Ganga Basin

Ganga Basin

Why in News?

  • Recently, “Estimation of groundwater storage loss for the Indian Ganga Basin using multiple lines of evidence,” estimates that groundwater storage levels in the Ganga basin have been declining by 2.6 centimeters per year

Highlights

  • The average groundwater levels have been declining at a rate of 2.6 cm year-1 between 1996-2017.
  • The analysis of satellite data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), yielded an average loss of 1.7 cm per year-1.
  • GRACE satellites, launched in 2002, assess Earth’s water reservoirs over land, ice and ocean.
  • The average storage decline in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal was estimated to be roughly 2 cm year−1, 1 cm year−1 and 0.6 cm year−1, respectively.
  • The impacts were more pronounced in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, with average storage declines of roughly 14 cm year−1, 7.5cm year−1 and 7.2 cm year−1, respectively.
  • West and southwest areas, including agriculturally intensive regions and urban areas like Delhi and Agra, took the biggest hit.
  • Delhi and Haryana have high groundwater abstraction rates, which explains the steep decline.
  • The Brahmaputra basin shows more groundwater level reduction than the Ganga and Indus basins.
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