Groundwater vulnerability assessment using DRASTIC methods in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh
Student name: Ms Neha Gupta
Guide: Dr Prateek Sharma
Year of completion: 2012
Host Organisation: Asian Consulting Engineers (Pvt.) Ltd.
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Abhaye Mahajan and Dr Brijesh Kumar Yadav
Abstract: Groundwater is indispensable to humankind, but with increasing load over this precious
resource it has become necessary to study it in detail with geological as well as hydro-geological
aspects to understand the nature of the groundwater resource of a region and also include
socioeconomic aspect in order to manage it well and use it in a sustainable way, vulnerability
assessment of the resource is conducted to highlight the areas which are more susceptible to
degradation and later on suitable decision can be taken to safeguard the resource. In the present
study such as attempt has been made to account the groundwater vulnerability using as overlay
index method, DRASTIC, which is used to prepare a vulnerability map using GIS, of the study
area, Jabalpur District, Madhya Pradesh. This method accounts for the aquifer parameters like
depth to water, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, impact of vadose zone and hydraulic
conductivity. The DRASTIC Vulnerability index (DVI) is calculated as the sum of product of
ratings and weights assigned to each of the parameter on the scale of 1 to 10 and 1 to 5
respectively. The vulnerability index ranges from 47-209 and is classified into three classes and
it was deduced that approximately 15%, 76% and 9% of the area lies in low, medium and high
vulnerability zones. Further the study of population growth water demand by various sectors are
also assessed to find the overall vulnerability in terms of groundwater development which shows
that if the current trend of growth in population industrial and agricultural sector continues,
soon the district will fall into exploited zone. The map formed can be used for the management
decision for sustainable use of the aquifer.
Key Words: Jabalpur District, Ground water Vulnerability, DRASTIC parameters, Geographic
Information System (GIS)
