ASSAM AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT-

ADDITIONAL FINANCING

Groundwater Monitoring System1

BACKGROUND - RATIONALE FOR THIS SYSTEM Abundance rainfall during monsoon (ranging from 1500 -

3000 mm), yet farmers are unable to maximize income, as they lack access to water during winter months

World Bank financed ARIASP & AACP provided irrigation pumps for shallow tube wells (STW) to farmer groups, for tapping high watertable & abundant groundwater in Assam

Installation of STW needs to be done considering balance between recharge potential & potential discharge to meet crop demand, water logging mitigation measures, so as to protect existing investment in STWs

Increasing number of installed STWs, therefore warranted monitoring to avoid over exploitation of groundwater for ensuring its sustainable use

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NERIWALM STUDY OF 2004 …. KEY FINDINGS

NERIWALM: North Eastern Regional Institute of Water and Land Management

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NERIWALM STUDY OF 2011 …. KEY FINDING

DISTRICT WISE SAFE YIELD OF GROUND WATER FOR 6 MAJOR DISTRICTS WHERE 80% STWS ARE INSTALLED

District  

Area of District

Normal rainfall

Total rainfall

recharge

Annual groundwater availability

Safe yield of ground water

No of STW's that can be installed

Category

Ha mm Ha-m Ha-m Ha-m Nos.  

Barpeta 232077 2097 83233 79792 51066 17022 Safe

Bongaigaon 111242 2300 45715 51839 26461 8820 Semi-Critical

Dhubri 239962 2762 77258 92709 27001 9000 Critical

Goalpara 200309 2374 89302 81915 40067 13356 safe

Kamrup (R) 307375 1871 86657 88545 40874 13625 Semi-Critical

Kamrup (M) 98072 1800 17594 12690 9242 3081 Safe

Nalbari 98013 2772 35583 38035 25842 8614 Safe

Total     435343 445525 220553 73518 Safe

The number of STWs to installed per district under AACP and other schemes is determined based on these two Studies done under AACP

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OBJECTIVE OF ESTABLISHING GWM SYSTEM AACP-AF aims to establish a comprehensive groundwater

monitoring system to support Agriculture Department in-

Taking strategic decision on future investments on STW programs, water recharge structures, etc

Planning density of STW with respect to hydro-geological regions

Planning agriculture based interventions to manage water demand leading to sustainable use of resources

Water level & quality monitoring stations

Include installation of piezometers, telemetric digital water level recorders (DWLR) and water quality sensors (at selected locations) coupled with stations.

Telemetric system for automatic monitoring at required frequency5

VISIT TO HIMACHAL PRADESH & PUNJAB

Team of officials from PCU and Agriculture Engineering Dept. led by SPD had visited HP and Punjab to have first-hand exposure of Groundwater monitoring system established under Bank financed HP-II

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VISIT TO HP & PUNJAB: EXPERIENCE GAINED Bore-well locations: based on grid maps

Network of Bore-wells: equipped with DWLRs and telemetry systems For groundwater data collection & uploading to

a central Server system in real time

Measurement Frequency:

Should be adequate to detect short-term & seasonal groundwater fluctuation

Should be able to discriminate effects of short-term and long-term hydrologic stresses

Shallow aquifers frequent measurements, while deep confined aquifers need less.

Measurement Frequency should link to withdrawal of GW

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VISIT TO HP & PUNJAB: EXPERIENCE GAINED ..CONTD.

To address manpower constraint in Agriculture Dept. -telemetric system of Piezometer should be installed

Location of Piezometers must be in public places such as Block Office, Govt. owned premises for safety

Piezometer Diameter should be atleast in 6” (150 mm)

Boreholes should be protected with RCC box on top

Adequate protection measure for Piezometer necessary 8

IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS GW Monitoring Cell established-Nodal Officer in place

Prepared 15x15 Km Grid map of Assam and also for each districts: All except two Hill districts covered (25 districts)

Finalized total number Piezometer based on grid map: 250 Areas near river basins excluded

Exact location of Piezometer being finalized – would be completed before award of contract for civil work

Collaboration with CGWB for Technical Advice/Support

Time frame: Complete Civil Work: within 6 months; by Sep. 2013

Procurement Telemetric DWLR, through ICB: Sep. 2013

Commissioning of the GW system: Oct. 20139

IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS … CONTD

Process for hiring experts for GWM Cell such as Hydro-Geologists, Chemists, GIS expert, computer operators, etc. for GWM cell is ongoing- TORs being drafted

Existing district level engineers, would be given additional responsibility to look after GWM stations. Identified engineers would be trained

GWM Cell would also have responsibility of monitoring GW quality, regarding presence of any hazardous elements

Automatic Weather Station (AWS) will also be installed for each block in the State

Telemetric-GSM system would be web enabled, with open data sharing principle, online data back-up arrangement

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GROUNDWATER MONITORING WELL DESIGN .. KEY ELEMENTS

Diameter of the bore hole-150 mm

Depth of bore-hole-Standard 30 meter

Lockable steel cover to be fitted & secured in concrete box seal, to protect bore-wells

Vent hole near top of protective casing to prevent explosive gas build-up & to allow water levels to respond naturally to barometric pressure changes

Drain hole at base of protective casing to prevent water build-up.

Concrete box seal to extend below frost depth

Bore-holes would be placed at an elevated area to avoid flooding

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DISTRICT WISE No. OF PIEZOMETER BORE-HOLESl. District No.of

Piezometer Bore hole

Approx. value of

work (Rs. Lakhs)

Completion

Period

Sl. District No.of Piezomete

r Bore hole

Approx. value of

work (Rs. Lakhs)

Completion

Period

SCHEDULE-A     SCHEDULE-C    1 Baska 10

69.56180

16 Nagaon 15

69.56 180

2 Nalbari 6 17 Morigaon 93 Barpata 10 18 Golaghat 104 Goalpara 10 19 Jorhat 105 Bongaigaon 8 20 Sivsagar 106 Dhuburi 10 21 Dibrugarh 107 Kokrajhar 10 22 Tinsukia 108 Chirang 10 Total 74

Total 74 SCHEDULE-D    SCHEDULE-B     23 Cachar 15

27.26 809 Kamrup (M) 8

68.62 180

24 Karimganj 710 Kamrup (R) 10 25 Hailakand

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11 Darrang 10 Total 2912 Udalguri 10 Grand Total 250 235.00  13 Sonitpur 15          14 North

Lakhimpur 10

         15 Dhemaji 10          

Total 73          

Bid Doc. for Civil Work finalized 13

WAY AHEAD Determine location/ elevation of piezometers accurately

using GPS, so that groundwater flow maps can be prepared

Share the GW data to Irrigation Dept., CGWB and other agencies for needful.

Findings of GWM system, could pave the way for adoption of Ground Water Policy for Assam State has recently adoption Groundwater Act

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