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Managing groundwater demand through surface water and reuse strategies in an overexploited aquifer of Indian Punjab

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Abstract

Groundwater sustainability is one of the most critical issues to the State of Punjab, India. In this research, a numerical groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) was employed to simulate flow and groundwater levels in the Sirhind Canal Tract of Punjab between 1998 and 2030. Historical groundwater patterns were calibrated using reported groundwater data from 1998 to 2013 for aquifer parameters viz. hydraulic conductivity and specific yield. Thereafter, calibrated flow simulated model was validated for the years 2013–2018. Twelve possible strategies, including three irrigation conditions and four pumping scenarios, were postulated to evaluate the performance of groundwater resources through to 2030. During the study, it was found that if current groundwater abstraction continues there will be further steep decline of 21.49 m in groundwater level by 2030. Findings also suggest that canal water supplies will be beneficial to reverse groundwater level decline and help to increase the water level by 11% above that in year 2018. The projected increases in water level will reduce energy demand leading to reduced CO2 emissions of approximately 966.6 thousand tonnes by 2030.

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Funding

This research work was supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, BB/P027970/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab, 141004, India

    Navdeep Kaur & Samanpreet Kaur

  2. Biosystems Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma, US

    Navdeep Kaur

  3. Department of Engineering, Centre for International Manufacturing, Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), School of Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0FS, UK

    Naoum Tsolakis & Jagjit Singh Srai

  4. Department of Business, Law and Politics, University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Nishikant Mishra

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  1. Navdeep Kaur
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Correspondence to Samanpreet Kaur.

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Kaur, N., Kaur, S., Tsolakis, N. et al. Managing groundwater demand through surface water and reuse strategies in an overexploited aquifer of Indian Punjab. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 9, 2009–2026 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-022-01602-4

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