A Study on Implementation of Low Impact Development as an Urban Stormwater Management Technique in Srinagar City: Current Trends, Issues and Challenges

The Severity as well as the frequency of short-duration, but damaging, urban area floods have increased in recent years across the world. Alteration to the urban micro-climate due to global climate change impacts may also exacerbate the situation in the near future. The events of floods have increased in Srinagar city as well over the past decades. Sustainable urban stormwater management using low impact development (LID) techniques, along with conventional urban stormwater management systems, can be implemented to mitigate climate-change-induced flood impacts in Srinagar. In this study, the supposed effectiveness of LIDs in the mitigation of urban flood in Srinagar city is analysed keeping in view their limitations at the same time. A critical research on the success of these techniques in urban flood mitigation planning in Srinagar city is also recommended. On summarising different LID approaches in the world, the results revealed that LIDs can be an efficient method for mitigating urban flood impacts. Most of the LID devices developed so far, however, are found to be effective only for small flood peaks. The major challenges include identification of the best LID practices for the region of interest, efficiency improvements in technical areas, and site-specific optimization of LID parameters. Research and improvements in these areas will allow better mitigation of climate-change-induced urban floods in a cost-effective manner and will also assist in the achievement of sustainable development goals for Srinagar city and will help us to tackle the increasing problems of water logging and floods in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Keywords: Climate change, Urban floods, stormwater management, Low Impact Development, Srinagar city, Drainage in Srinagar, Pluvial flooding.

Pre and post Vulnerability of Floods to Mental Health Among the Residents of Srinagar City, J&K-India

Health effects occur directly through contact with flood waters or indirectly from damage to infrastructure, ecosystems, food and water supplies or social support systems. They can be immediate or can appear days, weeks or months after the floods have receded. Two thirds of flood related deaths worldwide are from drowning and one third from physical trauma, heart attacks, electrocution, carbon monoxide poisoning or fire. The main of this paper was to assess the Pre and post vulnerability of floods to mental health among the residents of Srinagar city. For the collection of primary data, sample of 200 respondents were randomly selected from various areas of the Srinagar city. A well structured questionnaire was employed for collecting primary data. The study reveals that Maximum number patients were found during post floods (974). During pre floods out of the total 418 patients, maximum were found in the month of July (116 patients) followed by August (107 patients). However in post floods out of 974, maximum cases were found in January (281 patients) followed by march (273 patients). Females were found more vulnerable in both cases but in pre flood 62 percent females were found exposed to different mental health problems which increased to 77 percent after floods of September, 2014. Key words: Flood, Mental Health, Srinagar, Vulnerability

Occurrence of Dog Bites and Rabies within Humans in Srinagar, Kashmir

Open garbage dumps and dog bite are public health impasse in the Kashmir region. In Srinagar city, there are more than 91,000 dogs. It’s making one dog for every 12 citizens. Conversely, there are more than 80,000 dog bites, are reported in the valley. The present study was conceded in Srinagar district. It is solidly colonized with stray dog population perhaps due to mismanagement of garbage. The mounting street dog population is leading increasing fright in the city. The information recorded for Dog bite cases was collected from SMHS. The mainstream victims were males. The majority were bitten in the age group of 30–40. The majority had reported at the same day to the hospital. The time of exposure was evening. The bulk had bites on legs. Category 3 bites were seen with the majority people. The majority receive immunoglobins. Open garbage dumps are a public health impediment and they instigate to stray dogs propagation in Srinagar. Individual’s information should be enhanced and their sanguine attitude might be translated into pertinent practices for preclusion of rabies.

Investigating the 2017 Erratic Fishkill Episode in the Jhelum River, Kashmir Himalaya

Globally, the frequency of fishkill episodes is increasing, owing to natural and human-induced modification of aquatic ecosystems. A massive fishkill took place on 22 October 2017 along an approximately 1.5 km stretch of the Jhelum River in Srinagar City, India. Thousands of fish died during this specific event, not lasting more than three hours, creating chaos and panic among the local population and government circles. In this context, affected fish were assessed for three morphological parameters, which include skin color, eye appearance, and skin texture. To back our findings, three critical water-quality parameters, including pH, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen essential for the survival of fishes were assessed in the affected river stretch. This study assumes importance given that water-quality observation stations for monitoring the health of the Jhelum River are lacking in the highly urbanized Srinagar City. The morphological examination of fish samples revealed discoloration, bulging eyes, and rough skin texture, indicating chemical contamination of waters in the affected river stretch. The water quality analysis revealed neutral pH (7.2), normal temperature (15.6 °C), and mildly depleted dissolved oxygen (6 mg L−1) levels. While the morphological examination of the affected fish indicated chemical contamination, the physicochemical parameters exhibited a typical scenario of river water. For avoiding any such further incident and to precisely ascertain the cause of such fishkill episodes in future, it is suggested that a few continuous water-quality monitoring sites along Jhelum River should be set up, supplemented with robust ecological modeling simulations.