Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment using DRASTIC Method in Jabalpur District of Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

Abstract-Groundwater is indispensable to humankind, but withincreasing load over this precious resource it has becomenecessary to study it in detail with geological as well as hydro-geological aspects to understand the nature of the groundwaterresource of a region and also include socioeconomic aspect inorder to manage it well and use it in a sustainable way,vulnerability assessment of the resource is conducted to highlightthe areas which are more susceptible to degradation and later onsuitable decision can be taken to safeguard the resource. In thepresent study such as attempt has been made to account thegroundwater vulnerability using as overlay index method,DRASTIC, which is used to prepare a vulnerability map usingGIS, of the study area, Jabalpur District, Madhya Pradesh. Thismethod accounts for the aquifer parameters like depth to water,net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, impact of Vadose zoneand hydraulic conductivity. The DRASTIC Vulnerability index(DVI) is calculated as the sum of product of ratings and weightsassigned to each of the parameter on the scale of 1 to 10 and 1 to5 respectively. The vulnerability index ranges from 47-209 and isclassified into three classes and it was deduced that approximately15%, 76% and 9% of the area lies in low, medium and highvulnerability zones. Further the study of population growth waterdemand by various sectors are also assessed to find the overallvulnerability in terms of groundwater development which showsthat if the current trend of growth in population industrial andagricultural sector continues, soon the district will fall intoexploited zone. The map formed can be used for the managementdecision for sustainable use of the aquife