Abstract
Analysis of groundwater level fluctuations is critical to understanding groundwater system dynamics and the factors that cause groundwater level fluctuations. Although most of the earlier studies focused on time series trend analysis using typical non-parametric tests, groundwater level fluctuations in drought-prone areas of northern Bangladesh are still poorly understood. To this end, the present study aims to analyze groundwater level fluctuations from 1980 to 2019 and associated influencing factors on groundwater level oscillation using the modified Mann-Kendall test and Pearson’s correlation method. Using GIS-based analytical hierarchical process (AHP) techniques, this study also identifies potential groundwater zones in the designated area. The result showed that 42.5% of monitoring wells had groundwater levels from 4.5 to 5.5 m during the pre-monsoon, whereas 57.5% had groundwater levels from 2.5 to 3.5 m during the monsoon in recent years. Based on the annual average groundwater level, the result showed that 62.5% of monitored wells had a declining trend, and 37.5% had an increasing trend from 2000 to 2019. A negative correlation was observed between groundwater level and rainfall in all monitoring wells, as the area’s rainfall impacted the groundwater level fluctuations. There was also a substantial positive correlation between groundwater levels, extraction, and potential evapotranspiration. The groundwater potential zone mapping shows three primary groundwater prospect categories: poor (1.9%), moderate (34.16%), and excellent (63.94%). The findings will assist planners and policymakers in allocating groundwater resources in various sectors such as agriculture, drinking water, and industry.
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Acknowledgements
We truly acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for improving quality of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the Processing and Flood Forecasting Circle Department of the Bangladesh Water Development Board, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) for providing long-term groundwater level, climatic, and geologic data for the study.
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Authors thankfully acknowledge the Deanship of Scientific Research for providing administrative and financial supports. Funding for this research was given under award number RGP2/363/44 by the Deanship of Scientific Research; King Khalid University, Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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M. M. M., designed, conceptualized, drafted the original manuscript; S. C. S. and S. K. S., planned the documents; M. A. and J. M., involved in the literature review, software, mapping, statistical analysis, interpretation of the analysis, and discussion; S. C. S. and M. M. M., contributed to instrumental setup, data analysis, validation; M. M. M., contributed to data collection and extraction; Islam, A. R. M. T., J. M., M. A., and S. K. S., had done the internal review and proofreading during the manuscript drafting stage.
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Monir, M.M., Sarker, S.C., Sarkar, S.K. et al. Groundwater level fluctuations and associated influencing factors in Rangpur District, Bangladesh, using modified Mann-Kendall and GIS-based AHP technique. Theor Appl Climatol 153, 1323–1339 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04541-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04541-x