Groundwater Depletion and Sustainability Assessment in Haryana State, India: A GIS-Based Approach

Abstract

Groundwater is a vital resource for meeting agricultural, domestic and industrial water requirements in semi-arid areas like Haryana, India. But rising water use for intensive farming, rapid urbanisation and population growth has resulted in groundwater depletion. This research assesses spatial and temporal variations in groundwater levels and evaluates groundwater sustainability using a geographic information system (GIS). Groundwater depth measurements were spatially interpolated to create continuous surfaces, and temporal and seasonal changes were analysed to detect trends. A groundwater sustainability index was constructed by combining various parameters, such as groundwater depth, fluctuation, rainfall, and land use, using a weighted overlay approach. The findings show marked spatial variability, with groundwater sustainable in the northeastern part of the state, and critically low in the central and southwestern regions. Temporal analysis shows a steady decline in groundwater levels, especially in intensively farmed and urbanised districts, like Karnal, Kurukshetra and Panipat. The sustainability assessment indicates large areas of the state are in the critical and overexploited categories, indicating unsustainable groundwater use. The mapping of depletion hotspots offers a geographical foundation for resource management and policy. The geospatial approach coupled with multi-criteria assessment is a successful approach for groundwater assessment, and aids in decision support for sustainable water resource management.