Analysis of Groundwater Regimes Utilizing Hydrogeological Modeling Under Climate Change Scenarios

Groundwater is one of the most imperative natural resources utilized worldwide for a variety of purposes. Agricultural, domestic and industrial usage of this is increasing manifold. The available surface water resources are not enough and are inadequate to meet the drinking and irrigation requirements of the crops. Groundwater has more essential advantages as compared with surface water. Climate change is affecting the global natural resources, particularly the water cycle consequently groundwater resources are observed to be compromised worldwide. Groundwater flow models could be very useful tools for the efficient management of groundwater resources if properly calibrated and validated. The models can help to manage the aquifer system and its related features in realtime. Different future scenarios can be developed using global and regional climate model data to simulate the impact of climate change on groundwater resources. The climate models data can be downscaled using dynamic or statistical techniques however the authenticity and reliability of these downscaled values are still questionable. For the assessment of climate change impacts on groundwater resources, it is imperative to understand the extent and magnitude of groundwater vulnerability to droughts, over-exploitation as well as deterioration in its quality. To understand the spatial and temporal availability of groundwater a better quantification of the regional water budget is also required. This information can be a good source of evidence for the groundwater managers dealing with present and future climate change regimes. The future sustainable availability of groundwater is highly dependent on long term climate trends and their possible implications on groundwater recharge and water level fluctuations.