Assessment of groundwater potential of Gandhinagar region,Gujarat

With burgeoning population, the groundwater demands of any area increased by many fold and therefore, it is essential to assess the groundwater potential to choose suitable sites for further groundwater development. Present study determines the groundwater potential of different parts of Gandhinagar region located at Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, India. Here, excluding city dwellers, all villagers are mostly dependent on groundwater for drinking and domestic purposes. With increasing population, there is a rise in daily human consumption and hence reduction in groundwater quantity.Various types of industries of Gandhinagar such as textile industries, food processing industries, ceramic industries etc. also require groundwater. Industrial discharges deteriorate the water quality of this region. Therefore, water level monitoring and quality assessment of groundwater in regular intervals is essential. The groundwater potential zoning is an indicator, which gives the overall idea about the groundwater condition. Overlay analysis in GIS using multiple criteria such as WQI, hydraulic conductivity, groundwater velocity, and depth to piezometric surface discloses that there are five groundwater potential zones in Gandhinagar region. This study reveals that majority of the study area is covered with medium potential zone. Different management plans such as treated surface water supply, reduction in tubewell operation time, development of rooftop rainwater harvesting system and artificial recharge system etc. are recommended for different potential zones for sustainable development of groundwater of Gandhinagar region.