Impact of Modern Agriculture on Ground Water Utilization - A Case Study of District Meerut

The study was carried out to know the status of ground water in district Meerut which is know for intensive cropping. In the district, sugarcane alone occupied 35% of total cultivated area. As depletion of ground water has been reported one meter per year in the district, sustainable plan has been developed to save the ground water for future crop production. Analysis of fourteen years groundwater utilization data (1983–97) of district shows 8.8 per cent growth in net coverable recharge in 1997 over 1983. The increase in net draft was recorded 22.4 per cent during the period. This indicates 1.6 per cent per annum growth in net draft as against 0.63 per cent in net recharge. Per hectare groundwater utilization and current groundwater use shows decline trend in net coverable recharge and continuous rise in net draft. The deficit between net recharge and net draft leads to continuous depletion of ground water table in the district. Changing in cropping pattern, growth in sugarcane area, over irrigation and low rain fall has been identified major factors causing groundwater depletion in the district. To overcome this problem, the optimal plan developed for the district suggests to reduction of wheat and sugarcane area upto 19.5 and 5.9 per cent in existing plan and substitute the left over area in low water requiring crops like pulses and millets. In sustainable plans, the area of rice, wheat and sugarcane have been curtailed by 5 and 10 per cent through (Linear Programming) model. Sugarcane being most water and inputs requiring crop, its area was reduced to 51.9 and 49.2 per cent compared to existing plan. Results shows reduction in water use from 547208 hectare meters in existing plan to 391455 in existing optimal and 37882 and 352310 hectare meters in sustainable plan I and II respectively.