Groundwater monitoring, resource assessment: a case study from Punjab,

India

Gopal Krishan1, Alan M MacDonald,2, D J Lapworth3, Daren Gooddy4, M.S Rao1, Surjeet Singh1

1
National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India
2
Principal Hydrogeologist, British Geological Survey, The Lyell Centre, Edinburgh, UK
3
Principal Hydrogeochemist British Geological Survey, Maclean Building, Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK
4
Daren Gooddy, Groundwater Processes Team Leader, British Geological Survey, Maclean Building,
Wallingford, OX10 8BB, UK
Corresponding author: drgopal.krishan@gmail.com

Abstract

Groundwater is the largest freshwater storage accounting for about 99% of our liquid fresh water
and is crucial for the sustenance of surface water bodies such as rivers and lakes and also wetlands
and ecological systems, these are also called its manifestations. There is continuous exchange of
flow between the groundwater reservoir and surface water bodies depending upon availability and
need and playing an active role in replenishment of hydrological cycle. Its incessant flow believed as
a conveyor system for chemicals of geogenic (natural), as well as anthropogenic (human-made)
origin. The amount and distribution of these chemicals guides its suitability for drinking and
irrigation use. The only way the groundwater can be accessible is pumping and it is estimated that its
over extraction has increased by four times during last five decades globally and continuous
extraction will be a danger for its sustainability. Therefore, monitoring of quality as well as quantity
this resource is very important for societal point of view.
Recent studies carried out in Punjab, India clearly show that there are issues of degradation of
groundwater quality as well as the serious depletion of groundwater levels in the state. Most part of
the district the water levels are declining at a rapid rate due to high extraction. In south-west Punjab
groundwater is highly saline and has been found contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic,
iron etc. in Majha region and in pockets of some districts.
Since groundwater is a renewable resource and there is a possibility of its development as a
desirable societal outcome. Its societal management is necessary to prevent further loss to it in
terms of quality as well as quantity by balancing this resource to safe and sustainable yields.

Keywords: Groundwater, declining water levels, contaminations, resource management, Punjab

1. Introduction

The dominant agrarian economy of Punjab state with a lower industrial output as compared to many
other states of India is now under the threat of falling agricultural production and health primarily
because of falling groundwater levels and deteriorating groundwater quality. The uses of
groundwater and their demands in India are rising due to the ever increasing population,
industrialization, unreliable monsoon and climate change (Siebert et al., 2010), resulting in falling
groundwater levels and quality deterioration originating from both anthropogenic and geogenic
sources (Bonsor et al., 2017; Lapworth et al, 2014, 2015, 2017; MacDonald et al., 2016; Macllister et
al., 2022). The Punjab state witnesses all these issues related to groundwater and its consequential
problems. Being a state with a dominant agrarian economy, which is primarily groundwater
dependant, it cannot be sustained if overlooked and undermined in resolving the problem of
groundwater in the state.

Amid Indian states, Punjab with its favourable hydrogeology recognized by the Indus Basin aquifer
(Bonsor et al., 2017) underlies Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Punjab states of India depleting at the
rate of 109 km3/year (Rodell et al., 2009) ranks highest for groundwater utilization and holds the
second position in the list of most over-stressed aquifers in the world (NASA, 2015). Groundwater
depletion, in addition to the looming agro-based economy threatens the environment by affecting
the rivers due to reduced base flow, wetlands diminish, water quality degradation, soil moisture
reduction, and disturbing forest ecology (Custodio, 2002; Foster et al., 2018).

These eventually have given rise to the problems of groundwater related issues in Punjab. which can
be categorized in two folds; (i) deteriorating groundwater quality (Krishan et al., 2021a, b), and (ii)
rapid decline of groundwater levels in adjoining areas of central Punjab (Lapworth et al., 2015).
Serious health-related problems have been reported in Punjab state during the last couple of years
and it has been reported that the major cause of health problems is water originated and due to the
occurrence of trace/heavy metals in water in excess of the acceptable and permissible limit. The
geogenic origin is the major source of heavy/trace metals that have been reported in past studies.

Keeping this in view studies were carried out on (i) groundwater resource assessment and (ii)
groundwater quality issues of Punjab.

2. Study area

The Punjab State with its total geographical area of 50,362 km2 covering 1.57% of the total area of
India, lies between 29o 32’ -32o 28’ N and 73o 50’ -77o 00’ E and is surrounded by the states of
Himachal Pradesh in the northeast, Jammu and Kashmir in the north and Haryana and Rajasthan in
the south and southwest, respectively (Fig 1a). Geographically, Punjab is divided into four main
regions namely, Majha (area between Beas and Ravi rivers), Malwa (region of Punjab towards the
left bank of Sutlej River), Doaba (between rivers Sutlej and Beas) and Powadh (adjoining Ghaggar
River). Punjab is predominantly an agrarian state and its 85% area is cultivated with cropping
intensity of more than 198%. The cropping pattern is dominated by wheat-rice rotation as Rabi-
Kharif season crops contributing 13-14 percent towards the total food grain production of the
country. Traditionally, wheat was the primary crop of the state, but since the mid-1970’s rice
stormed in the cropping pattern as a commercial crop impacting state agriculture with an increase in
the area of paddy cultivation by ten folds replacing crops like cotton, kharif pulses, maize, jowar,
bajra and kharif oilseeds.

2.1 Land use and land cover

The LULC map of Punjab has been prepared (Fig. 1 b & c) using the Landsat 8-OLI MSI DATA of 2018
Rabi season (December- March) and Kharif season showing agricultural land (Rabi=55%; Kharif =
73%), fallow land (Rabi=22%; Kharif=7%), settlement (Rabi=17%; Kharif=16%); water bodies
(Rabi=6%; Kharif=3%) and habitat settlement is in 1% area. Paddy and cotton are the main kharif
crops while wheat and barley are the main rabi crops grown in the study area. The cropping intensity
of the state is 175%.

2.2 Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

The Shuttle radar topographic Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) 1- arc resolution data
and Landsat 8 Images of 30m resolution were used in the identification of various geomorphic
surfaces (Fig. 2a) and are characterized by the change in slope, older piedmont zone, zone of
terminal fans, central alluvial plain, southern Pedi plain and Aravalli Piedmont Zone. The DEM
indicates an extensive alluvial plain gently sloping from about 350m above mean sea-level in the
northeast and the north to about 180m in the southwest and it has been noticed that the south-
western fringe area of the region is deserted and undulating, but has gradually been levelled with
the extension of cultivation and irrigation.

2.3 Climate and rainfall

Punjab is characterized by a continental, semiarid to sub-humid climate varying from tropical steppe
in the north-east to sub-tropical steppe in south-west. It is mainly dry except in rainy months due to
the semi-arid and hot climate, and is characterized by intensely hot summer and cold winter. The
typical rainy period in the region extends from July to September contributing about 80% of the
normal annual rainfall which is 600 mm. Rainfall varies from > 1000 mm in the Siwalik Hills in the
north and north-east to about 300 mm in the west and south-west. Thus rainfall in west and south-
west region is not sufficient for irrigation. January is the coldest month (mean maximum
temperature 20 - 25°C, mean minimum 10oC -15°C) while June is the hottest month (mean
temperature 30 to 35°C). The intensity of heat is more in the west and south-west Punjab as
compared to the east and the north-east (Fig. 2b).

2.4 Geological and soil characteristics

2.3.1 Geomorphology
The geomorphologic map (Fig. 2c) shows that Punjab exhibits gradational landforms, mainly fluvial,
formed by the deposition of sediments and also a low lying flat topography in most of the area.
There is a Siwalik hill range in the north eastern part of the state with structural hills and Piedmont
forms of landforms. The alluvial wetlands are found in some parts of the Patiala and Amritsar
districts. The sand dunes are mainly spread in the south western districts of Punjab like Fazilka,
Muktsar, Bathinda and Mansa.
2.3.2 Lithologic and soil characteristics
The lithology is the basis of subdividing rock sequences into individual litho-stratigraphic units (Fig.
2d) for mapping and correlation between areas. It signifies the description of the physical
characteristics of rock determined by its physical appearances based on colour, structures,
mineralogic components, and grain size. Punjab has mixed lithological sequences mostly dominated
by
(i) Silt-clay with kankar (calcium carbonate nodules) and micaceous sand in the plain areas.
(ii) The occurrence of coarse sand, boulders, conglomerate and clay is common in the
Siwalik range.
(iii) Sorted boulders, cobbles, pebbles in a sandy matrix, sand, silt, clay, and conglomerate
are the dominant features along the river courses.
(iv) Variegated clay-stone mixed with sandstone and siltstones is dominant lithological
formations in major part of the plain areas, while sequences of oxidised silt, clay with
kankar are present in the south-western part of the State.
The major soils are loamy (Ustochrepts of Ustic), Kandi (piedmont) soils, podzolic and forest soils,
sierozems, flood plain (bet soils or ustifluvent) soils, sodic and saline soils, sandy and desert soils
(calciorthids ). The loamy, kandi and sierozem soils cover nearly 70% area of the State with the
distribution of 25%, 23% and 22%, respectively. The loamy soils are fertile and productive soil
groups. The Kandi soils have been formed by deposits of river torrents of Siwalik hills and are
eroded in nature and less productive, but suitable for dry farming. The podzolic and forest soils have
been developed mainly in steep slopes and rugged topography composed of gravel, pebbles, and
coarse sand.
Fig. 1(a) Location map of Punjab state in India (b) land use/land cover map of Rabi and (c) Kharif
seasons of Punjab (Krishan et al., 2021b)
Fig. 2 (a) DEM map of Punjab state (b) precipitation map of Punjab state (2019, IMD) (c)
Geomorphology map of Punjab (d) Geologic map of Punjab (Krishan et al., 2021b)

2.4. Hydrology and hydrogeology

The three major rivers, namely the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi tributaries of the Indus River flowing through
these regions are important geographical features of the land. Sutlej and Beas flow through the
Punjab state in India while the Ravi River flows partially in Punjab, mainly along the Jammu and
Kashmir and Punjab boundary of India and finally enters Pakistan. The Ghaggar is a truncated
seasonal river at present. The discharge of the perennial rivers is subject to wide fluctuations with a
high flow in August to a low flow in April. The Sutlej and other perennial streams are not dependent
on monsoon rainfall alone for their water supply, but have also supply from the melting of the
Himalayan snows.

The Punjab state is underlain by Quaternary alluvium of substantial thickness, which abuts against
the rocks of the Siwalik system towards the North-East. Quaternary deposits consists of (i) Piedmont
deposits- occur along a narrow belt parallel to the Siwaliks also known as “Kandi” (ii) Alluvial plains -
most important ground water reservoir; (iii) Aeolian deposits- occur in the south-western part; and
(iv) Intermontane valley- near Anandpur Sahib in Rup nagar district. The alluvial deposits
redistributed by Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi rivers are laterally and vertically extensive and persistent. In
general these act as a single groundwater body except locally as buried channels (CGWB, 2017).
Sufficient thickness of saturated permeable granular horizons occurs in the flood plains of rivers that
are capable of sustaining heavy-duty tube wells (CGWB, 2017). In a major part of the state, the
Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) has carried out exploratory drilling to a depth of about 450
meters below ground level. It has been deciphered that thick fresh water aquifers exist throughout
the state and are laterally and vertically extensive and persistent in nature. However, in south-
western parts, the thickness of fresh water aquifer is much less as compared to the other parts
because area is underlain by brackish/ saline water.

Based on yield characteristics, there are mainly aquifer zones as: i) Local and discontinuous- fairly
3
thick aquifers; fresh water down to 50 meters; average yield of wells < 50 m /hour; covering an area
12,000 km2 in Faridkot, Moga, Bathinda, Mansa, southern parts of Sangrur and Firozpur districts ii)
Regionally extensive and fairly thick aquifers down to 300 meters; average yield of wells 50 – 150
3
m /hours occur in a narrow strip extending from south of Fazilka to north of Moga and also in the
north eastern parts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahar, Patiala, Rupnagar district and
Anandpur Sahib valley of Rupnagar district; comprises an area of about 7000 km2. Aquifers down to
3
450 meters with an average yield of wells > 150 m /hour occur in an area of about 29,000 km2
covering whole of Amritsar, Kapurthala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Patiala districts and parts of
Sangrur, Gurdaspur, Firozpur, Patiala, Nawanshahar, Jalandhar and Rupnagar districts, and iii) Hilly
terrain of about 2000 km2 in parts of Rupnagar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahar districts,
3
which is underlain by semi-consolidated formations having limited yield potentials below 50 m /hour
3
except plateau area in Garhshankar block of Hoshiarpur district; potential yield of 100 m /hr to 200
3
m /hr and semi-consolidated formations mostly found in Gurdaspur district along the right bank of
the Beas and Chaki khad and along left bank of the Ravi and Anandpur Sahib block of Rupnagar
district. The artesian flowing aquifers occur generally below 40 meters depth and along left bank of
3
Ravi river up to 155 m bgl. The free flow discharge ranges between 1 and 70 m /hour (CGWB, 2017).
The direction of groundwater flow is towards west and south-west Punjab. Major recharge areas to
the groundwater fall in high hills of Punjab and J&K and lithologies in detail of the area are given by
Gupta and Marwaha (2010). Various researchers have found out possible recharge sources in the
Bist Doab basin (Lapworth et al., 2015, 2017; Rao et al., 2017); satluj basin (Krishan et al., 2021a, b).

3. Materials and methods

Water level data was collected from Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ welfare, Punjab. For
salinity assessment, the sites for sampling campaigns were designed using geospatial technology at
the latitude interval of 5’ N and longitude interval of 5’E to represent each grid size of 10 km x 10 km
and the mesh of Grids for the whole Punjab. Each grid size of 100 km2 for the whole Punjab having a
geographical area of 50,362 km2 has about 503 numbers of meshes as sampling locations.
The groundwater samples were collected from hand pumps/tube wells after thoroughly flushing the
water for at least 15 min or until temperature and electrical conductivity measurements indicated
that all onsite storage has purged and water originated from the borewell or aquifer.
All sampling containers were rinsed three times with sample water before collecting the final
sample. The samples were collected in acid-washed LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) Tarson bottles.
The samples were transported in an ice box to the laboratory of the National Institute of Hydrology,
Roorkee and preserved in a refrigerator at 4oC.

The electrical conductivity (EC) was measured by using hand-held meter at the site during sampling
and total dissolved solids (TDS) values were determined.

For heavy metal measurements, Water sampling campaigns were conducted in the month of August,
September, and October of 2019. The samples were collected from various water sources such as,
groundwater (tube wells and hand pumps), and surface water (Sutlej river, canal water and Budhha
Nala). The entire Punjab state was divided into grids; finer grid was made in the salinity affected
areas, while coarser grids were made in the rest of the study area. Due to the approachability and
practical limitation in the field, uniform sampling pattern could not maintain throughout the study
area. A total of 275 representative water samples (263 groundwater, 8 canal water, 2 samples from
Sutlej river and 2 samples from Buddha Nala) were collected in sample bags for analysis of various
trace metals.

Prior to the sampling of groundwater, the hand pumps/tube wells were continuously pumped for at
least 15 minutes to ensure that groundwater being sampled was representative of aquifer water. In
order to avoid any precipitation of trace elements, the samples collected for trace metals analysis
were acidified in the field using HNO3 and maintained pH≈2 in the field.

The samples were analysed as per the standard methods given by APHA (2012). The spectrometry
method was used as analytical methods for trace metal analysis and the Inductively Coupled Plasma-
Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES, Agilant 5110 VDV model) was used for analysis of trace
metals namely, As, Al, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni and Pb. The operational conditions were maintained
as per the guidelines of the manufacture to yield optimal determination.

4. Results and Discussion

Groundwater level
The spatiotemporal variations of groundwater levels monitored in the districts of Punjab from the
period 2000 to 2019 (Fig 3) for the pre monsoon season were compared with the average of two
series of data 2001-2010 and 2010-2019 to know the behaviour of groundwater levels of the area.
The groundwater levels were found varied from 3.05m to 12.68 m (bgl) in the year 2000, which
fluctuated to 2.83 m to 22.64 m (bgl) in the year 2010 and changed to from 3.01 m to 24.79 m (mbgl)
in the year 2019. There had been a depletion of 0.13 m to 22.48 m with an average of 9.46 m in
2019.

The direction of movement of groundwater was largely found from South-Western towards the
Central Punjab part (Fig. 3).
 Fig 3: Groundwater levels variation (2000-2019).

Salinity

Based on salinity, groundwater of the entire Punjab state has been categorized into 4 classes: (i)
Fresh groundwater, (ii) Moderately fresh groundwater, (iii) Moderately saline groundwater, and (iv)
Saline groundwater (Krishan et al, 2021a,b).
Data on salinity showed that major fresh water zones are located near to Shiwalik area comprising
districts of Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Gurdaspur and parts of Jalandhar, SBS Nagar, and Rupnagar;
moderately fresh water zones (TDS = 500 – 1000 mg/l) are located in Amritsar, Tarn Taran,
Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Moga, Patiala, Fatehgarh, parts of districts SBS Nagar, Rupnagar,
and Sangrur; moderately saline groundwater (TDS = 1000 – 2000 mg/l) are located in parts of
districts of Sangrur, Mansa, Barnala, Bhatinda, Firozepur, Fazilka and Sri Muktsar Sahib while saline
groundwater (TDS = > 2000 mg/l) is found in parts of districts Sri Muktsar Sahib, Firozepur, Faridkot
and Fazilka (Krishan et al., 2021a).

Heavy metal concentrations

Punjab has problems of deteriorating groundwater quality triggered from the rapid increase in
population, urbanization, industrialization, and extensive agricultural practices. Groundwater at
shallow depth has been reported largely contaminated by the surface water pollution. Analysis of
trace/heavy metals of 275 samples carried out for: Arsenic (As (total)), Aluminium (Al3+), Iron (Fe3+ ),
Manganese (Mn2+), Zinc (Zn2+), Copper (Cu2+), Chromium (Cr3+), Cadmium (Cd2+), Nickel (Ni2+), and
Lead (Pb2+) showed that about ~3.8% of the groundwater samples have As concentration above
acceptable limit (10 ppb) and ~ 0.38% exceeded the permissible limit of 50 ppb as prescribed by the
BIS (2012). Cd2+ has concentration less than the acceptable limit of 3 ppb. Cu2+ has concentration
within the acceptable limit of 0.05 mg/l. The concentration of Ni2+ is found within the acceptable
limit (20 ppb) in the groundwater and surface water except one sample from Budhanala, the
concentration of Pb2+ in both surface and ground water is within the acceptable limit of 20 ppb, in
case of Al3+, about ~ 44% groundwater samples exceeded the acceptable limit (30 ppb) and ~ 1.52 %
samples exceeded the permissible limit (200 ppb), about ~14.83% groundwater samples exceeded
the acceptable limit of 0.3 mg/L for Fe3+ for drinking water for both surface and groundwater. The
mean concentration of Fe3+ was 251 ppb for groundwater; and for canal water it was 3810 ppb. In
case of Mn2+, ~7.6 % of groundwater samples exceeded the acceptable limit of 100 ppb, whereas
~3% samples exceeded the permissible limit of 300 ppb. Cr3+ has excess concentration than the
acceptable limit of 0.05 mg/L in 0.38 % of groundwater samples, the concentration of Zn 2+ is found
within the acceptable limit of 5000 ppm (Krishan et al., 2021c).

5. Conclusions

The studies carried out by the NIH Roorkee and BGS, UK (Lapworth et al., 2014, 2015, 2017) have
revealed that in addition to salinity issues of groundwater in south-west Punjab, high nitrate,
fluoride contents have been found, and arsenic has also been detected due to non-point sources.
Thus, there is a need to take up immediate measures to reduce these chemical contaminations in
groundwater. A detailed study can be carried out to understand the possible sources of
contamination and remedial measures.

Regulation and limiting groundwater usage by enforcing groundwater legislation for future
expansion of construction of wells farther inland, educating the farmers to reduce their present
withdrawal to achieve groundwater balance and adopting water saving practices viz. reduction of
non-beneficial evaporative and leakage losses, increase of irrigation efficiency, a change to less
water demanding production processes and land uses and to find alternative sources of water other
than groundwater (surface water or re-use of waste water) in central Punjab where the
groundwater is declining at an alarming rate,

Conjunctive use (or blending) in terms of water quality could be practiced to meet demand for non-
drinking purpose. This could be achieved by blending poor quality water (brackish groundwater)
with better quality water from canals to dilute the salinity. Blended water could be used for
horticulture, gardening and cleaning purpose. This option can be tried in south west Punjab area
where groundwater with EC < 4000 S/cm is available. The saline water that will be pumped out will
be replaced in due course of time by the freshwater through precipitation recharge or subsurface
flow. This can be achieved by a careful planning and execution.

Acknowledgment

Present work is carried out under the studies sponsored by Punjab State Farmers’ and Farm
Workers’ Commission (PSFC), Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Punjab and DFID and
BGS, UK. Funding received is duly acknowledged.

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