To Study Hydrogeology and Wetland-Groundwater Interactions around Sukhna Wetland, Chandigarh, India

In the present paper the hydrological regime around Sukhna wetland is studied to know how a wetland is functioning, its influence on hydrology of the area and wetland-groundwater interactions. The subsurface geology of boreholes drilled around Sukhna wetland reveals thick zones of boulders, pebbles, gravels, sand and clay at different depths. In this area there are two type aquifer systems i.e., shallow and deep. The depth for shallow aquifer ranged 2-20 m bgl and in deeper aquifers ranged 10 above 40 m bgl. The water level fluctuations for the period 1985-2013, indicates the declining water level trend in both the seasons i.e., pre monsoon (May) and post monsoon (November) due to over exploitation by tubewells installed by the Public Health Department, UT, Chandigarh for providing domestic water supply. The water table elevation contour maps for May and November months in Chandigarh for years 1986, 1991, 1999, 2005 and 2012 reveals that the regional ground water flow direction is from Northeast to Southwest and there in no significant temporal variations in regional ground water flow direction. On the basis of hydrological regime study around Sukhna wetland it is inferred that no appreciable rise in water levels has been observed around Sukhna wetland but it is contributing recharge in the upper shallow aquifer system in the central part of Chandigarh and below as the subsurface groundwater flow is towards south and south west direction