
- The total area is 74 sq. km. (Kelwa- 37.73 sq. km, Mahim 37.16 sq km.)
- The area receives an average rainfall of 2500 mm.
- 1/3rd area i.e 25 sq.km is under cultivation
- Increased demand for irrigation of cash crops like coconut, banana, Chiku, beetle nut, betel leaves, have led to exploitation of groundwater to a great extent.
- Resulted in the reduction of groundwater head leading to sea water intrusion.
- Resulted in the reduction of groundwater head leading to sea water intrusion.
- Further salt pan activities and dumping of industrial waste have resulted in deterioration of groundwater quality.
- Villages Included in the watershed WF-19
- Coconut, Chikku, Banana, Betel nut (Supari) and Betel leaves (Nagweli Pan) are the main cash crops in these villages.
- Since these villages are located close to Mumbai Mega City and thus have a good market for the agricultural products.
- Thus utilization of groundwater for agricultural purposes is done on a large scale since past few decades.
- Due to the heavy groundwater withdrawal in the area, reduction in the groundwater head has taken place and as a result, sea water has started encroaching towards fresh water aquifers, thus deteriorating the groundwater quality year by year
BACKGROUND
State Government’s directives to energize the wells constructed between 1976 to 1984 and irrigating only 2 acres of land, beyond should be banned completely for exploitation of groundwater during the summer season.
In spite of the ban on the exploitation of groundwater in certain parts and energizing of new electric pumps continued in the following years.
This resulted in too deep encroachment of seawater into the safe zones.
It has further deteriorated the drinking water and irrigation water quality.
The government of Maharashtra, therefore, imposed ban installation of new electrical pump sets after the year 1974 but it is observed that after imposing ban illegally exploitation of groundwater has continued on large scale.
In addition to an existing problem, salt pan activities and growing industrial waste further deteriorated groundwater quality.
As a result, seawater intruded into deeper parts of the inland and restricted sweet water zones in the pockets.
This had impact on drinking water, irrigation, and groundwater regime
Project Concept Is As Following
Groundwater is the primary or sole source of drinking-water supply and irrigation supply.
Groundwater development obviously depletes the amount of ground water in aquifer storage and causes reductions ground-water discharge to streams and lowers water level.
The proximity of coastal aquifers to salt water creates unique issues with respect to groundwater sustainability in coastal regions.
Contamination of groundwater resources has resulted in degradation of drinking-water supplies and coastal waters.
These issues are primarily those of saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers
Overexploitation of coastal aquifers may lead to permanent water quality degradation as a consequence of seawater intrusion.
The basic problem that concerns water is the saline water intrusion and migration of sea water landwards, the sweet water of fresh water aquifers may turn into saline water in coastal plain areas.
To prevent or minimize salt water intrusion and keep the coastal aquifers safe is of utmost importance, therefore, the area is selected for this study.
Project Concept Is As Following
Groundwater is the primary or sole source of drinking-water supply and irrigation supply.
Groundwater development obviously depletes the amount of ground water in aquifer storage and causes reductions in ground-water discharge to streams and lowers water level.
The proximity of coastal aquifers to salt water creates unique issues with respect to groundwater sustainability in coastal regions.
Contamination of groundwater resources has resulted in degradation of drinking-water supplies and coastal waters.
These issues are primarily those of saltwater intrusion into freshwater aquifers
Overexploitation of coastal aquifers may lead to permanent water quality degradation as a consequence of seawater intrusion.