India is a water stressed country. Inter State water disputes are symptom of water scarcity and also of poor water management practices. In recent times (between 2001 to 2011) its per capita water availability has reduced from 1820 Cubic Meters to 1545 Cubic Meters. Agriculture is the largest consumer of water. But this sector is known for wasteful use of water. Electrical subsidy given for irrigation also contributes to wasteful usage of water. Policies should be formulated to incentivize prudent use of water. Introduction of superior micro irrigation like drip irrigation must be encouraged. It will go a long way in conserving water resource. It is recommended that Mass Awareness Program and Water Management Training Program should be organized by District Administration on a large scale.
This article is the first part of a series of articles on the need of water conservation in the geographical area of Noida & Greater Noida and surrounding areas.
About Water Resources in Gautam Budh Nagar
Gautam Budh Nagar district has geographical area of 1442 Sq. Km with headquarters at industrial city of Noida. It has three Tehsils and four developmental blocks viz. Bisrakh, Dadri, Dankaur and Jewar.People started moving to Noida around 35 years ago. Urban area is expanding very fast resulting into concretization at rapid rate. Many of the villages are semi urbanized.
Little did the early movers realize that very soon they will face the problem of hard ground water with high TDS level. The ground water also contains high level of undesirable minerals like calcium and magnesium. The ground water is not potable. If consumed over a period it will lead to health issues. The brackish ground water also causes corrosion of electric appliances, pipes and taps. The underground water table level has gone down significantly. District of Gautam Budh Nagar has ground water monitoring system in the form of Dugwells and Piezometers. The ground water in deeper zones gets brackish to saline as it occur more than 1000 ms/cm at 25 degree Centigrade in many sectors. Depletion of ground water levels locally in NOIDA and Greator NOIDA area is attributed to over exploitation of ground water. Higher Manganese concentration in NOIDA urban areas is also reported.
Recently Environment Protection Control Authority has done a survey. As per them The Yamuna is a dead river and there is no aquatic life in it. The survey of the Yamuna from Wazirabad to Okhla in Delhi, covered around 22 kilometers. It was found that the riverbed has only light soil. We can cleanse the river by pumping in freshwater. All we have to do is to ensure that waste is treated at Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) with state-of-the-art facility before dumping it in the river. Often, the flow of the river is sufficient to take care of impurities. So solid waste management is crucial to replenishment of ground water table.
Following are some of the important geomorphology and soil information:-
Gautam Budh Nagar is situated on Ganga – Yamuna Alluvial Plain which is subdivided in flood plain, upland & land adjacent to Patawata. It receives an average rain fall of 700 mm
per year. Maximum rainfall occurs between June to September. August is generally the wettest month.
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The district has three major aquifer groups up to a depth of 350
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Predominant geographical formations are Quaternary Alluvium consisting of mainly sands of various grades, silt, clay and
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The soil type is Sandy Loam and Clay (Bhur, Matir & Dumat). The mixture of sand and clay in equal proportion forms Dumat or loam, a good agriculture
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Gautam Budh Nagar district falls in Yamuna Sub-basin and forms a part of Ganga Yamuna Doab. Major part of the district is covered by Hindon river water
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District of Gautam Budh Nagar is drained by river Yamuna and its tributaries namely- Hindon River and Bhuriya
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All these drainage ways flow in a southerly or southeasterly course. These streams generally follow a meandering course through narrow flood
Soil Types in Gautam Budh Nagar
The soil type is Sandy Loam and Clay (Bhur, Matir & Dumat). The mixture of sand and clay in equal proportion forms Dumat or loam, a good agriculture soil. The bad land patches (Kallor) which are ingested with Reh at places do not support any vegetation growth. Alluvial soils occurring in flood plain of rivers is called Kemp which yield good crops. Kankars invariably associated with clay and at times retards ground water movement.
Water Bearing Formation
The alluvial deposits occur in Ganga – Yamuna Doab area. The area comprises an aquifer system which forms good repository of ground water. These water repositories occur in granular zones constituted of fine to coarse sand and occasional gravel. Thick clay beds inter lying with sand act as confining layers and separate the aquifers. The thickness of the unconsolidated sediments progressively increases towards east. Following are some of the findings:-
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The thick unconsolidated sediments occur up to the explored depth of 0m in the area
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The underlying basement comprising Delhi Quartzite has been found at 116.4 Meters depth at Brijbihar Exploratory Borehole, 330.0 Meters depth at Tilamoth and 325.0 Meters depth at Rajendra Nagar Boreholes in Ghaziabad
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Thick clay beds inter lying with sand act as confining layers and separate the underground aquifers.
Depth of Water Level
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Ground water occurs in shallow aquifers down to the depth of 100 mbgl (Meters below ground level).
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To monitor the nature of water level and its behavior, ground water monitoring well established in the district are being monitored four times in a
- (iii) Pre-monsoon and post-monsoon water level data are collected during May and November
months respectively. - (iv) Water level is going down at the rate of 2 to 3 meters each year.
Mode of Irrigation
The irrigation in the district is basically met by means of minor irrigation structures such as tube wells,
cavity tube wells and occasionally dug wells. Around 90 Sq Km of area is also irrigated by canal. Canals
cover barely 10% of total irrigated area. Use of tanks and ponds for irrigation is almost nil. A large part of
the district area falls in Upper Ganga Canal Command. The eastern parts of the district have good
network of canals. The main canals are the Mat Branch and Jewar Distributary. The total length of canal
network in the district is 385kms. So around 90% of agricultural land is irrigated by minor irrigation
structures. There is lot of scope here to introduce, on a large scale, superior micro irrigation system like
drip irrigation. Significant amount of water can be saved which will help in maintaining ground water
level. It will also save electrical subsidy being given to farmers.
Ground Water Quality Standards
As per ICMR (1975) following are permissible limits of all the constituents of ground water. It will be
prudent for district authorities to initiate a project to test ground water as per this guideline.
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The data and information has also been drawn from District Brochure of Gautam Budh Nagar by Dr BC
Joshi
