Groundwater flow modelling of Hindon-Yamuna interfluve region, Western Uttar Pradesh

The study area Hindon -Yamuna interfluve region is underlain by a thick pile of unconsolidated Quaternary alluvial deposits and host multiple aquifer system. Excessive pumping in the last few decades, mainly for irrigation, has resulted in a significant depletion of the aquifer. Therefore, proper groundwater management of Hindon-Yamuna interfluve region is necessary. For effective groundwater management of a basin it is essential that careful zone budget study should be carried out. Keeping this in view, groundwater flow modelling was attempted to simulate the behavior of flow system and evaluate zone budget. Visual MODFLOW, pro 4.1 is used in this study to simulate groundwater flow. The model simulates groundwater flow over an area of about 1345 km(2) with a uniform grid size of 1000 m by 1000 m and contains three layers, 58 rows and 37 columns. The horizontal flows, seepage losses from unlined canals, recharge from rainfall and irrigation return flows were applied using different boundary packages available in Visual MODFLOW, pro 4.1. The river - aquifer interaction was simulated using the river boundary package. Simulated pumping rates of 500 m(3)/day, 1000 m(3)/day and 1500 m(3)/day were used in the pumping well package.The zone budget for the steady state condition of study area indicated that the total annual direct recharge is 416.10 MCM and the total annual groundwater draft through pumping is of the order of 416.63 MCM. Two scenarios were considered to predict aquifer system response under different conditions. Sensitivity analysis on model parameters was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the impact of varying model inputs. Based on the results obtained from the sensitivity analysis, it was found that the model is more sensitive to hydraulic conductivity and recharge parameter. Present study deals with importance of groundwater modelling for planning, design, implementation and management of groundwater resources.