Rivers

The hydrological inventory of Ganga basin provides information regarding availability of hydrological data and highlights major hydrological problems of the basins. The information is a useful input in water resources planning, management and research activities.

The study estimates the average contribution of snow and glacier melt runoff in the annual flow of Satluj river at Bhakra dam. This study is restricted to the Indian part of Satluj basin. A water balance approach was used to determine the average snow and glacier contribution to the annual flows.

The study deals with flood estimation through computation of a flood hydrograph for the ungauged Narmada catchment upto Jamtara using the physical and geo-morphological characteristics of the catchment. The catchment area of 17100 sqkm has been sub-divided into five sub-catchments for the purpose of flood estimation.

The study attempts to do field and laboratory determination of soil classification properties in the Dudhnai river basin of Assam and Meghalaya. Point infiltration tests using double ring infiltrometer were conducted at various locations (forty-four sites) in respect of different land use conditions. Soil samples were collected from these infiltration testing sites.

The saturated hydraulic conductivity was determined in the field using Guelph Permeameter for the selected sites. The undisturbed soil samples and disturbed soil samples (50 cm below the ground) were collected and subjected to elaborate laboratory tests. 

The study was taken up as a part of the representative basin studies being done by NIH and involved hydrological land use & land cover mapping for the Suddagedda basin of Andhra Pradesh. Mapping was carried out through visual interpretation for the years December 1987, April 1989, December 1992 and November 1996 using IRS IB-LISS II, LANDSAT 5-TM and IRS IC-LISS III data.

Land use and land cover are the most important surface characteristics of a basin. They are very dynamic features over space and time and it is difficult to get real time information on them through conventional means. Planners need to update knowledge of natural resources, which can be obtained quickly, economically and accurately through remote sensing techniques. Further, the land use map of a basin or region provides hydrologically significant categories, which are essential for estimation of reliable runoff from ungauged basins.

The study attempts to find out the effects of geomorphology on watershed runoff response in the Devak basin and tries to identify the parameters that are more closely related to runoff. A chief objective of the study is to regionalize the hydrologic models describing the rainfall-runoff process. 

The advanced knowledge of geomorphology of the region is of importance in the field of flood control measures and engineering projects, since geomorphological characteristics of river basins in mountainous areas affect runoff processes and formation of floods in the areas.

The study undertakes hydrological soil classification of Suddagedda basin of Andhra Pradesh based on field and laboratory experiments on the soil samples. The hydrologic soil properties of an area are essential to accurately estimate the runoff generated due to storm in the area. The main soil parameters generally considered for analysis are soil texture, soil structure, infiltration rate and hydraulic conductivity.

The study develops a regional conceptual catchment water balance model for five catchments in the Western Ghat region of Karnataka. The model can be used to estimate the water yield from ungauged catchments located in the region.

The water yield is an integration of discharge as a function of time for a specified duration and reflects the volumetric relationship between rainfall and runoff. The estimation of water yield is required for solution of water resources problems normally encountered in design of storage facilities. It is of use in understanding the water availability for agriculture, industrial and drinking purpose as also for estimating the dependable water supply for power generation and irrigation projects.

The study uses HEC-RAS to analyse the water surface profiles of Malaprabha river system upto Khanapur for different combinations of discharges through various reaches of the river system. The river system is divided into eleven reaches, and forty one cross sections have been measured and interpolated within these reaches.

Discharge values have been assigned for different reaches according to the ratio of contributing area for each reach. The bridge across the river at Khanapur is reproduced in the modeling system to test its capabilities. Various return period floods have been allowed to pass through the river system to compute the individual water surface profiles.

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.