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Article Courtesy : Reuters AlertNet
Written by: Nita Bhalla

NEW DELHI (AlertNet) - Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed more than 50 people and displaced almost half a million more in India's south and northeast, say government officials.

Overflowing rivers and reservoirs have inundated low-lying villages mainly in India's oil and tea-rich state of Assam, but also on the opposite side of country in the southwestern coastal state of Kerala.

Flood-affected people sit in a damaged hut
as they wait for relief supplies in Lakhimpur
district, in India's northeastern state of Assam.
FILE PHOTO, July 2009. REUTERS/Stringer

According to the ministry of home affairs, almost one million people have been hit by the floods, forcing almost half a million to leave their water-logged villages and seek shelter in government relief camps.

Mountainous Assam, where five people have drowned, has been the worst-affected with 13 out of 27 districts hit by flooding, including Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Baksa and Bongaigaon.

Article and Image Courtesy: Consortium for DEWATS Dessemination Society

The July edition of e-Disha published by the Consortium of DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD) has the following highlights:

In this study, Clark’s model has been used for derivation of one-hour unit hydrograph for a catchment. The design flood estimate has been obtained using the calibrated parameters of the Clark model together with the time-area diagram corresponding to a 48-hour design storm, which has been temporally distributed and critically sequenced as a single bell, giving due consideration to the ordinates of the unit hydrograph.

The report examines the effect of periodicity in the rainfall records on the water availability of Damanganga basin in Nasik and Thane districts of Maharashtra. Based on the rainfall-runoff record of a shorter period, runoff series for a longer period is developed using a water balance model. The per cent deviation in water availability estimations computed using short term wet and dry records from the complete records is examined. The effect of length of time-series on the water availability estimates is also studied.

In this report, a mathematical model capable of computing the flow depth and discharge in each of the branched flows is developed using gradually varied flow equations. This model can handle three flow situations viz. temporary flow diversion, a cut-off channel and a single river island. Computational capability of the model is increased to handle irregular cross sections of a river.

In the present report a mathematical model has been developed for the study of stream aquifer interaction in multilayered system viz. a three-aquifer system, in which aquifers are separated by aquitards, considering varying stream-stage and vertical flow through aquitards. The model enables the computation of rates of recharge to the upper aquifer and exchanges of flow among aquifers along with the spatial and temporal distributions of piezometric heads in the aquifers.

The present study is in continuance with the earlier investigations made regarding the seepage from a surface water body in a multilayered aquifer system, wherein the influence of varying dimensions of a fractured-zone in a aquitard on the seepage from a source had been investigated. The objective is to examine the influence of a fractured-zone in a confining aquitard on the seepage from a surface water body. The issues covered include the influence of –

• The location with respect to the source of a fracture in the aquitard
• The position of the fractured aquitard at various depths in the aquifer system on the seepage from the source

The study aims to assess the impacts of various climate scenarios on the hydrological response of the high altitude Spiti river in the Himalayas. The climatic scenarios were constructed on the basis of simulations of the Hamburg coupled atmosphere-ocean climate model for the study region.

The report attempts to do a trace analysis of pesticides using gas chromatography technique. Pesticides are bio-accumulative and relatively stable, as well as toxic or carcinogenic, and therefore, require close monitoring. The identification and quantification of pesticides in different water bodies is a very important part of water analysis. The gas chromatography technique is considered appropriate, as most of the pesticides are volatile at the working temperature of gas chromatography. However, a pre-derivatization of a very few pesticides may be required prior to the analysis.

The report presents an original study of Cadmium adsorption based on experimental data. The effect of operating variables, like solution pH, sediment dose, contact time and particle size on the adsorption of cadmium ions on bed sediments of the highly polluted Kali river in western Uttar Pradesh has been studied.