Watershed Design and Water Budgeting study of Baltira River Basin

Abstract

Fresh water availability and water use have been recognized as global issue. Water scarcity/stress is one of the constraints for sustainable development. Water storage and distribution methods such Tank/pond, reservoir are being adopted, in minimizing the water scarcity. The water availability in a river basin is already committed to one sector or another. Hence, additional commitments cannot be made unless otherwise, the storage and distribution efficiency of the existing system is improved. The studies are being carried out on the water availability, demand, and vulnerability without any integration of the micro level information. Baltira river, a tributary of Manganga River system in the upper Krishna river basin, located in the rain shadow region is without any instrumentation for runoff measurement is taken up for this study. newlineInformation on weather, crop area and type, reservoir and population were collected, geo-referenced, digitized and created a geospatial database. This information was used in estimating the water availability and demand from various sections and the performance of the water storage and distribution system. Orbital satellite images were used in deciphering the vegetation cover, open area, crop area and water spread. Annual, Monthly and weekly events and trend in the rainfall pattern over the area was estimated from data collected by 3 rain gauge stations. SWAT model was used in estimating the river flow during the monsoon period (no significant rain during non-monsoon periods) and sediment yield. 20 years of ground water level fluctuation of 7 dug wells and 3 bore wells were used in understanding the recharge-rainfall-abstraction relationship. The census (2011) information was used in estimating the drinking and agriculture water demands. Ground based assessment of physical and functional condition of the reservoirs and tanks were made and evaluated their functional storage capacity and distributional efficiency of individual projects. newline