**6. Groundwater related issues**

#### **6.1 Declining water levels**

Pre-monsoon groundwater falling trend of more than 0.2 m/year occurs in 2832.01 sq. km of the area in parts of Peth, Surgana, Baglan, Malegaon, Yevla, Igatpuri, Trambakeshwar, Nashik and Nandgaonblocks. Post-monsoon groundwater falling trend of more than 0.2 m/year occurs in 216.39 sq. km of the area in parts of Malegaon, Igatpuri, Nashik, and Baglan blocks.

#### **6.2 Rainfall and droughts**

Based on the long-term rainfall analysis from 1998 to 2021, it is observed that Chandwad, Igatpuri, Malegaon, Nashik, Niphad, Peinth, Surgana, Trimbakeshwar, and Yeola blocks experienced declining rainfall trends. Severe droughts have been observed in Trimbakeshwar, Surgana, Sinnar, Peinth, Nandgaon, Malegaon, Kalwan, Igatpuri, Chandwad, and BaglanSatana Blocks at least once, the rest of the blocks never experienced severe drought conditions; however, it has experienced moderate droughts.

#### **6.3 Overexploitation**

Three blocks of the district, that is . Deola, Niphad, and Sinnar fall under the critical category and three blocks fall under semi-critical, that is.BaglanSatana, Chandwad, and Yeola and the rest of the blocks are under the safe category in 2020. In critical and semi-critical blocks, a declining groundwater level trend has been observed both in pre-and post-monsoon seasons.

#### **6.4 Low groundwater potential**

Groundwater potential areas have been identified in 14,731 sq. km (≈ 90%) in the Nashik district, where yield remains less than 15 m<sup>3</sup> /day, mostly due to limited depth of weathering and fractures in Aquifer-I (Basalt). Limited aquifer potential of Aquifer-II (Basalt) is observed in about 9390 sq. km (≈59%) area of the district (Yield potential <1.0 LPS). The sustainability of both Aquifers- I & II is, thus, low and the wells normally sustain pumping between less than 1 and 3 hours.

#### **6.5 Cultivation of cash crops**

Various cash crops, *viz*., grapes, onion, pomegranate, and sugarcane, are cultivated in the district, and the major irrigation source is groundwater. This has led to the

severe exploitation of groundwater resources in 6 talukas. The water requirement in these crops is also higher as compared to other traditional crops, thus laying more stress on groundwater. Although micro-irrigation techniques are practiced in most areas for the cultivation of grapes, other cash crops are also required to be brought under the ambit of micro-irrigation.
