Rainfall and Groundwater Level Variation in Pune District, India

Rapid industrial development, urbanization and increase in agricultural production have led to freshwater shortages in many parts of the Pune district. The availability of groundwater is extremely uneven, both in space, time and depth which will be the case in future also. The present study concerns the impacts of a change in the rainfall regime on surface and groundwater resources in watersheds of Pune district during 2001 to 2012. This study shows that water level in many villages reachs almost bottom of the observatory well during May e.g. Dive Village in Purandar taluka reachs 32.40 m bgl in May 2004 as against 710 mm of rainfall recorded by the taluka. Categorization of groundwater level reveals that although there is rise in water level during October, even then 50% villages experience semi-critical condition. Therefore, there is an urgent need of planned and optimal development of water resources in this district