Reviving, Development and Protection of Springs to Increase Water Security in the Himalayan Region

Ranjan, Prem; Pandey, Pankaj

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3516630

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Also, collect GPS locations and measure discharge rate and quality. Secondarily, identify the new locations with the help of farmers, hunters, and grazers, as they have good knowledge of the location of springs [13]. Also, following the animal's footprints, small streams in valleys and dense green vegetation in the dry area indicate spring source.…”

Section: Spring Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spring Water Management to Ensure Long Term Sustainability in North-Eastern Regions of India

Ranjan

Pandey²,

Pandey³

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Spring water is the lifeline of the Himalayan communities. They depend on it for drinking and household use and farming. In recent decades, the region has been facing acute water shortage in the lean period due to climatic variabilities, especially rainfall. The rainfall pattern has changed from low-intensity, longer duration to high-density, shorter duration, which causes the “too little and too much water” syndrome. Rainwater does not have sufficient time to infiltrate due to high reliefs and undulating terrains. As a result, quick runoff dominates the region, reducing groundwater recharge and health. Springs also contribute to the base flow of many rivers in the region. The changing land use and land cover is another issue in water management, and the different studies indicate that deforestation, forest fire, mounting tourist spots, rapidly growing towns, and development activities reduce the infiltration capacity. In this region, most rural populations are completely dependent on perennial springs and streams for water needs such as drinking, agriculture, livestock feeding, and other household consumption. It is noticed that sudden water scarcity and demand increased during the non-monsoon period, which is uncertain for the long-term sustainability of the human population in the region. Hence, different water-saving techniques must be adopted to sustain this water scarcity condition at the household level and in irrigation practices. This can be achieved by bringing awareness of different water minimizing and saving techniques at the community level. Also, implementing a highly efficient irrigation system during the lean period instead of a flood irrigation system such as gravity-fed drip irrigation, bamboo drip irrigation, and pitcher irrigation is recommended.

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Section: Spring Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spring Water Management to Ensure Long Term Sustainability in North-Eastern Regions of India

Ranjan

Pandey²,

Pandey³

et al. 2022

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…The water yield (WY), which implies the total volume of water that comes out of the hydrological response unit (HRU) and joining at some points from networks of streams in the stipulated time period (Arnold et al 2011), is of great significance because it provides water reserve support to the ecological unit and for individual life. The water shortages and their increasing demand scenarios associated with increasing populations in hilly regions have brought negative aspects to long-term sustainable water resources management (Ranjan & Kumar Pandey 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the significance of basin parameters and hydro-climatic factors to water and sediment yields across spatio-temporal scales in mountainous river Basin, Sikkim

Lepcha

Pandey

2022

Journal of Water and Climate Change

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The precise identification of basin characteristics and climate factors that plays a significant role in determining water and sediment yield is of paramount importance. However, due to the enormous complexity associated with the hydrologic cycle, it is usually challenging to extricate the influence of individual parameters on the combined water and sediment yield responses. To accomplish this, a combined hydrological modelling and statistical approach was adopted in this study. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was adopted to simulate different components of the watershed and the results were utilized in Boosted Regression Trees (BRTs) to analyze the contribution of different parameters to water and sediment yield at spatio-temporal and seasonal scales in the upstream Teesta River basin. The outcomes of the analysis showed that precipitation and baseflow play a crucial role in regulating the water yield at all spatio-temporal scales. On the other hand, precipitation alone has a key role in determining the sediment yield, especially at the daily (49.30%) and monthly (21.14%) temporal scales. The relative contribution of the remaining parameters at a yearly temporal scale, and small and intermediate spatial scales showed relatively close results with an exception at the large basin scale (precipitation alone by 35.88%). The average contribution of actual evapotranspiration was found less on both water and sediment yield prediction in all spatio-temporal scales considered. The analysis also revealed that the precipitation, baseflow, and minimum temperature play a key role in regulating the water and sediment yield in both monsoon and non-monsoon seasons, whereas the contribution of maximum temperature and snowmelt was found less during monsoon and non-monsoon seasons. The outcomes of this study may assist policymakers and water managers in rational water management goals as well as in coping soil degradation issues.

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“…In Sikkim, the drying up of springs has been observed during the pre-monsoon season (Tambe et al 2012). A recent study by Ranjan and Pandey 2019 relates the drying up of many water sources with various factors such as ecological degradation, changing land-use/cover patterns, erratic rainfall patterns, socioeconomic and demographic changes. Rapid urbanization and tourism are other factors that affect groundwater quality (Khan et al 2020;Kumar et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GIS-based identification of potential watershed recharge zones using analytic hierarchy process in Sikkim Himalayan region

et al. 2022

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Identification of groundwater recharge zone is an important factor for water resource management in any area. The present study investigates the potential water recharge zones in the Sikkim state, a mountain region of the Eastern Himalayas. To identify potential watershed recharge zone in the region, a combination of geographic information system (GIS)-based weighted overlay index (WOI) tools and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) pairwise matrix techniques was applied. The delineated watershed recharge sites were classified into five different potential zones. The results show that the majority of the study area (54.22%) was under moderate recharge potential zone. Some of the suitable recharge potential sites are forest-covered regions; therefore, the construction of surface check dams could be a suitable recharge method; it will escalate the discharge in springs and also help to make them perineal. This study provides first-hand information on the groundwater recharge potential of East Sikkim, where the populace depends largely on spring water discharge. Also, it is useful in selecting areas for digging staggered contour trenches, pits, and other structures to recharge the spring water and improve the watershed management system.

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Reviving, Development and Protection of Springs to Increase Water Security in the Himalayan Region

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Spring Water Management to Ensure Long Term Sustainability in North-Eastern Regions of India

Spring Water Management to Ensure Long Term Sustainability in North-Eastern Regions of India

Quantifying the significance of basin parameters and hydro-climatic factors to water and sediment yields across spatio-temporal scales in mountainous river Basin, Sikkim

GIS-based identification of potential watershed recharge zones using analytic hierarchy process in Sikkim Himalayan region

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