Freshwater, climate change and adaptation in the Ganges River Basin

Climate change is one of the drivers of change in the Ganges River Basin, together with population growth, economic development and water management practices. These changing circumstances have a significant impact on key social and economic sectors of the basin, largely through changes in water quantity, quality and timing of availability. This paper evaluates the impact of water on changing circumstances in three sectors of the Ganges Basin – agriculture, ecosystems and energy. Given the inherent interconnectedness of these core sectors and the cross-cutting impact of changing circumstances on water resources, we argue that adaptation should not be viewed as a separate initiative, but rather as a goal and perspective incorporated into every level of planning and decision making. Adaptation to changing circumstances will need to be closely linked to water resource management and will require significant collaboration across the sectors.

Download Full-text

A framework to understand gender and structural vulnerability to climate change in the Ganges River Basin: lessons from Bangladesh, India and Nepal

10.5337/2014.230 ◽

2014 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

F. Sugden ◽

S. de Silva ◽

F. Clement ◽

N. Maskey-Amatya ◽

V. Ramesh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Structural Vulnerability ◽

Ganges River ◽

Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽

The Ganges ◽

Ganges River Basin

Download Full-text

Assessment of the Impacts of Spatial Water Resource Variability on Energy Planning in the Ganges River Basin under Climate Change Scenarios

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13137273 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 7273

Author(s):

Bijon Kumer Mitra ◽

Devesh Sharma ◽

Xin Zhou ◽

Rajarshi Dasgupta

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Availability ◽

Power Plants ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Climate Change Scenarios ◽

Ganges River ◽

Planning Organizations ◽

The Ganges ◽

Ganges River Basin

Availability of water in the Ganges River basin has been recognized as a critical regional issue with a significant impact on drinking water supply, irrigation, as well as on industrial development, and ecosystem services in vast areas of South Asia. In addition, water availability is also strongly linked to energy security in the region. Hence, quantification of spatial availability of water resources is necessary to bolster reliable evaluation of the sustainability of future thermal power plants in the Ganges River basin. This study focuses on the risks facing existing and planned power plants regarding water availability, applying climate change scenarios at the sub-basin and district level up to 2050. For this purpose, this study develops an integrated assessment approach to quantify the water-energy nexus in four selected sub-basins of the Ganges, namely, Chambal, Damodar, Gandak, and Yamuna. The results of simulations using Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) showed that future water availability will increase significantly in the Chambal, Damodar, and Gandak sub-basins during the wet season, and will negligibly increase in the dry season, except for the Yamuna sub-basin, which is likely to experience a decrease in available water in both wet and dry seasons under the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario. Changes in the water supply-demand ratio, due to climate change, indicated that water-related risks for future power plants would reduce in the Chambal and Damodar sub-basins, as there would be sufficient water in the future. For 19 out of 23 districts in the Chambal sub-basin, climate change will have a moderate-positive to high-positive impact on reducing the water risk for power plants by 2050. In contrast, existing and future power plants in the Yamuna and Gandak sub-basins will face increasing water risks. The proposed new thermal power installations, particularly in the Gandak sub-basin, are likely to face serious water shortages, which will adversely affect the stability of their operations. These results will stimulate and guide future research work to optimize the water-energy nexus, and will inform development and planning organizations, energy planning organizations, as well as investors, concerning the spatial distribution of water risks for future power plants so that more accurate decisions can be made on the location of future power plants.

Download Full-text

INCOSE Practitioners Challenge 2019: Clean Water and Sanitation in the Ganges River Basin

Insight ◽

10.1002/inst.12256 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 28-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Omar El‐Haloush ◽

Stephen Powley ◽

Yash Kaushik ◽

David Flanigan ◽

Joseph Sitomer

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Clean Water ◽

Ganges River ◽

Water And Sanitation ◽

The Ganges ◽

Ganges River Basin

Download Full-text

Uncertainty Impacts of Climate Change and Downscaling Methods on Future Runoff Projections in the Biliu River Basin

Water ◽

10.3390/w11102130 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 2130 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zhu ◽

Zhang ◽

Wu ◽

Qi ◽

Fu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Resource Management ◽

Climate Models ◽

Dynamical Downscaling ◽

Global Climate ◽

Global Climate Models ◽

Liaoning Province ◽

Lower Envelope ◽

The Impact

This paper assesses the uncertainties in the projected future runoff resulting from climate change and downscaling methods in the Biliu River basin (Liaoning province, Northeast China). One widely used hydrological model SWAT, 11 Global Climate Models (GCMs), two statistical downscaling methods, four dynamical downscaling datasets, and two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) are applied to construct 22 scenarios to project runoff. Hydrology variables in historical and future periods are compared to investigate their variations, and the uncertainties associated with climate change and downscaling methods are also analyzed. The results show that future temperatures will increase under all scenarios and will increase more under RCP8.5 than RCP4.5, while future precipitation will increase under 16 scenarios. Future runoff tends to decrease under 13 out of the 22 scenarios. We also found that the mean runoff changes ranging from −38.38% to 33.98%. Future monthly runoff increases in May, June, September, and October and decreases in all the other months. Different downscaling methods have little impact on the lower envelope of runoff, and they mainly impact the upper envelope of the runoff. The impact of climate change can be regarded as the main source of the runoff uncertainty during the flood period (from May to September), while the impact of downscaling methods can be regarded as the main source during the non-flood season (from October to April). This study separated the uncertainty impact of different factors, and the results could provide very important information for water resource management.

Download Full-text

Hydro-geochemical evaluation of groundwater for irrigation in the Ganges river basin areas of Bangladesh

10.21203/rs.3.rs-161359/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Md Shajedul Islam ◽

Md. Golam Mostafa

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

River Basin ◽

Irrigation Water ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Total Hardness ◽

Water Type ◽

Irrigation Water Quality ◽

Ganges River ◽

The Ganges ◽

Ganges River Basin

Abstract Groundwater is a vital source of irrigation water, and it provides over 80% of the irrigated water supply in Bangladesh. The study aimed to assess the status of irrigation water of the Ganges river basin areas in the middle-west part of Bangladesh through the hydrogeochemical characterization and classification of groundwater. The study parameters were pH, EC, TDS, Ca2+, Mg2+, total hardness, Na+, K+, B, Cl−, HCO3 −, SO 42−, NO3 −, and PO43− along with irrigation water quality index (IWQindex), Na%, soluble sodium percentage, sodium adsorption ratio, residual sodium bicarbonate, magnesium adsorption ratio, permeability index, and Kelley’s ratio. The results showed that most of the water samples were acidic in the pre-monsoon and alkaline in the post-monsoon seasons, and the water type was Ca-HCO3. The significant geochemical process in the area determined was calcite and dolomite mineral dissolution, and there was no active cation exchange, and silicate weathering occurred. The statistical analyses showed that both the geogenic and anthropogenic sources were controlling the chemistry of the groundwater aquifers. Concerning irrigation water quality, the results revealed that all the quality parameters and IWQindex (32.04 to 45.39) were within the safety ranges, except for the EC and total hardness. The study results would be useful for future groundwater monitoring and management of the Ganges basin areas of Bangladesh part.

Download Full-text

Reviving the Ganges Water Machine: why?

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/hessd-12-8727-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 8727-8759 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

U. A. Amarasinghe ◽

L. Mutuwatte ◽

L. Surinaidu ◽

S. Anand ◽

S. K. Jain

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

River Basin ◽

Water Use ◽

Water Demand ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Subsurface Water ◽

Ganges River ◽

Hot Weather ◽

The Ganges ◽

Ganges River Basin

Abstract. The Ganges River Basin may have a major pending water crisis. Although the basin has abundant surface water and groundwater resources, the seasonal monsoon causes a mismatch between supply and demand as well as flooding. Water availability and flood potential is high during the 3–4 months of the monsoon season. Yet, the highest demands occur during the 8–9 months of the non-monsoon period. Addressing this mismatch requires substantial additional storage for both flood reduction and improvements in water supply. Due to hydrogeological, environmental, and social constraints, expansion of surface storage in the Ganges River Basin is problematic. A range of interventions that focus more on the use of subsurface storage (SSS), and on the acceleration of surface–subsurface water exchange, have long been known as the "Ganges Water Machine". One approach for providing such SSS is through additional pumping prior to the onset of the monsoon season. An important necessary condition for creating such SSS is the degree of unmet water demand. This paper highlights that an unmet water demand ranging from 59 to 119 Bm3 exists under two different irrigation water use scenarios: (i) to increase Rabi and hot weather season irrigation to the entire irrigable area, and (ii) to provide Rabi and hot weather season irrigation to the entire cropped area. This paper shows that SSS can enhance water supply, and provide benefits for irrigation and other water use sectors. In addition, it can buffer the inherent variability in water supply and mitigate extreme flooding, especially in the downstream parts of the basin. It can also increase river flow during low-flow months via baseflow or enable the re-allocation of irrigation canal water. Importantly, SSS can mitigate the negative effects of both flooding and water scarcity in the same year, which often affects the most vulnerable segments of society – women and children, the poor and other disadvantaged social groups.

Download Full-text