CENTRAL GROUND WATER BOARD
Ground Water Exploration
Ground water exploration aided by drilling is one of the major activities of the Board with an objective to discover aquifers in different hydrogeological conditions and determination of hydraulic parameters. Large-scale sub-surface exploration programme for ground water was initiated during 1954. In the initial years, exploratory drilling activities were confined to alluvial tracts in major river basins and sub mountainous bouldary tracts of Himalayan foothills. In mid eighties, CGWB added 26 new DTH drilling rigs in its fleet with which the exploratory drilling in hard rock regions gained momentum. The major thrust of exploratory drilling programme in nineties was in areas underlain by hard rock. Another important development in first half of nineties was introduction of open hole drilling technology in India. CGWB acquired seven percussion drilling rigs for exploratory drilling in bouldary/ semi-consolidated formations in Himalyan foothills from Jammu & Kashmir in North West to Arunachal Pradesh in North East. These exploration programmes formed the background of scientific evaluation of the water bearing properties of various rock formations.
More than 26,700 wells have been drilled by Central Ground Water Board throughout the country. High yielding wells were drilled under ground water exploration programme in water deficient areas in the country, including the tribal and drought prone areas. Most of these high yielding wells have been handed over to the respective State Governments for public water supply. Board had also come forward in disaster mitigation activities during Latur earthquake during 1993, Bhuj earthquake during 2001, Super cyclone in Orissa during 2000 and Tsunami hit coastal belt of Tamil Nadu & Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during 2004 by way of construction of tube wells for water supply. State wise status of Borewells Drilled by CGWB is given as under:-
STATUS OF BORE HOLES DRILLED BY C.G.W.B AS ON 31.03.2011.
S No. STATE/UT EW PZ EW OW PZ SH DW Total TOTAL (I + II) (I) Through Outsourcing (Contractual) (II) Through Departmental Rigs A. STATES 1 Andhra Pradesh 90 0 1251 787 629 14 31 2712 2802 2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 32 5 0 1 1 39 39 3 Assam 0 0 355 161 58 16 42 632 632 4 Bihar 0 0 276 166 67 10 514 1033 1033 5 Chhattisgarh 300 0 589 181 120 0 28 918 1218 6 Goa 0 0 58 18 14 0 31 121 121 7 Gujarat 165 0 918 443 485 25 255 2126 2291 8 Haryana 7 0 366 243 212 23 170 1014 1021 9 Himachal Pradesh 0 0 184 11 3 1 0 199 199 10 Jammu & Kashmir 21 0 329 69 31 8 114 551 572 11 Jharkhand 50 0 301 151 33 4 71 560 610 12 Karnataka 120 0 1227 608 346 7 5 2193 2313 13 Kerala 10 0 421 147 231 16 13 828 838 14 Madhya Pradesh 332 0 929 610 149 8 149 1845 2177 15 Maharashtra 80 0 1140 430 154 2 166 1892 1972 16 Manipur 0 0 25 11 0 0 2 38 38 17 Meghalaya 0 0 80 21 1 2 8 112 112 18 Mizoram 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 6 6 19 Nagaland 0 0 11 3 0 0 3 17 17 20 Orissa 439 67 1321 303 110 21 191 1946 2452 21 Punjab 0 0 172 187 82 20 14 475 475 22 Rajasthan 225 0 1108 402 462 93 591 2656 2881 23 Sikkim 0 0 31 9 0 0 0 40 40 24 Tamil Nadu 110 179 919 358 206 13 93 1589 1878 25 Tripura 0 0 60 26 0 4 22 112 112 26 Uttarakhand 0 0 56 5 0 1 129 191 191 27 Uttar Pradesh 197 0 821 556 165 39 501 2082 2279 28 West Bengal 0 0 429 213 169 12 82 905 905 TOTAL(A) 2146 246 13412 6127 3727 340 3226 26832 29224 B. UNION TERRITORIES 1 Andaman & Nicobar 0 0 46 13 0 1 0 60 60 2 Chandigarh 0 0 7 17 14 2 15 55 55 3 Dadra & NagarHaveli 0 0 12 1 0 0 0 13 13 4 Delhi 0 0 149 64 160 13 380 766 766 5 Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 7 7 6 Pondicherry 0 0 30 20 8 5 14 77 77 TOTAL(B) 0 0 244 115 189 21 409 978 978 GRAND TOTAL(A+B) 2146 246 13656 6242 3916 361 3635 27810 30202
EW - Exploratory Well | OW- Observation Well | PZ - Piezometer |
SH - Slim Hole | DW - Deposit Well
Note: Successful Exploratory wells as Government of India policy has been handed over to the beneficiary state government agencies free of cost.
Findings of the exploration are given in the form of Basic Data Reports to pilot ground water development in the area.