Farm Ponds in Semi-arid Hard Rock Terrain of India. Are They Increasing Dependency on Groundwater?

Farm ponds are traditional water harvesting structures to capture surface runoff and utilize this stored rainwater during the lean periods for agriculture. Benefits of the farm ponds include improvement in land productivity, supplemental irrigation to crops, reduced water logging in high rainfall events, and fish culture when sufficient water is available. Farm ponds are becoming increasingly popular in India as water storage tanks or reservoirs, designed for harvesting rainwater on agricultural land. The Maharashtra State Government as well as Central Government have been promoting Farm Pond through various schemes with the provision of subsidies. The farm ponds in Maharashtra are becoming popular after the government subsidy was made available. The present study dwells into the rapid rise in farm pond numbers and how they are impacting the precious groundwater resources in the drought-prone Ahmednagar district. of Maharashtra. The density of farm ponds in Sangamner Taluka of the district is very high, and so is groundwater extraction. Study indicates that multiple sources of water are used to fill the farm ponds, with borewells and dug wells accounting for the bulk of the supply. In order to decipher the vagaries in the Electrical Conductivity (EC) trend and eventually demarcating the zone of influence, the physio-chemical parameters were assessed to speculate on solid dilution from pumping well to surrounding non-pumping wells. Moreover, the artificial recharge zone maps prepared by Groundwater Survey and Development Agency, Govt. of Maharashtra, were utilized to understand how the farm ponds, often lined are faultily located in recharge zones, blocking the recharge. The practice of using farm ponds as storage tanks for pumped-out groundwater has imposed a negative impact on the surrounding groundwater wells that leads to inequality among the different categories of water users in villages. It is important to relook into the policy and practice of farm ponds for sustainable use of groundwater resources in this drought-prone stretch of Maharashtra.