Abstract
In recent years, large-scale reduction in the forest cover is observed all over the country due to various reasons, particularly in the humid tropics. However, there are concerted efforts by government departments and NGO’s to bring back the degraded forests to original position through plantation and related agro-forestry activities. Reforestation/afforestation is often recommended as a means of reducing the increased surface water losses associated with soil degradation, returning water to the roots through the soil profile, thereby ultimately restoring base flow. Most of the rehabilitation programs often adopt fast-growing exotic species such as, Eucalyptus spp., Acacia auriculiformis. Many researchers raised concerns over the increased afforestation with exotic forest species on water availability. However, such studies are quite sparse, particularly in humid tropical climates. The Western Ghats in south India, is a treasure house for number of rivers which feeds locally and plays a significant role in socio-economic growth of this part of the country. It is reported that, there is a tremendous change in land use/land cover mainly because of deforestation and also due to afforestation with exotic species such as A. auriculiformis. In spite of such wider change in the land use/land cover, studies on its impact on groundwater resources are lacking. Therefore, the present study has been carried out to understand the influence of land use/land cover changes on groundwater in parts of Malaprabha catchment, a tributary of River Krishna accentuating hydrological and hydrogeological investigations. Rainfall and groundwater level data have been collected from State and Central organizations. Groundwater recharge was estimated using empirical and Groundwater Estimation Committee methods. A numerical model, soil water infiltration movement model (SWIM), was applied to estimate the groundwater recharge under different land covers. It was observed that the groundwater recharge is mainly dependent on the rainfall pattern and land use/land cover changes. The forested areas have shown relatively higher recharge as compared to degraded and agriculture lands.
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Acknowledgements
Authors are highly grateful to Er. R.D. Singh, Director, NIH and Dr. Sudhirkumar, Scientist ‘G’ and Head, Hydrological Investigation Division, NIH, Roorkee, for their constant support and encouragement.
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Purandara, B.K., Venkatesh, B., Jose, M.K., Chandramohan, T. (2018). Change of Land Use/Land Cover on Groundwater Recharge in Malaprabha Catchment, Belagavi, Karnataka, India. In: Singh, V., Yadav, S., Yadava, R. (eds) Groundwater. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 76. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5789-2_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5789-2_9
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