2. STUDY AREA
The Bankura district is situated in the state of West Bengal, which has coordinates of 23.250N and 87.070E. It is one of the largest districts in the state with an area of 6,882 km2. It shares district boundaries with Barddhaman, Purulia, Paschim Mednipur and Hoogly in the directions of north, west, south and east directions respectively. The district is connecting the plains of Bengal on the East and Chota Nagpur plateau on the west. The major rivers in the district are Damodar, Shilabati, Kangsbati, Dwarkeswar and Sali. The atmosphere is mid hot from the starting of March to starting of June, and the temperature going around 450C. It is observed that the normal rainfall of the district is 1400 mm, in which most of rainfall is observed in monsoon months (June to September). The major aquifer systems in the district are alluvium, laterite, banded gneiss complex (BGC), schist and sandstone. The depth of groundwater table depends on the properties of the aquifer system. Detail information about some properties of aquifer systems in the Bankura district is accessed in Table 1.
Table 1 Aquifer systems in Bankura district