District -Washim
Introduction
Washim district is one of the eleven districts of Vidarbha Region and is located in the eastern region of Maharashtra State. Washim district was formed on 1 July 1998. Washim was once known as Vatsagulma, the capital of the Vatsagulma line of Vakataka dynasty. In the year 1905 during the period of the British Raj Washim district was bifurcated into two separate districts, namely, Akola District and Yavatmal District. It again became a district in 1998. The district headquarters is located at Washim town. This district is divided into 3 sub-divisions, namely, Washim, Mangrulpir and Karanja. These are further divided into 6 talukas. The talukas are Malegaon, Mangrulpir, Karanja, Manora, Washim and Risod. Washim is located in the eastern part of Vidharbha. Akola on its north, Amravati in the northeast, Hingoli is on the south, Buldhana is on the west, Yavatmal is on the east. The river Penganga is the main river in the district. It flows through the tehsil of Risod. Later flowing through the boundaries of Washim and Hingoli . The origin of the Katepuna River is in the hills of the district and, it travels north to Akola district through the Tehsil.
Geomorphology, Drainage and Soil Types
The district forms part of Deccan Plateau with slope towards southeast from Sahayadri hills and has a varied topography consisting of hills, plains and undulating topography near riverbanks. The district forms a part of Godavari and Tapi basins. Penganga River is the main river flowing through the district. Other rivers are Adol, Aran, Kapsi, Nirguna and Mun. Based on geomorphological setting and drainage pattern, the district is divided into 35 watersheds. The soil of the district is basically derived from Deccan Trap Basalt and major part of the district is occupied by medium black soil of 25-50 cm depth occurring in the plains in entire south western, north eastern and northern parts of the district, whereas the shallow black soil of 7.5 to 25 cm depth occur in restricted hilly parts of the district in central elongated part and the northern peripheral part.
Climate and Rainfall Land Use
The climate of the district is characterized by a hot summer and general dryness throughout the year except during the south-west monsoon season, i.e., June to September. The mean minimum temperature is 12.1°C and mean maximum temperature is 42.8°C. May is the hottest month. With the arrival of south-west monsoon in the district by around mid June there is an appreciable drop in the day temperature and the weather becomes pleasant. With the withdrawal of the monsoon by the end of September day temperatures rise a little in October. Both day and night temperatures begin to drop rapidly by November. December is the coldest month with the mean daily minimum and maximum temperatures at 11.18°C and 30.02°C respectively.
Rainfall is not uniform in all the blocks of the district. The district normal rainfall for the year is 924.3 mm. The decadal average rainfall for the district ranges from 591.5 mm (2017) to 1334.7 mm (2002).
Geology
Geologically, the area is occupied by Recent River Alluvium and Basaltic lava flows known as Deccan Traps belonging to Cretaceous to Eocene, with patches of inter-trappean beds. The alluvium cover deposited during Recent to Quaternary period is restricted to the banks of Penganga River and comprises of sand, silt, clay and gravels. Deccan trap basalts of Upper Cretaceous- Eocene period occupy almost 100% area of the district.
Hydrgeology
Basalt forms the main aquifers in the district. Deccan Traps occurs as Basaltic lava flows, which are normally horizontally disposed over a wide stretch and give rise to tableland type of topography, on weathering also known as plateau. These flows occur in layered sequence ranging in thickness from few metres to 50 m. Flows are represented by massive portion at bottom and vesicular portion at top and are separated from each other by marker bed known as bole bed. Ground water in Deccan Trap Basalt occurs under phreatic and semi-confined conditions. The weathered and fractured trap occurring in topographic lows form the main aquifer in the district. The vesicular portion of different lava flow varies in thickness from 8 to 10 m and forms the potential zones. Deccan Trap Basalt of upper Cretaceous to lower Eocene age is the major rock formation in the district covering entire district. Although, Alluvium occurs along the major river in the district but it does not form potential aquifer except locally. Deccan basalts are hydro geologically in-homogeneous rocks. The weathered and jointed /fractured parts of the rock constitute the zone of ground water storage and flow. The existence of multiple aquifers is characteristic of basalt and is indicative of wide variation in the joint/fracture pattern and intensity. The yield of wells is function of the permeability and transmissivity of aquifer and it depends upon the degree of weathering, intensity of joints\fractures and topographic setting of the aquifer. Due to wide variation in secondary openings, the potential areas for ground water are generally localized. In general Ground water occurs under phreatic/unconfined to semi-confined conditions in basalts. Shallow Aquifer is generally tapped by the dug wells of 5 to 35 m depth, water levels range from 3 to 21 m bgl and yield varies from 10 to 100 m3/day. The deeper Aquifer is being tapped by borewells with depth 40 m bgl and the water level from 8 to 11 m bgl. The occurrence of red bole beds plays major role in local hydrogeological conditions.
Cultural
Poharadevi Temple, Jain Temple at Shirpur , Gududatta Temple at Karanja and Balaji Mandir at Washim are the pilgrims spots in Washim District