Baitarani

Pranab Choudhury has been actively engaged with the causes of the poor and the environment for more than a decade.

The research study attempts to develop a rainfall-runoff model using the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique for the Baitarni river in Orissa. A detailed review of the research work in the area of interest revealed that the approach of neural computations was very effective in developing the required model, due to its various advantages. Accordingly, three candidate models based on ANN architecture were developed for the study area, to represent rainfall-runoff transformation.

The study applies a hydraulic simulation model, Hydrologic Engineering Centre (HEC-1) to Baitarni river for modeling hourly flows of the river at Anandapur gauging site. HEC-1 model had been developed by US Army Corps of Engineers, for rainfall-runoff modeling. It provides a powerful automatic optimization technique for estimation of some of the parameters. The optimization technique of the model has been utilized in the present study and model parameters have been calibrated and validated for the study area.

The map indicates that across the main 19 river basins of the country, water resource projects with a total live storage of 174 BCM (Billion Cubic Metres) have been completed, 75 BCM are ongoing, and 132 BCM are being planned.

Baitarani River Basin Project is a civil society initiative to proactively explore options for futuristic resources management in this river basin. It also attempts to blend concerns for environment with livelihood, goals of local with global development, issues of rights with market and focus of sustainability with equity.

As part of the research study, River Basins and River Basin Organisations in South Asia, done by the Society for Participatory Development Hyderabad, CapNet South Asia (Read More) and Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development Pune (Click Here), data about individual river basins has been collected for the river basins in South Asia.