Msrm. Rao et al., INFLUENCE OF CONSERVATION MEASURES ON GROUNDWATER REGIME IN A SEMIARID TRACT OF SOUTH-INDIA, Agricultural water management, 30(3), 1996, pp. 301-312
A study was conducted in peninsular India in a predominantly agricultu
ral watershed treated with soil and water conservation measures such a
s diversion drains and staggered contour trenches in nonarable land, t
erraces of trapezoidal cross section with graded channel on the upstre
am side (locally termed as graded bund) and stone checks in arable lan
ds and rockfill dams, archweir and nala bund (a local term used for ea
rthen embankment across the drainage channel) across the gully. Hydrol
ogical analysis has revealed that integrated management of land and wa
ter resources has consistently improved the groundwater regime. Surfac
e runoff from the treated forest and agricultural catchment were only
27.4 and 57.4% of the untreated agricultural catchment, reflecting in
high infiltration of rain water due to enhanced opportunity time. Cons
equently, water levels in the open wells rose by 0.5 to 1.0 m, thereby
increasing the area irrigated by the wells by 172% when compared to t
he preproject period, which in turn improved crop yields by 70%. Hypso
metric analysis indicated that water surface levels do not follow the
trend of land surface levels due to the nature of the underground geol
ogical formation.