IIT-Kharagpur conducts study on River Ganga that indicates that river is drying up in summers due to groundwater depletion

IIT-Kharagpur has recently conducted study on River Ganga that indicates that river is drying up in summers due to groundwater depletion. The study, published recently in Scientific Reports magazine by Nature Publishing Group, used a combination of satellite images of groundwater levels of Ganga, numerical simulations and chemical analyses to draw the conclusion. The study asserted that the decline of groundwater inflow (base flow) is also impacting the health of the river. The study also observed that in the forthcoming summers, for the next 30 years, groundwater contribution to river Ganga will continue decreasing. The trend can lead to disastrous effect on the riverine ecology and lead to food scarcity for 115 million people in the Ganga basin. Abhijit Mukherjee, associate professor of Geology in IIT-Kharapur, along with researchers Soumendra Nath Bhanja from Canada and Yoshihide Wada from IIASA Austria has conducted the study. The research was carried out under IIT-KGP Science and Heritage Initiative (SANDHI) Initiative, which focuses on river systems and its relationship with settlement system.