Canal irrigation and its impact on spatial and temporal variation in groundwater level: A case study in Indira Gandhi Canal Project Stage i command area

Abstract

The western part of India is hot desert, which is known as Thar Desert.The largest extent of this desert is spread over Rajasthan state.In order to increase agriculture potential of desertic soil Indira Gandhi Canal Project (IGCP) was introduced.The development of IGCP project has bought changes in the land use pattern in terms of increase in area under the agriculture.The increase in area under agriculture and under irrigation network has brought fluctuations in the groundwater level.This fluctuation in groundwater level is result of the seepage of water through the excessive irrigation and the seepage from the canal network.Thus the human impact in form of land-use pattern of a land is an important determinant of rise and fall in groundwater level.The spatial and temporal variation in groundwater level has been analysed Inverse Distance Weightage technique across different pentards for 128 observation wells of the Anupgarh, Vijayanagar and Suratgarh tehsil of Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan, which lies in the northwestern part of IGCP Stage I.