Investigation of Ground water Potential using Mathematical Model: A Case Study in Part of Northwest Region of Bangladesh

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Groundwater is the most essential and valuable resources for agriculture, domestic and industrial purposes. Unplanned withdrawal of groundwater is risky for the system due to limited replenishment and increasing water demand with continuously growing population, especially for the arid and semi-arid catchments. Scarcity of rainfall in time and reducing of upstream flow in the internal rivers have increased dependency on groundwater irrigation. Estimation of groundwater potential for a region is essential not only for sustainability of irrigation project but also for a sustainable water resources management at the regional level, which means in general at the basin scale. Due to the competition of all water users of a river basin, especially in water scarce regions, a comprehensive approach is needed regarding agricultural, domestic, industrial, and ecological aspects. In this paper, a case study was carried out for Pabna, Sirajgonj, Bogra, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalamonirhat Districts which is situated in the north-west part of Bangladesh using physically distributed hydrological modelling. To bring about 3,000 km 2 potential land under irrigation through sustainable water resources management, an integrated Groundwater-Surface Water model was developed using mathematical modelling tools which was calibrated for the period 2006-2010 and validated for the period 2011-2013. Using model result, groundwater water resources, requirement for present and future demand for various purposes and possible expansion of irrigation coverage for the study area were assessed. As a result irrigation coverage as well as agricultural production would be increased considerably if the project is implemented following the study findings and suggestions. So the study output has positive impact and for sustainable water resources management it is essential to use the state-of -the art technology.