Chapter 20 - Seasonal fluctuation of groundwater table and its impact on rural livelihood: A village level study at coastal belt of Purba Medinipur District, India

Abstract

The stress on available fresh groundwater resources is constantly escalating in the coastal areas of Purba Medinipur district with due effects of the accelerating rate of groundwater extraction in conjunction with saline water intrusion into the fresh groundwater table. The demand for available freshwater is increasing as people are adapting themselves to the groundwater dependency vis-à-vis modified socioeconomic status. In every activity, people use groundwater, which led to a huge rate of groundwater depletion year by year. In these circumstances, this study has been done concerning the seasonal status of groundwater vulnerability in the Jahanabad village of Khejuri-I CD block, Purba Medinipur. The entire study has been done based on the surveyed data based on the nine different risk variables about the demographic and groundwater allied aspects, that is, household distribution and density, population distribution and density, aggregate distance index, depth of water level, water demand, water availability, and water deficit. The seasonal diversities of the selected risk variables have been studied considering the functioning and malfunctioning number of water sources corresponding to the number of sub-zones of 22 and 19 for rainy and summer seasons, respectively. Depending on the categorical classes of each of the nine risk variables of both seasons the five-level of categorical risk-rating values (1–5) have been assigned analogous to the very low (1), low (2), moderate (3), high (4), and very high (5). Finally, the sub-zones wise seasonal vulnerability index has been estimated and based on that the vulnerability level has been assessed for both seasons. The results show that about 22 m of seasonal groundwater depletion has been recorded in the village area which is a very high rate compared to the district average rate. The seasonal vulnerability analysis indicates that the entire village area remains under a threatening condition with respect to groundwater vulnerability. Therefore, people should have to take proper action against inconvenient uses of groundwater resources in favor of sustainable development.