Spatial Analysis of Impact of Orange Cultivation over Groundwater Regime: A Case Study of Kolar Watershed, Nagpur District, Maharashtra

There is a common belief that the area under orange cultivation is increasing day by day in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. It is posing threat to the groundwater reserve, to the extent of its overexploitation, which is a matter of concern to the state administrators. In view of this, an attempt is made in the present study to analyze temporal variation in the area of orange cultivation for small part of Nagpur district by using high resolution satellite data. The impact of change in the cultivation area of oranges on groundwater regime within the study area has also been analysed. Initially, the change detection study of the area has been carried out for the period 2003 to 2012 which shows that there is drastic reduction in the area under orange cultivation. This has also well reflected in the groundwater assessment as well as in the groundwater table trends of observation wells. The study indicated that a balance between recharge and withdrawal of groundwater has been achieved in the study area and groundwater regime is stabilized over the period of study.