Impact of Climatic Changes on Groundwater Regime: A Case Study of Tinsukia District, Assam, India

Abstract

AbstractHydro-climatic changes can significantly disturb the balance between natural parameters, leading to difficulty predicting trends in groundwater system. Rainfall and temperature variations can affect all other climatic elements; therefore, identification of trends of these two elements becomes relevant to studying the globally increasing effect of climate change. In the past decades, scientific research on the impact of climate change on the various hydro-climatic parameters has identified trends in the extreme seasonal and annual values. The most accepted statistical tool for examining trends was the Mann–Kendall test, Sen’s slope and linear regression. The whole planet is struggling with water crises due to climate change, so groundwater is the only resource to lie on to fulfill fresh water needs. Thus, studying trends in groundwater levels becomes the necessity of the coming era. This research’s main objective is applying the Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope method to identify the trends and magnitude of groundwater levels under the climate conditions in Tinsukia District, Assam, India. This objective is important in analyzing groundwater resources in close connection with their efficient management. The study is based on the secondary data of the monthly groundwater level (mbgl) obtained from the Central Water Commission, India and climatic data (average annual rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature) for the period 2012–2021 from India Meteorological Department (IMD). The findings suggested that the average yearly rainfall, maximum temperature and minimum temperature have an increasing trend along with the groundwater levels in the study area. This leads to saturation in the recharge system and storage capacity. The higher intensity of rainfall and greater saturation level in the groundwater system may lead to a higher runoff rate, thereby initiating a major flood-like situation in the study area.KeywordsGroundwaterTrend analysisMann–KendallSen’s slopeClimate change