Nagpur-District

 A.   GENERAL IFORMATION:

Nagpur is located at the geographical center of India, situated  in the eastern part of Maharashtra. It is famous for Orange cultivation & popularly known as the “Orange City”. “Nagpur” the name of city is derived from river “ Nag” which flows through the city.  “ Zero Milestone ” located in Nagpur, from here the distances throughout India are measured . All the Major highways & railways pass via Nagpur.

Maharashtra government established Ground Water Survey And Development Agency on 16th July 1971 for assessing the need & importance of groundwater. For this purpose, every District in the state of Maharashtra has a District Senior Geologist office. Similarly in Nagpur, the Senior Geologist office is located in the M.J.P. Building, B- Wing, II Floor, Telangkhedi, Nagpur, its email address is sggsdanp@rediff mail.com.

B.   IMPORTANT FEATURES OE DISTRICT

1 ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP: –  

Nagpur District comprises 13 talukas. There are five subdivision offices at Nagpur, Saoner, Ramtek, Katol, and Umred. Nagpur District has a geographical area of 9931 Sq km, out of which 421 sq km area is covered by forest, and 6100 Sq km area is cultivable. Nagpur is the 13 th largest urban conglomeration of India. Nagpur District has total 1859 villages & 101 wadis  out of which 1617  village are habitated , 242  villages are Uninhabited, total populations of Nagpur  as per 2011 census is 46,67,637.

2 GEOGRAPHICAL SET UP: –

Nagpur Districts is located on 20^o35’ & 21^o 44’N longitude & 78^o 15’ & 79^o 40’ E latitude. As per Survey of India toposheets Nagpur lies in 55/O, 55/K, 55/L & 55/P degree sheets.Towards the northern border of District, the Chindawara & Shiwani Districts of Madhya- Pradesh state are located, Bhandara District is towards eastern border, & towards southern border is Wardha District of Maharashtra. While towards south east border is Chandrapur District of Maharashtra & towards north-west border is Amravati District of Maharashtra. 

3. WEATHER AND RAINFALL: –

Nagpur District has a semi arid climate, winter lasts from October to February, the December & January are severely cold. The average day temperature is about  27^oc while that of night is about  14^o C & sometimes it can drop down even by 5^oC .From the month of March temperature starts increasing. May is the hottest Month, with average temperature of about 40^oC rising even upto 47^oC.
                   Nagpur District mainly experiences rainfall from south-west monsoon. It rains from June to September. The western parts of the District receive on an average rainfall of 800-900 mm and other parts of District receive 1000- 1200mm annual rainfall.

4.  NATURAL SETUP: –

The satpuda mountain ranges constitute the northern & north western part of Nagpur district. They show plateaus & hillocks landforms. Towards the east & north- east side of the district, few Satpuda mountain ranges are seen . The central part of the district is plain terrain. District has the highest altitude of 652m above mean sea level ,in the northern side and the lowest altitute of 274m above mean sea level near the Kanhan river of the district.                 

Nagpur District is drained by the Wainganga and Wardha river ,the northern, north-eastern & south-eastern part of the district are occupied by Wainganga river basin . The Wainganga basin has its sub river basin like Kanhan, Pench, Kolar, Bawanthadi, Sur, Aam & Maru. All these rivers flow form north, north-east towards south, south-east. The Chandrabhaga & Nag river flow from west towards east & meet the Kolar sub rivers . The Kanhan, Pench, kolar, Bawanthadi Chandrabhaga & Nag rivers are perennial. 
The North –west , west & south-west part of the district are occupied by the Wardha river basin, with Jam, Kad, vena ,Nand & Bor sub river basins. The Wardha river,the Bor & the vena rivers are perennial.

Soil :-

Nagpur district has three district types of soil. The western & southern part of the district has clayey soil, while eastern part has clay-loam & sandy clay. The  North  and  South eastern part has sandy clay loam  type of soil.

5. GEOLOGICAL SETUP: –

Nagpur District has varied Geology. The District has all the rock types like igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The Geological formation of the Nagpur Districts is as follows:-

Geological Formation

I) Consolidated Formations: – Arceans and the Deccan trap basalts are the two consolidated formations which form the hard rock aquifers occuring in the District. 

i) Archean Formations:

The crystalline rocks comprising of gneisses, schist, phyllite, pegmatite and quartzite are the main formations occuring in the North-Eastern & South-Eastern part of the District. In Nagpur District Arceans occupies the area near about 35% part of the District. It   covers mostly Nagpur ,Saoner,Ramtek,Parshioni,Mouda,Kamthi,Umred,Kuhi & Bhivapur talukas .In these rocks ,weathered zone which is down to  a depth of 20 to 25 mts bgl forms the important shallow aquifer for dug wells. In unweathered crystalline rocks, the occurence of groundwater is mainly controlled by joints; fractures.Higher yields are generally associated with lineaments. In general the groundwater occurence in this formation is moderate to poor.

ii) Deccan Trap: Basalt is the main formation of the District occupies an area of about 4300 sq.km i.e.49 to 50 % of the total area of the District. The area covering Katol,Narkhed,Hingna & umred talukas and some part of Nagpur,Saoner,Kalmeshwar,Bhiwapur & Kuhi taluka. The thickness of the layer is generally 15 to 30 mts .Within the two layers intertrapean clay deposits are found.

The groundwater occupies under phreatic conditions in the exposed lava flows and in semiconfined to confined in the subsurface flows. Groundwater is present in pore spaces in the vesicular units of each flow and in the jointed and fractured portions of massive basalt. However secondary porosity and permeability developed due to weathering, fracturing & joints play a very important role in the storage and movements of ground water. This has given rise to good aquifer in Deccan trap.

II) Semi consolidated Formations:

 There are two types of semi consolidated formations i.e. Lameta & Gondwanas occur in the District.

i)Lameta Beds: Lameta beds, found to the North of the District in a small patch are compact, clayey and poor in permeability .Hence it is not a good water bearing formation.

1. ii) Gondwana sediments: Gondwana formation occupying a total area of about 470 sq.km.(i.e. near about 1%)occurs in the Northen part of Nagpur city extended from Kamptee to Saoner and  isolated patches are also occurs  near North of Satnavari village as well as in Umred taluka also.Among  the Gondwanas the Barakar and Kampti’s generally consist of medium to coarse grained friable sandstone .These constitute the important water bearing formations in the District. the depth of this aquifer is about 45 to 50 mts bgl.

III) Unconsolidated Alluvium Formations:

Alluvium consisting of sand ,silt, clay & kankar forms the potential water bearing formations and it occurs in Southern part of the District from Butibori to Bela.The alluvium of recent to sub-recent age and are found to have been deposited along the Kanhan & Pench river in Saoner,Parshioni,Kamptee and Mouda talukas.The alluvium covers near about 5% of area. The thickness of alluvium is about 25 to 35 mtr and comprises of medium to coarse grained sand with or without clay. These formations are highly productive aquifer & sustain long duration pumping with very less drawdown and fast recuperation. Groundwater occurs in water table and semi-confined conditions in the alluvial formation.

6 . Hydrogeology :- 

Nagpur district is mainly occupied by two main river basins, Wainganga & Wardha .Wainganga basin has 40 watershed & Wardha basin 14 watershed , thus the district has  total 54 watersheds . As per the to 6th Groundwater assessment WRJ-2 & WRJ-4 of Wardha basin are overexploited and  WGKK-2 of Wainganga basin  is critical The watersheds WR-29 & WRJ-1 of Wardha basin are semicritical .  The annual groundwater recharge of the district is 104189.02 ham, while gross annual draft is 45295.28 ham, and the groundwater available is 49979.16 ham. The district has total 47906 irrigational wells & on the basis of groundwater availability new 33319 wells can be excavated.

Each watershed from the district is divided into 3 Zones Runoff zone ,Recharge zone & Storage zone . Each zone has a representative observation well, so total network of 116 observation wells are found in the district .The morphozone wise observation well information of the watershed is as follows.

The static water levels of each observation wells , are measured in pre monsoon & in post monsoon . The study of pre monsoon and post monsoon static water levels of the observation wells indicate that the observation wells of alluvial & Gondwana region have water level fluctuation ranging from 2.10 mt to 11.10 mt, while in the Deccan trap region fluctuation  is ranging from 2.10 mt to 12.90 mt and the Archeans show fluctuation ranging from 1.80mt to 13.25mt .Based on the water level fluctuation after every five years a groundwater assessment is carried out. Similarly by studying water levels and monsoon rainfall received, probable scarcity prone areas are identified every year.