Uttarakhand

The study attempts to develop a relationship between glacier melt runoff and meteorological parameters for the Dokriani glacier in Garhwal Himalayas. The discharge auto-correlation, correlation between discharge & temperature and between discharge & rainfall has been computed for each month of the summer season and for the melt season as a whole for different years.

The report provides an account of the findings of water quality studies of Lake Nainital and surroundings. Even though quite a few water quality investigations have been conducted by other researchers, they were more focused on biological aspects and overlooked the hydrological aspects. Further, not all of the earlier studies on Nainital incorporated the groundwater quality aspects, which are essential to establish the background values that can be ascribed to the geology of the region. Only after establishing these, the pollution levels can be assessed.

The report presents the preliminary results of a hydrological study in Danda watershed, a small hilly watershed located in Tehri-Garhwal, representative of the mountainous sub-humid agro-ecological region in the western Himalayas.

The study computes degree-day factor for snow and ice over the Dokriani glacier (4000 m altitude) in Garhwal Himalayas. The effect of natural dusting on degree-day factor is also examined. Information on the degree-day factor for snow and ice is required for the estimation of snow and ice melt runoff from a glacierized basin.

Organizer: National Institute of Hydrology

Topics:

• Need for Hydrological Investigations
• Conventional Techniques and methods for Hydrological Investigations;
• Application of Remote Sensing and GIS
• Application of isotopic techniques in surface water and groundwater investigations;
• Advance techniques for measurement of soil erosion and reservoir sedimentation
• Advance instrumentation for hydrological investigations; and
• Advance computing techniques for hydrological data analysis.

The study undertakes hydrological investigations to develop a conceptual model for the water balance of Lake Nainital in Kumaon Himalayas. All the components of lake water balance, except the sub-surface ones, have been measured or estimated using standard methods like isotope mass balance method in conjunction with the conventional water balance method. The sub surface outflow from the lake was assessed by studying the hydraulic interconnection of the lake and downstream springs using environmental tracers.

The study attempts to quantify geomorphological characteristics, generate various thematic databases in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) format and derive landuse information using remote sensing digital data for the Danda watershed in the Tehri-Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. Based on these it develops a land capability classification and generates alternate land use plan.

An integrated approach is followed wherein remote sensing and Geographical Information systems (GIS) techniques have been utilized for evaluation of the catchment characteristics such as geomorphology, landuse, soil and slope. The linking of the geomorphological parameters with the hydrological characteristics of the basin provides a simple way to understand the hydrologic behavior of the basin.

The study attempts to determine the water quality of all available sources of water be it surface, ground or waste water and find out the likely sources of pollution for the Hardwar district of Uttar Pradesh. The physico-chemical parameters of the water were determined. The effect of monsoon on the water quality was studied by collecting and analyzing the pre and post monsoon samples.

The study attempts to determine the adsorption characteristics of bed sediments of rivers for the control of metal pollution. In particular, it looks at adsorption of zinc ions on bed sediments for the river Ganga at Hardwar. In the natural conditions of river water, suspended loads and sediments have an important function of buffering higher metal concentrations of water, particularly by adsorption or precipitation. 

The hydrological study develops a water balance of the Lake Nainital to facilitate the utilization of its water in a planned and systematic manner. The lack of knowledge of input and output parameters such as subsurface inflow, use of lake water for domestic and industrial purposes, evaporation loss and leakage from lake including the outflow through sluice gates had created uncertainty in determining the availability of water in the lake. The study attempts to understand the behavior of the input and output parameters in detail by using both conventional and isotopic techniques.

The lake meets the local drinking and domestic water needs and is for the most part fed by rainfall during monsoon and by inflow from perennial springs and subsurface inflow during the non-monsoon season.