ORIGINAL ARTICLE A groundwater flow model for overexploited basaltic aquifer and Bazada formation in India Yashwant B. Katpatal • Anil M. Pophare • Bhushan R. Lamsoge Received: 18 October 2013 / Accepted: 6 May 2014 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Recent changes in land use practices, such as increase in orange orchards in central India, has put undue pressure on the groundwater resources. Excess withdrawal from the aquifers has resulted in groundwater table decline. The stage of groundwater development in some watersheds has reached 155.85 %, converting these into overexploited watersheds. In the present research paper, a groundwater flow model has been developed to evaluate the ground- water system in a basaltic terrain with Bazada formation. A conceptual model has been developed and calibrated for steady and transient states and the sensitivity analysis was carried out. Future predictions, for current scenario where present practices are continued and for scenario with 20 % reduction in groundwater draft have been made, to select the best strategy for mitigating the problem. The modeling results show that the decline in groundwater level in basaltic and Bazada unconfined aquifers will result into drying up (water level more than 15 m bgl) of 243 km 2 area by 2020. To restore the groundwater level, it is sim- ulated that the groundwater draft rate must be reduced by 20 % for next 10 years. It may be achieved by adopting groundwater management strategies, particularly for irri- gation sector. Keywords Overexploitation  Unconfined basaltic and Bazada aquifer  MODFLOW  Groundwater flow model  India Introduction Groundwater resources play a major role in determining the social and economic growth of any country. Ground- water overdraft, a form of ‘overexploitation’, occurs when extraction exceeds both natural and induced aquifer recharge over long periods. Adverse effects of overdraft include: uneconomic pumping conditions, water quality degradation through induced intrusion of saline or poor quality groundwater, flow reduction in streams, wetlands and springs, land subsidence, interference with pre-existing water uses and water rights and gradual depletion of groundwater level and storage. Consistent lowering of water table can dry up wells, drain springs and wetlands and turn perennial streams into desert washes (Sophocleous 2003; Zektser et al. 2005; Harou and Lund 2008). Several instances of groundwater overdraft and its impacts may be cited in the global scenario. An excessive pumping in Amasya, Turkey, in the last two decades, mainly for irrigation, has resulted in a significant depletion of the reservoir with some 30 % of the total resource being lost in the last 40 years (Ersoy and Gultekin 2008). Ku- shwaha et al. (2009) have developed a mathematical groundwater model for the northern part of Mendha sub- basin in the semi-arid region of northeastern Rajasthan, India, where indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater for both agriculture and domestic purpose has adversely Y. B. Katpatal (&) Department of Civil Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur 440 010, India e-mail: ybkatpatal@rediffmail.com A. M. Pophare Department of Geology, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur 440 001, India e-mail: apophare@yahoo.com B. R. Lamsoge Central Ground Water Board, Central Region, Nagpur 440 001, India e-mail: bhushanrl@rediffmail.com 123 Environ Earth Sci DOI 10.1007/s12665-014-3342-2