Over - Exploitation of Deeper Aquifer for Agriculture and its Management in Bemetera District of Chhattisgarh State, India Dr Naik Prabir Kumar1, Tripathy Rajiv2, Samantray Sambit3, Prasad Gulab4 1SUO, Central Ground Water Board, New Delhi 2SER, Central Ground Water Board, Bhubaneshwar 3Rajiv Gandhi National Ground Water Training & Research Institute, Raipur 4SER, Central Ground Water Board, Bhubaneshwar Online Published on 27 September, 2023. Abstract Bemetera district of Chhattisgarh state is having 4 community development blocks and geographical area of 2,855 sq. km. It is part of Chhattisgarh basin and underlain by hard rocks such as shale, limestone and dolomite of Precambrian age. There are around 39,000 bore wells in Bemetera district. Agriculture is intensively practiced in the region which is totally based on bore well irrigation. Kharif and Rabi crops are common in the area which include paddy, wheat, sugarcane, soyabean, pulses, blackgram, banana, papaya and different types of vegetables from time to time. Maniari shale, the youngest formation of Chhattisgarh basin is highly gypsiferous and forms a productive aquifer having yield upto 18 lps. As the deeper aquifer is high yielding in nature it is heavily exploited by bore wells varying from 60 to 100 m depth and there is decline of water level. Water level of bore wells in pre-monsoon varies from 8.93 to 42.35 mbgl. Net ground water availability in the area is 20302 Ham. Gross ground water draft is 15756 ham. Present status of ground water development is 77.6 %. Ground water draft for irrigation is 14989 Ham which is 95% of gross draft. As a result there is drying up of dug wells in summer season and decadal lowering of water level ranges from 2 to 5 m. The different ground water management strategies can be implemented in the area are change in cropping pattern (long term), land leveling and different artificial recharge measures. Change of cropping pattern from paddy to maize in 1558 Ha in Rabi season can save water of 1558 Ham(15.58MCM). Land leveling can save 1.17 MCM of water. Different artificial recharge measures like 30 percolation tanks, 101 check dams and 405 nala bunds can recharge 12.896 MCM of water. So total saving of water from the above 3 measures will be 29.64 MCM. Total change in stage of ground water development can be reduced from 77.6 % to 62.98 % which will be in safe category. Top Keywords Bore well, Hard rock, Precambrian, Recharge, Resource. Top |