Estimation of ground water for irrigating the cropped land of Samastipur, Bihar

Ground Water remains the lifeline of socio-economic development in the Ganga Alluvial Plain (GAP) since the down of civilization in the Indian subcontinent. Assessment of ground water resources yields knowledge necessary for their informed management and governance. Over exploitation of ground water resource threaten the future of irrigated agriculture. Keeping the importance of the above points a study was conducted for assessment of volume of ground water needed for the irrigated crops (rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize) for all the blocks of Samastipur district (Bihar). The total ground water volume that required for irrigation was estimated to be 800523.08 ha-m in which the contribution of Kharif and Rabi were 42.86% and 57.14% respectively. The maximum ground water requirement for the district was in the 44644 ha-m in the month of June while the minimum was 74.03 ha-m in the month of August.