Your search found 5 records
1 Jain, S. K.; Sharma, Bharat R.; Zahid, A.; Jin, M.; Shreshtha, J. L.; Kumar, V.; Rai, S. P.; Hu, J.; Luo, Y.; Sharma, D. 2009. A comparative analysis of the hydrology of the Indus-Gangetic and Yellow River basins. In Mukherji, Aditi; Villholth, K. G.; Sharma, Bharat R.; Wang, J. (Eds.) Groundwater governance in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River basins: realities and challenges. London, UK: CRC Press. pp.43-64. (IAH Selected Papers on Hydrogeology 15)
Hydrogeology ; River basins ; Groundwater irrigation ; Irrigation systems ; Aquifers ; Water use / China / India / Pakistan / Bangladesh / Nepal / Indus Basin / Ganges Basin / Yellow River Basin / Ordos Basin / Huang-Huai-Hai plain
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI 631.7.6.3 G570 MUK Record No: H042222)
(0.51 MB)
2 Rai, S. P.; Young, W.; Sharma, N. 2017. Risk and opportunity assessment for water cooperation in transboundary river basins in South Asia. Water Resources Management, 31(7):2187-2205. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1637-2]
International waters ; River basins ; International cooperation ; Risk assessment ; Water resources ; Water management ; Economic development ; Political aspects ; Evaluation techniques ; Fuzzy logic ; Riparian zones / South Asia / India / Bangladesh / Bhutan / China / Pakistan / Nepal / Afghanistan / Brahmaputra Basin / Ganges Basin / Indus Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048090)
(0.79 MB)
Rapid increases in demand for food and energy as a result of population growth and economic development is placing ever increasing demands on limited water resources in South Asia, and climate change is expected further complicate water resource management. In spite of important reductions in poverty levels in recent decades the region is still home to a very large number of poor whose quality of life is directly affected by the availability and quality of water and water services. A significant fraction of the water resources of the region and a significant fraction of the poor are associated with major Himalayan transboundary rivers, and given growing water demand it is likely that the already significant sensitivity around water cooperation amongst co-riparians will increase. Understanding the risks and opportunities for transboundary cooperation in the river systems in South Asia is thus important for guiding sustainable transboundary basin management in the region. This study refines a novel method for a rapid assessment of these cooperation risks and opportunities and applies it to the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Indus river basins to test its utility. The method employs a fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique that combines fuzzy logic and an analytical hierarchy process to assess cooperation risk and opportunity in terms of a Risk-Opportunity Index (ROI). The ROI is a function of four composite development variables and three hegemony variables that indicate the various pressures on the basin water resource and the different control strategies riparians could adopt given existing power asymmetries. In the absence of a clear rationale for differential weighting, equal weights were assigned to all seven variables for this application. A “defuzzification” scoring method is used to define compromising, risk-averse and risk-taking variants of ROI for riparian pairs within each basin. Overall, the results for the compromising ROI suggest that the opportunities for bilateral cooperation are highest (and risks the lowest) in the Brahmaputra Basin and the opportunities are lowest (and the risks highest) in the Indus Basin. This overall assessment is consistent with current common perception. Within the basins the compromising ROI values suggest a few instances of high risk and/or low opportunity, as well as an approximately equal number of instances of medium risk/opportunity and low risk/high opportunity. The study demonstrates that the fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique has utility for rapidly identifying potential opportunities for riparian cooperation in transboundary basins, in order to guide dialogue processes and more detailed analyzes. The study also however, reveals some aspects of the method where further refinement would likely yield more reliable assessments of cooperation risks and opportunities. Specifically, further refinements could consider the relative geographic position of co-riparians within a basin, and the relative resource access of different riparians. The method only considers bilateral riparian interactions and not more complex multi-lateral interactions. The results of study may contribute to various ongoing regional and basin dialogues on water cooperation in South Asia.
3 Rai, S. P.; Wolf, A. T.; Sharma, N. 2017. Hydropolitics and hydropolitical dynamics between India and Nepal: an event-based study. Water Policy, 19(5):791-819. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2017.063]
International waters ; Political aspects ; International cooperation ; Conflicts ; River basin management ; Risk assessment ; Databases ; International agreements ; Water quality ; Water power ; Flood control ; Fisheries ; Navigation ; Economic development ; Irrigation programs ; Infrastructure ; Technology ; Statistical methods / India / Nepal / Ganges Basin / Mahakali Basin / Karnali Basin / Gandak Basin / Kosi Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048401)
(1.31 MB)
India and Nepal not only share common borders and cultures, but also share precious freshwater sources, i.e., rivers. Rivers have been discussed often in the political corridors because they cross international borders, which transform water reserves into a competitive resource and lead to hydropolitical dynamics between riparian countries. Nepal and India are two of the major riparian nations that share the mighty and complex Ganges Basin. The objective here was to study the more-than-a-century-old hydro-diplomacy between India and Nepal, passing through tumultuous political scenarios to understand how water relations have been shaped and reshaped with time. For this, a database of historical individual events/actions of water cooperation and conflict from 1874 to 2014 was compiled. These events/actions were ranked by intensity, using precise definitions of conflict and cooperation as suggested by the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database under the Basins at Risk project formulated at Oregon State University. Statistical analyses indicated cooperative events greatly outnumbered conflictive events. Out of 351 events, only 4% were conflictive, 92% were cooperative, and the remaining 4% were neutral. The study revealed an abundance of cooperative events; however, when seen through the lens of conflict-cooperation levels, the findings indicated a moderately positive cooperation, without much concrete action.
4 Akhtar, N.; Syakir, M. I.; Rai, S. P.; Saini, R.; Pant, N.; Anees, M. T.; Qadir, A.; Khan, U. 2020. Multivariate investigation of heavy metals in the groundwater for irrigation and drinking in Garautha Tehsil, Jhansi District, India. Analytical Letters, 53(5):774-794. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00032719.2019.1676766]
Groundwater pollution ; Groundwater assessment ; Groundwater irrigation ; Drinking water ; Heavy metals ; Water quality ; Anthropogenic factors ; Hydrogeology ; Principal component analysis ; Multivariate analysis / India / Jhansi / Garautha
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049649)
(2.42 MB)
Groundwater is an important source for drinking and irrigation purposes. Due to anthropogenic activities, heavy metals have been leaching due to industrial waste and agricultural activities to the groundwater causing pollution. The assessment of groundwater quality is necessary to reduce the pollution to acceptable levels. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate heavy metal concentrations in the groundwater of the villages of Garautha Tehsil, Jhansi where the anthropogenic activities are active. The groundwater samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the results were compared to the 2012 Bureau of Indian Standard limits. Three multivariate statistical methods were used to analyze the groundwater quality for irrigation and drinking purposes and to investigate the geological and hydrogeological processes. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) identified four factors responsible for the data structure by illuminating the total variance of 77.83% of the dataset. The majority of groundwater samples contained Al, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Fe within the acceptable limits except at few locations. However, the Al, Fe, and Mn concentration were high at a few sites due to rock–water interactions, whereas the concentration of As, Cd, and Zn were lower than their respective permissible limits in all groundwater samples. Furthermore, the groundwater quality for the use of irrigation is found to be acceptable at 19 locations, with only one high result.
5 Joshi, S. K.; Gupta, S.; Sinha, R.; Densmore, A. L.; Rai, S. P.; Shekhar, S.; Mason, P. J.; van Dijk, W. M. 2021. Strongly heterogeneous patterns of groundwater depletion in northwestern India. Journal of Hydrology, 598:126492. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126492]
Groundwater depletion ; Alluvial aquifers ; Groundwater recharge ; Groundwater table ; Water storage ; Water levels ; Sediment ; Geomorphology ; Groundwater extraction ; Water quality ; Pumping ; Rain ; Sustainability / India / Indo-Gangetic Basin / Yamuna River / Sutlej River / Ghaggar River
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050419)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022169421005394/pdfft?md5=4238a9b73d1cc86e0bcf36ba7b4751b9&pid=1-s2.0-S0022169421005394-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050419.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050419.pdf
(15.90 MB) (15.9 MB)
Northwestern India has been identified as a significant hotspot of groundwater depletion, with major implications for groundwater sustainability caused by excessive abstraction. We know relatively little about the detailed spatial and temporal changes in groundwater storage in this region, nor do we understand the interplay of factors controlling these changes. Groundwater managers and policymakers in India require such information to monitor groundwater development and make strategic decisions for the sustainable management of groundwater. Here, we characterise high-resolution spatio-temporal variability in groundwater levels and storage change across northwestern India through analysis of in situ measurements of historical groundwater level data. We note a slow gain in groundwater storage of + 0.58 ± 0.35 km3 for the pre-monsoon and + 0.40 ± 0.35 km3 for the post-monsoon period between 1974 and 2001. However, from 2002 to 2010, groundwater storage was rapidly depleted by -32.30 ± 0.34 km3 in the pre-monsoon and -24.42 ± 0.34 km3 in the post-monsoon period. Importantly, we observe marked spatial heterogeneity in groundwater levels and storage change and distinct hotspots of groundwater depletion with lateral length scales of tens of kilometers. Spatial variability in groundwater abstraction partially explains the depletion pattern, but we also find that the sedimentological heterogeneity of the aquifer system correlates broadly with long-term patterns of groundwater-level change. This correlation, along with the spatial agreement between groundwater level change and water quality, provides a framework for anticipating future depletion patterns and guiding groundwater monitoring and domain-specific management strategies.
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