Zaidi, F: Geological and Hydrogeological Characterization of

The apparent heterogeneities and complexities present in the hard rock aquifers makes it a challenging research to tackle groundwater problems. The intricacy increases manifold for the management of groundwater when the hard rock aquifers are situated in arid or semi-arid regions. The present work has been carried out in the Maheshwaram watershed which is situated about 35 km south of Hyderabad in the Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The study area is a true representative of an over exploited crystalline-rock watershed with semi-arid climatic conditions. To tackle the groundwater problems systematically, the research has been focused on fully understanding the aquifer system both in terms of structure and functioning, characterizing the flow parameters and developing a methodology for optimization of the piezometric network which is the most important pre-requisite for groundwater budget estimations. The methodology adopted for the geological and hydrogeological characterization of the fractured hard aquifers in the present study can be applied to any other hard rock region of the world in a similar setting.