GROUNDWATER USE POTENTIAL FOR IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN THE TEESTA BARRAGE PROJECT MUKHLESUZZAMAN TALUKDER BUET March 2012 INSTITUTE OF WATER AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY GROUNDWATER USE POTENTIAL FOR IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE IN THE TEESTA BARRAGE PROJECT A thesis by Mukhlesuzzaman Talukder In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master of Science in Water Resources Development BUET March 2012 INSTITUTE OF WATER AND FLOOD MANAGEMENT BANGLADESH UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY The thesis titled ‘Groundwater Use Potential for Irrigated Agriculture in the Teesta Barrage Project’ submitted by Mukhlesuzzaman Talukder, Roll No. M10052810F, Session: October 2005, has been accepted as satisfactory in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Water Resources Development on March 10, 2012. BOARD OF EXAMINERS .................................................. Dr. M Mozzammel Hoque Chairman Professor (Supervisor) Institute of Water and Flood Management Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka ................................................ Member Dr M. Shahjahan Mondal Associate Professor Institute of Water and Flood Management Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka ................................................. Member Dr. Md Munsur Rahman (Ex-officio) Professor & Director Institute of Water and Flood Management Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka ................................................. Member Dr. A.F.M Afzal Hossain, (External) Director, Irrigation Management Division Institute of Water Modelling House No. 496, Road No. 32, New DOHS, Mohakhali, Dhaka Dedicated to ............................................................................ My beloved parents & brother CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION It is hereby declared that this thesis or any part of it has not been submitted elsewhere for the award of any degree. ……………………….. Mukhlesuzzaman Talukder iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT At first, I would like to thank almighty Allah for giving me the patience to complete the work. I would like to express my sincere and heartiest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. M Mozzammel Hoque, Professor, Institute of Water and Flood Management, BUET, for his constant guidance, valuable advice, generous help and constructive discussion to carry out this research and writing this manuscript. I consider myself to be proud to have worked with him. I express my profound respect and deepest sense of gratitude to all of my respected teachers of IWFM, BUET for their fruitful advices in different times and valuable teachings under different courses that have helped me reach at this stage. I am deeply grateful to Dr Iftekarul Alam of BADC, M. A Hashem, Deputy Chief of BWDB, I also thank my beloved friends Engr. Md. Abu Sayed, Engr. Sheikh Jahid, Engr. Mashiur Rahman, Mr. Animes Kumar Gain and Mr. Md. Sanaul Kafi. I remember the help by Ms. Muktarun Islam, Ph.D student of Dr M Mozzammel Hoque of IWFM, BUET for providing support during the thesis work. I would like to acknowledge my best gratitude to Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC), Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Institute of Water Modeling (IWM), for providing data and related information. I acknowledge my Class Mates, Library Assistant and other staffs of IWFM for their kind cooperation. The author iv ABSTRACT The study was undertaken in the Teesta Barrage Project (TBP) area. Eight out of total 12 Upazilas under 3 Districts: Nilphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur are considered for the current study to compare the pre and the post project groundwater conditions, to develop a statistical prediction model for groundwater storage change, to analyze the design surface water availability and to evaluate the prospect of groundwater irrigation in conjunction with the surface water during different cropping seasons. The Teesta Barrage Project went into operation in 1993. Since its implementation the irrigated area of the project has been increasing and the maximum irrigated area of 76000 hectare during Kharif 11 season was achieved in 2005. With the increase in irrigation area the recharge area from irrigated surface water in the project area has increased. It is found that the supplementary irrigation during Kharif II has a significant impact in increasing the groundwater recharge. An analysis was done with the weekly and the yearly maximum and minimum groundwater data within the project area. Similar analysis was done for outside the project area to evaluate the impact of the project on the groundwater system in the project area. It is observed that groundwater level in the project area has been increasing after the project implementation but this has been decreasing outside the project area. Again after project implementation groundwater withdrawal rate is increasing with time for dry season irrigation. This increased rate of withdrawal and the rise of groundwater level is the contribution of the surface water supplied through groundwater recharge. It is further observed that groundwater level has been increased not only through recharging from supplementary irrigation but also direct recharge from the rivers and the local rainfall. In respect of Teesta River flow at the project site it is observed that in the Teesta River at the project area the maximum water is being flowed on August (Kharif -11 season ) and minimum water is being flowed on February (Rabi season). It is observed that the design required quantity surface water flow is available during Kharif-11 season but is very small during Rabi (Boro) season. Historical discharge analysis shows that the Teesta River discharge is decreasing significantly all through the year. From 1990 to 2005 the discharge has decreased by 40% both in Karif II and Rabi seasons and this figure is lower during the Kharif I season. Thus, the decrease in flow of Teesta River has would cause non-availability of water for surface water irrigation and no recharge to the v groundwater affecting the groundwater irrigation most importantly during the dry season. Therefore, there is potential to increase the groundwater irrigation in conjunction with the surface water during the different cropping seasons provided the flows of Teesta River would be maintained to supply design surface water during Kharif II season and the river water level is always above the groundwater. vi Tables of Contents Page No. Acknowledgement iv Abstract v Contents vii List of Tables ix List of Figures ix List of Photos xii List of Abbreviations xiii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Objectives 2 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 3 2.1 Introduction 3 2.2 Groundwater 3 2.3 Groundwater Quality 11 CHAPTER 3 STUDY AREA 12 3.1 Location 12 3.2 River System and Drainage 14 3.3 Canal System 17 3.4 General Characteristics 22 3.5 Topography 22 3.6 Soil Characteristics 23 3.7 Climate 23 3.8 Land Use Pattern 24 3.9 Infrastructure 24 vii 3.10 Surface Water 25 3.11 Groundwater 25 3.12 Existing Use of Surface and Groundwater 25 3.13 Present Farming System and Cultural Practices 26 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY 27 4.1 Data Collection 27 4.1.1 Groundwater 27 4.1.2 Rainfall 29 4.1.3 River water level 29 4.1.4 Other data 30 4.2 Data Processing 30 4.2.1 Groundwater 30 4.2.2 Rainfall 30 4.2.3 River water level 30 4.2.4 Abstraction and Irrigation 31 4.3 Data Analysis 33 CHAPTER 5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 35 5.1 Variation of Groundwater Level 35 5.1.1 Weekly variation of groundwater level inside TBP 35 5.1.2 Yearly variation of groundwater level inside TBP 37 5.1.3 Regional variation of groundwater with time 41 5.2 Groundwater Withdrawal 45 5.2.1 Groundwater Withdrawal at Different Months by Different means 46 5.3 River Water Level 48 5.4 Relation between Groundwater Level and River Water Level 50 5.5 Relation between Groundwater Level and Rainfall 52 viii 5.6 Irrigation Coverage in the Project Area 53 5.7 Variation of Groundwater Level with Groundwater Withdrawal 56 5.7.1 Groundwater level changes inside the project area 56 5.7.2 Groundwater level changes outside the project area 60 5.8 Prediction of Groundwater Level Using Linear Regression Model 61 5.9 Need and Potential for Groundwater Use 63 5.9.1 Availability of surface water 63 5.9.2 Crop production with current conditions 66 5.9.3 Potential of groundwater use in conjunction with surface water 67 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSIONS 68 REFERENCES 70 ix List of Tables Table Page no 3.1 Phase-wise area and implementation periods of TBP 14 3.2 The Upazilas included in the irrigation facilities through Teesta, Rangpur and Dinajpur canal 17 3.3 The general characteristics of the project area 22 3.4 Infrastructure features of the TBP (Phase) 24 4.1 Observation stations of various types of data 27 4.2 Rainfall gauge stations 29 4.3 River water level stations 29 4.4 Number of tube wells within the study area in 2000 32 4.5 Efficiency and operating hours of pumps 33 List of Figures Figure Page no 3.1 Bangladesh map showing Teesta Barrage Project 12 3.2 Location of the Teesta Barrage Project (Phase I) 13 3.3 Teesta Barrage Project (Phase I) with river system 16 3.4 Teesta Barrage Project (Phase I) with canal system 18 3.5 Teesta, Rangpur and Dianjpur canal system 19 4.1 Hydrological stations of the project area 28 5.1 Weekly variation of groundwater level at well NIL-05 in Dimla Upazila 36 5.2 Weekly variation of groundwater level at well RA-07 in Rangpur Sadar Upazila 36 5.3 Weekly variation