Research Projects

The study is focussed on the areas suffering from acute depletion of groundwater due extensive groundwater extraction for agricultural and industrial activities such as Indo Gangetic Plain. With extensive analysis of satellite data, the variation in the groundwater storage during the last decade will be assessed and regions with strongly depleted groundwater level will be identified and large scale field sampling in those regions will be carried out. Extensive measurements of radiocarbon and stable isotopes in dissolved inorganic carbon and stable isotopes in dissolved nitrates will be carried out to estimate residence times of groundwater in different aquifers, flow rate and direction, recharge rates, interaction with surface water and among different aquifers and identification and quantification of contributions of anthropogenic pollutants from different sources. Additionally, model studies for future projection of groundwater storage will be carried out. Impact of large artificial reservoirs on groundwater dynamics will be carried out using radiocarbon and stable isotope data in groundwater of some selected river dams in the Himalayan and plain regions of India.