Surface Water

In this study, an attempt has been made to develop a regional flood formula using L-moments for the north Brahmaputra river system. The annual maximum peak flood data of twelve gauging sites of the north bank tributaries of the river have been considered. The screening of the data has been carried out for assessing the suitability of the data for regional flood frequency analysis by computing the Discordancy Measure (Di) in terms of L-moments. Also, homogeneity of the region has been tested using the L-moment based heterogeneity measure, H.

The study evaluates the applicability of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in rainfall-runoff process modeling for the Ajay river basin, Jharkhand to predict the 6-hour ahead runoff at Sarath. Initially three flood events were considered for training, to find out the weights between different layers of the network. The back propagation algorithm has been used for optimization of weights. The developed ANN was validated for rest of the flood events.

In the present study, two different Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were developed for Dharoi reservoir, Gujarat, one for flood control operation and another for conservation operation. In recent years, ANNs are increasingly being used to predict water resources variables particularly in the operation of reservoirs, the most important elements of complex water resources systems, constructed for spatial and temporal distribution of water.

This set of case studies is part of a book prepared by Lokayan in collaboration with the Planning Commission titled “Seeds of Hope", covers themes of agricultur

The report presents guidelines for hydrological investigations in a small watershed. A watershed is an individual entity, and is a naturally occurring unit of the landscape, which contains a complex array of interlinked and interdependent resources and activities irrespective of political boundaries. In addition, it is logical unit having readily identifiable boundaries and characteristics of water movement, which helps in coordinated planning and management.

The report deals with expert systems for unit hydrograph analysis, an emerging technology, which may in years to come, revolutionize professional activities in the field of surface water analysis and modeling. The literature review on the topic revealed the potential of application of expert system for unit hydrograph analysis. A prototype expert system has been developed for the selection of the most appropriate model for unit hydrograph derivation of a given catchment.

The report presents development of a sensor system capable of automated measurement of soil-water status, using the four-electrode resistivity (VES) method, in a soil profile. In this method, by changing the separation between two electrodes (metallic rods) placed at the ground surface without digging any holes, the variation in moisture content in the sub-surface soil profile can be monitored.

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 presents a sedimentation study in which sedimentation rate and volume have been determined using remote sensing data in the Ukai reservoir constructed across the Tapti River in Gujarat.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests released a draft of the regulatory framework for wetland conservation - Wetlands Conservation and Management Rules (2009) for feedback from all stakeholders. The draft framework was prepared by a multi-disciplinary expert group, and final round of comments were invited till June 21st 2010.

The Wetland Conservation Team of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) did a detailed analysis of the draft regulation and submitted several pertinent concerns to the Ministry. The most significant observation is that the new framework (as do much of India's policies and laws) continues to propose unjustifiable State control and interventions over the country's wetlands and livelihoods of people dependent on them. The regulation does not make any constructive suggestions or recommendations for the conservation that the country's wetlands demand, and instead brings all wetlands into complete official control by installing Central, State and District-level wetland regulatory authorities, wherein the majority of the members will be senior government officials.