Is flood to drip irrigation a solution to groundwater depletion in the Indo-Gangetic plain?

Joseph, Jisha; Scheidegger, Johanna M.; Jackson, Christopher R.; Barik, Beas; Ghosh, Subimal. 2022 Is flood to drip irrigation a solution to groundwater depletion in the Indo-Gangetic plain? Environmental Research Letters, 17 (10), 104002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8f5d

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8f5d

Abstract/Summary

Indian river basins are intensively managed with country-specific agricultural practices of cultivating submerged paddy and uncontrolled groundwater (GW) irrigation. Numerical experiments with the state-of-the-art land surface models, such as variable infiltration capacity (VIC), without incorporating region-specific practices, could be misleading. Here, we coupled VIC with 2D GW model AMBHAS, incorporating India-specific irrigation practices and crop practices, including submerged paddy fields. We performed numerical experiments to understand the causal factors of GW depletion in the northwest Indo-Gangetic plain (IGP). We identify widespread flood irrigation and cultivation of water-intensive paddy as critical drivers of the declining GW scenario. Our numerical experiments suggest that the introduction of drip irrigation reduces GW depletion in the northwest, but does not change the sign of GW level trends. The GW levels in the non-paddy fields of the middle IGP are less sensitive to irrigation practices due to the high return flow to GW for flood irrigation.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8f5d
ISSN:	1748-9326
Additional Keywords:	GroundwaterBGS, Groundwater
Date made live:	03 Oct 2022 13:00 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533311

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac8f5d

ISSN:

1748-9326

Additional Keywords:

GroundwaterBGS, Groundwater

Date made live:

03 Oct 2022 13:00 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533311