Abstract:
The present study is an attempt to decipher
physico-chemical characteristics of groundwater collected
along Mulmala stream in the Chandanapuri valley through
monitoring of its morphological, geological and land use
constraints. The Mulmala stream is located in the semi-arid
irrigated tract of Western Deccan upland, flowing over Aa
and Pahoehoe basalts and alluvium at base of the upland
where quality of groundwater is declining. In view of this,
13 groundwater samples (2 borewell ? 11 dug well) were
collected and analyzed for pH, EC, TDS, Na?, K?, Ca2?,
Mg2?, HCO3
-2
, Cl-, S04
-2
, NO3
- using standard methods.
Survey of India’s toposheets (47 I/2 and 47 I/3) and
geology map were georeferenced and used for extraction of
drainage networks and geological information, respectively,
in ArcGIS-10 software. Extracted drainage networks
were ordered by Strahler method for bifurcation ratio calculation.
Topographic and slope values along with a longitudinal
profile were obtained from CartoDEM (v3). Land
use mapping were carried out from IRS’s Resourcesat-1-
LISS III satellite imagery, acquired on December 2008 and
October 2010. Finally, incorporation of morphometric,
geologic, hydrologic information was carried out with land
use. The geochemical and land use data suggests, Chandanapuri valley inching towards vigorous anthropogenic
activity having potentially deleterious effects on
its natural setting, especially in the northern alluvium strip.
The steady decline in forest cover and an equal or more
increase in agricultural as well as excavating the Deccan
upland for highway construction can have cascading effect
on the Mulmala basin ecology. Timely sustainable steps
with people participation can halt this deterioration in the
study area.
