Causes and effects of temporal groundwater level change in the alluvial aquifer of Dera Ismail Khan area, Pakistan
Keywords:
Hydraulic conductivity; Water logging; Water levels; Dera Ismail Khan.Abstract
The Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) Stage-II Command Area lies in the Dera Ismail Khan District of Lower Indus Basin. The Indus River and tube wells were used in the past for irrigation purpose, which are now changed to the canal irrigation system. In this research the pre and post water table depths have been investigated to assess the vulnerability of the irrigated land due to water logging. To address this problem the subsurface area has been explored using the water table depth in integration with depositional unit correlation, lateral zonation of hydraulic conductivity and recharge difference calculation for 1976 and 1996. The recharge determined in 1976 using the Water Table Fluctuation (WTF) method is 6 cm. The recharge in 1996 is greater than that of 1976. The groundwater recharge difference between 1976 and 1996 is determined to be 0.64 m. Moreover, three distinct zones have been found which divide the unconfined aquifer vertically into fine to medium sand, medium to coarse sand with gravels and the medium sand. Three lateral zones namely A, B and C are identified on the basis of the water level difference and hydraulic conductivity. Zone B which occupies the middle part has been found to be more vulnerable to the water logging conditions as compared to the other two zones. The role of hydraulic conductivity in zone B is found critical in the buildup of higher water table zones leading to the land degradation in response to perched water table zones development.
References
Ahmed, N., 1972. Groundwater Resources of Pakistan. Water and Power Development Authority, Lahore.
Cox, J.W., McFarlane, D.J., 1995. The causes of water logging in shallow soils and their drainage in southwestern Australia. Journal of Hydrology, 167 (1-4), 175-194.
Fraser, I.S., 1958. Soils and land use of the Indus plains, West Pakistan. A report of Colombo Plan Cooperative Project. Published for the government of Pakistan by the Government of Canada.
Hood, J.W., Khan, A.L., Khalid, J., 1970. Water resources and related geology of Dera Ismail Khan District. USGSWS, 1608-K, 69.
Kijne, W. Jacob., 1996. Water and Salinity Balances for Irrigated Agriculture in Pakistan. International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI), Colombo, Srilanka, 6, 16.
Kumar, V., 1996. Space time modelling of ground water with assistance of remote sensing. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India.
Kumar, V., Remadevi, 2006. Kriging of Groundwater levels-A Case Study. Journal of Spatial Hydrogeology, 6 (1), 82-83.
Malik, Y.M., 1985. Technical Report on KulachiTank Dera Ismail Khan District N.W.F.P. WAPDA Hydro- Directorate Peshawar. TNODGV Institute of Applied Geosciences, Netherlands, 8(1), 23-51.
Naqvi, A.H.S., 1977. Groundwater Conditions in Paharpur Area Dera Ismail Khan District, NWFP. Hydro- Section Planning Directorate, Groundwater Projects, WAPDA, 2, 10-20.
Oosterbaan, R.J., Nijland, H.J., 1994. Determining the saturated hydraulic conductivity. In: Ritzema, H.P. (Ed.), Drainage Principles and Applications, Publication 16, second revised edition, International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement (ILRI), Wageningen, The Netherlands, 12.
Qureshi, A.S., Mccornick, G.P., Qadir, M., Aslam, Z., 2008. Managing salinity and water logging in the Indus Basin of Pakistan. Agriculture Water Management, 95, 5.
Sun, N.Z., Jeng, M.C., Yeh, W., 1995. A proposed geological parameterization method for parameter identification in three dimensional groundwater modeling. Water Resource Research, 31(1) 89-102.
Tsou, M.S., Perkins, P.S., Zhan, X., Whittemore, O.D., Zheng, Li., 2006. Inverse approaches with lithologic information for a regional groundwater system in southwest Kansas. Journal of Hydrology, 318, 292-300.
Ullah, M.K., Habib, Z., Muhammad, S., 2001. Spatial distribution of reference and potential evapotranspiration across the Indus Basin Irrigation Systems. Pakistan Country Series No. 8. International Water Management Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, 24.
Virdee, T.S., Kottegoda, N.T., 1984. A brief review of kriging and its application to optimal interpolation and observation well selection. Journal of Hydrological Sciences, 29, 367-387.
Volpi, G., Gambolati, G., 1978. On the use of main trend for the kriging technique in hydrology. Advance Water Resources, 1, 345-349.
