Groundwater Resource Assessment of an alluvial aquifer in parts of Varanasi and Sant Ravidas Nagar Districts, Uttar Pradesh, India using GRE-2015

The importance of groundwater in India can be realized from the fact that the 85% of rural drinking water supply is dependent on groundwater. There has been paradigm shift from surface to ground water in view of poor quality and reduction in river flow/discharge in the recent past. The concept of micro and sustainable irrigation may be achieved efficiently through groundwater. Therefore, the groundwater resource assessment is essential to make the development plan for meeting out the drinking and irrigation demand for any groundwater unit. An attempt has been made to evaluate the groundwater resource using the latest Ground Water Resource Estimation (GRE-15) of an area that has gone through extensive irrigation using groundwater so that the groundwater stress areas can be sustainably managed. The present research is based on the Groundwater Resource Estimation methodology-2015 to evaluate the groundwater availability and the stress conditions occurring in the study area. The stage of groundwater development inferred after the study shows that Araziline block of Varanasi and Bhadohi block of Sant Ravidas Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh are falling under the critical category while Sevapuri block of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh falls under the semi-critical category. The current estimation warrants the immediate need for proper management of groundwater resources.