Western Rajasthan receives between 100 and 400 mm of rain a year, and the Central Ground Water Board classifies most blocks in Jodhpur and Barmer as over-exploited. Farmers I interviewed in Phalodi in 2023 described bore wells that had gone from 60 m to more than 150 m deep within a decade.
Groundwater plays a pivotal role in sustaining livelihoods across arid regions. In the realm of water resource management, a growing body of literature has highlighted the multifaceted challenges posed by over-extraction, climate variability, and land-use change. It is worth noting that these challenges are deeply interconnected and require holistic approaches.
Recent studies have shown significant improvements in recharge estimation using satellite data. GRACE-based methods have been widely adopted, and machine learning techniques have demonstrated promising results across diverse hydrogeological settings. Rodell et al. (2009) reported a groundwater loss of about 4 cm of water-equivalent per year across north-west India, a figure later revised by Chen et al. (2014).
Kumar and Singh (2021) combined Landsat land cover with a water-balance model for the Luni basin, but their validation used only 14 wells. Furthermore, integrating multiple data sources offers a comprehensive framework for understanding recharge dynamics, thereby enabling more robust and reliable assessments that can inform evidence-based policy decisions (Sharma & Patel, 2022).
Despite these advancements, several gaps remain in the existing literature. Few studies have examined recharge at the block level, and there is a need for more localised, data-driven approaches. This thesis addresses that gap for the 18 blocks of Jodhpur district, using 212 wells from the CGWB network between 2005 and 2022.