ABSTRACT
Water is the essential resource for the existence of life on Earth. To meet the various water demands of mankind, there are two major sources, namely, the surface water and the groundwater. As a source of water supply, groundwater is more reliable and it has several inherent advantages over the surface water resources as its availability does not depend directly on the annual rainfall, assumed to be more pure, and is free from enormous losses due to evaporation. Due to the intensive developments in the surface water resources over the past decades, and significant impacts on the hydrological cycle due to climate change, the groundwater resources are now overstressed leading to various quantity and quality issues. About 97% of the potentially available fresh water, which can be utilized for human use, is beneath the ground surface in the form of groundwater 168(Freeze and Cherry, 1979). This shows the importance of groundwater for mankind, which necessitates appropriate management and protection for sustainable utilization. Due to the developments in pumping technologies and power availability over the past few decades, there is widespread drawdown/depletion to major groundwater aquifers all over the world. Further due to unregulated disposal of domestic and industrial wastes, and percolation of pesticides from agricultural fields, severe groundwater contamination has been reported in many parts of the world.
