Climate Change

This is the report on “Sustainable Groundwater Management” by the Working Group set up by the Planning Commission as a part of the process to prepare the 12th Five Year Plan. The existing methodology of groundwater resources assessment is appropriate and suitable for country-wide groundwater resources estimation, considering the present status of database available with the Central and State agencies.

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This study by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) assessed the variability of flows under present and ‘naturalized’ basin conditions in the Upper Ganges Basin. The Ganges river system originates in the Central Himalayas, and extends into the alluvial Gangetic Plains and drains into the Indian Ocean at the Bay of Bengal. In the upstream mountainous regions, hydropower is the main focus of development with mega and micro projects either under construction or being planned in both Nepal and India.

After the main river channel reaches the plains, it is highly regulated with dams, barrages and associated irrigation canals. All this infrastructure development and abstractions affects the river’s flow regime and reduces flows, which, in turn, impacts downstream water availability, water quality and riverine ecosystems. Furthermore, there are concerns that climate change is likely to exacerbate the water scarcity problem in the Ganges Basin. Therefore, modeling the hydrology of the basin is critical for estimation, planning and management of current and future water resources.Read More

This report by the Assam Science Technology & Environment Council (ASTEC) contains the compiled recommendation of three consultative workshops organized in Assam University, Gauhati University and Tezpur University by Climate Cell of Environment Division of Assam, Science Technology and Environment Council in collaboration with Department of Ecology and Environment Science, Assam University, Silchar, Department of Geography, Gauhati University, Guwahati and Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University. Read More

This paper published in the journal Current Science presents the findings of a study has been taken up to quantify the possible impacts of the climate change on the water resources of Indian river systems within the constraints of the uncertainty of climate change predictions. The study uses the PRECIS daily weather data to determine the spatio-temporal water availability in the river systems.

A distributed hydrological model, namely SWAT has been used to simulate all the river basins of the country. The analysis has been performed to evaluate the severity of droughts and floods and thus identify the vulnerable hotspots that may require attention in view of the climate change in various parts of the country

Impacts of climate change and climate variability on the water resources are likely to affect irrigated agriculture, installed power capacity, environmental flows in the dry season and higher flows during the wet season, thereby causing severe droughts and floods in urban and rural areas. Climate change impacts on water resources which are addressed and analysed in the present study include impacts on annual and inter-annual water availability as well as extreme events of droughts and floods. Read More