Geomorphology and its implication in urban groundwater environment: case study from Mumbai, India

Landforms of Mumbai Island have been largely modified by the urban sprawl and the demand for groundwater will increase exponentially in the future. Quality and quantity of groundwater occurrence in island are highly influenced by the geomorphic units. As this metropolis receives heavy rainfall, the area rarely faces the issue of water scarcity, nevertheless, quality always remains a question. The landforms of Mumbai Island have been shaped by a combination of fluvial, denudational and marine processes. These landforms are categorized into two broad zones on the basis of its influence in groundwater occurrence. Denudational landforms are categorized as runoff zones whereas the other two are categorized as storage zones. This classification is on the basis of occurrence and storage of groundwater. Mumbai Island is exposed to frequent sea water incursion and groundwater quality has deteriorated. The varied hydrogeological conditions prevalent in this area prevent rapid infiltration. This combined with the overextraction of groundwater resources for agriculture and industry has caused serious concern about the continued availability of potable water. This study aims at validating the geomorphic classification of the landforms with hydrogeochemistry and borehole data and it proved that geomorphology corroborates with groundwater chemistry and subsurface geology. © 2014, The Author(s).