Impact of Groundwater Pumping on Flood Potential (FP) in Indian Sub-continental River Basins

Rapid groundwater depletion is one of the most vital issues related to food and water security in India. However, the crucial role of groundwater pumping and associated policy measures on Flood Potential (FP) in Indian subcontinental river basins remains unexplored. In this study, we examine the impact of groundwater pumping on FP in the Indian subcontinental river basins, having different climatic characteristics. We used Terrestrial Water Storage (TWS) from Gravity recovery climate experiment (GRACE) satellites and precipitation data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) to estimate FP. We estimated the trends of TWS and FP using the nonparametric Mann–Kendall (M-K) method and Sen’s slope method was used to calculate trend magnitudes. We evaluated the results of FP with observed monthly discharge. Moreover, we find a decline in FP in river basins having rapid groundwater depletion. However, no significant change in FP was found for basins where strong policy measures have taken against groundwater pumping.