REPORT ON EXPOSURE AND STUDY VISIT TO CHINA DURING 15-22ndAPRIL, 2018 BY A HIGH OFFICIAL TEAM OF WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT, GOB HEADED BY HON’BLE MINISTER WATER RESOURCES DEPARTMENT UNDER THE WORLD BANK FUNDED BIHAR KOSI RECOVERY PROJECT (BKFRP) REPORT Public Disclosure Authorized Under the World Bank funded Bihar Kosi Flood Recovery Project (BKFRP) in regard to establishment of Centre of Excellence, a team of six members of Water Resources Department headed by Hon’ble Minister, Water Resources Department visited China on exposure and study visit during 15-22nd April, 2018. The team members are as below: - 1. Mr. Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Hon’ble Minister, Water Resources Department, Government of Bihar 2. Mr. Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department, Bihar 3. Mr. Arun Kumar, Engineer-in-chief, Headquarter, Water Resources Department, Bihar

Public Disclosure Authorized 4. Mr. Anil Kumar, Joint Director, Flood Management Improvement Support Centre, Patna 5. Mr. Sunil Kumar Singh, Superintending Engineer, LAEO-cum- Deputy Director (P), Bihar Aapda Punarwas Evam Punarnirman Society, Patna 6. Mr. Md. Perwez Akhtar, Deputy Director-2, Flood Management Improvement Support Centre, Patna Objective

The main objectives of the exposure and study visit was as below: - 1. Knowledge sharing among professionals working in the field of flood management in Public Disclosure Authorized China and India 2. To know how the flood forecasting and early warning system is functioning in Yellow River Basin 3. To know the flood and sediment management policy which have been adopted in Yellow River Basin or other River Basin in China to manage flood risk disaster. 4. Role of Management system/ Government system/ various institutions in successful implementation of flood management policies. 5. To know the flood protection structural measures to protect the embankments/dikes 6. In view of Climate Change, the state of the art to mitigate the probable adverse effects on Water Resources. Public Disclosure Authorized 7. To know the role of decision maker in establish of Centre of Excellence. The main focus of this visit was to know how China Government has controlled the flood problem as well as sedimentation problem in the Yellow River.

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Exposure and Study Visit details: - The six members delegate under the leadership of Hon’ble Minister Water Resources Department visited the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) situated in Zhengzhou, in the Province of Henan, China. The members of YRCC warmly welcome the Indian delegation and showed great pleasure to exchange the idea regarding the Flood Management of both the country. After the introduction from both side a welcome speech given by Sun Feng, Deputy Director & Director General of Department of International Cooperation, YRCC followed by Introduction as well as planning and programming of Yellow River (YR) through speech by Mr. XueSonggui, Vice Commissioner, YRCC. The keynotes of the speech as well as discussion are as follow: -

Meeting with members of YRCC

Introduction of Yellow River Basin: -

Yellow River is the mother river of Chinese Nation originating from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau running through nine provinces before emptying itself into the Bohai Gulf in the Yellow Sea. The river total length is 5464 km and having drainage area of about 795000 sqkm. The basin is traditionally divided into upper, middle and lower reaches which can be described as three down sloping steps the Tibetan Plateau, the Loess Plateau and alluvial plain. The population in the Yellow River basin is near about 120 million which is about 9 % of the whole country. The runoff is 53.5 billion cubic metre and the Irrigation area is about 7.4 million hectare which is 30 % of the total Irrigation land of the Country. The Sediment load is 1.6 billion tons/ year which is very high sediment accretion.

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Characteristics of Yellow River (YR):-

1. It has very special river morphology and flow regime having much sediments and limited flow runoff. The YR annual runoff average 53.5 billion m3, while the annual sediment transported average 1.6 billion ton. In term of both the sediment load and sediment transportation, the YR ranks top among the World large river. 2. Flow and sediment runoff variation- In terms of temporary distribution, flood season sees 60 % annual runoff and over 80 % sediment in the year. In terms of spatial distribution, 62 % annual flow comes Lanzhou upstream and 90 % sediments specially coarse sand come from middle yellow river as well as three upstream tributaries. 3. Soil erosion:- The loess Plateau that the YR runs through is the largest region in the World subject to severe soil losses, and the eroded area amounts to 452000 sqkm of which the region with erosion modules higher than 15000 ton/sqkm a year is about 36700 sqkm accounting for 89 % of China’s most erodible land area. 4. River Morphology: - The Lower Yellow River is called suspended river, the river bed is generally 4-6 m higher than the ground around the Channel and even 10 metre difference in some places. Apart from that the Channel is wide in upstream but narrows in downstream with the river width varied from 24 km to 275m. The river regime is wandering and changing, the main stream swing, while there are still 1.9 million inhabitants lived in the inner flood plain. Characteristics of Kosi River:-

1. The river Kosi has a total catchments area of 74030 sq.km. Out of the total catchments area of the Kosi, only 11410 sq.km lies in India and the rest 62620 sq.km lies in Tibet and Nepal. After flowing 720 km, it meets with the River Ganga at Kursela in Katihar District of Bihar. It has seven tributaries which meet at above Triveni in Nepal about 10 km u/s of Chatra.The confluence of seven tributaries at Triveni is considered to be formed by the major three tributaries i.e Arun Kosi, Sun Kosi and Tamur Kosi. After the confluence of these rivers at Chatra, it is known as the River Kosi.

2. The drainage basin of the Kosi on the basis of soil characteristics can be divided into three zones:

(i) Upper catchment Zone- The upper catchment of the Kosi Basin lies totally in mountainous region. This zone is mostly responsible for sediment load.

(ii) Mid area Zone- The mid area zone comprises the area between the mountainous and plain portion of the catchment at the foothills of the Himalaya, also known as terai region, which basically lies in Nepal. These terai regions have excessive growth of vegetation and weeds on account of excessive moisture content.

(iii) Lower reach zone- Lower reach zone of the Kosi basin lies in the plains comprises large inland delta formed by the huge sandy deposit of the Kosi River.

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3. The Kosi River carries huge amount of sediment due to the river cuts across the Himalaya sand, the Shiwalik ranges and high rainfall (mean1456 mm/yr) which leads to excessive soil erosion and landslides in its upper catchment. The silt load of the river is one of the highest in the Indian sub-continent, about 193 million ton. 4. The Kosi River has an average discharge of 55,000 cusec (1557 cumecs), which increases 18 to 20 times during peak floods. The highest flood recorded in recent history of the river is reported to be 9,13,000 cusec (25854 cumecs) on 5th October, 1968. 5. The morphology of the river is such that between year 1736 and 1953 the river moved through a distance of about 112 Km. The river in the plain flows in multiple channels in a width varying from 6 to 16 Km and have also a meandering behaviour. It bed is also higher than the surrounding ground that is why this is also a suspended river. On seeing the characteristics of both the river in respect to sediment load, discharge variations, river behavioural and river bed higher than the neighbouring ground, the Yellow river is similar to Kosi River although of smaller scale.

Meandering of Yellow River

The Yellow River is a very complicated river having large sedimentation problem especially in lower reaches.

The Yellow River is a 4 very complicated river having large sedimentation problem Formation of Yellow River Conservancy Commission:-

A Yellow River Conservancy Commission was established by the State Government to take the charge of Yellow River Basin Management. According to the endorsement from the State council and Central Ministry of Water Resources of China, YRCC is authorised by the Ministry to exert water administration in the Yellow River Basin. Its responsibilities include : ensuring basin water utilisation and development in a sound manner, basin water management and supervision, coordinating in balancing the water use for living, production and environment, water resources protection, flood prevention and draught mitigation, guiding hydro related activities in the basin, guiding management and development in rivers, lakes, estuary, coastal regions, water and soil conservation, enforcing corresponding laws and regulations, solving water disputation at provisional boundary. The YRCC headquarter located at Zhengzhou, a capital of Henan Province of China. YRCC is the only one among the 7 river basin agencies in China which has been empowered to be directly responsible for river training, flood prevention and dike maintenance in the Yellow River basin.

Development and Management of Flood and Sediment in YRCC:- Before 1977, the river basin faced large problem of drought as well as food scarcity. Due to tremendous increase in population growth; the demand also increased. So in year 1977; it was planned by China Government to harness Yellow River with sediment disposal in comprehensive manner, proper utilisation of Water Resources and protection of environment and ecology with construction of reservoir on Yellow river. But now a day, it has become boom for the lower reaches as it provides irrigation near about 30 % of the whole country as well as water supply for people near about 240 million. To control the flood as well as silt management, seven big reservoirs including 36 nos small reservoir have been constructed through which silt discharging takes place regularly and go directly to sea. The commission has prepared a long-term planning and programme for 2020-2030 for maintaining and protecting healthy life of people residing in Yellow River Basin through 1. Flood Protection and Sediment Management 2. Water and Sediment Regulation 3. Comprehensive Water and Soil conservation 4. Effective utilisation of Water Resources 5. Protection of Water Resources and Water Ecology &Environment 6. Comprehensive River Basin Management System Initially 2 to 3 breaches occur every year in Yellow River Basin but due to integrated planning and development activities in the Yellow River basin, no breaches occur since last 20 years in Main River which is a great achievement in flood protection. The total length of embankment constructed is near about 8400 km. Rising of river bed has also been controlled and also contribute 14 % of GDP of whole country. It provides water supply to 60 cities and generate 3.16

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MKW power and ensured water and food safety for near about 150 million people in the river basin. Field visit to Yellow River Museum, Huayuankou Yellow River Embankment, Dike System, Hydro met station and institute: - The team also visited Yellow River Museum, Huayuankou Yellow River Embankment, Dike System, Hydro met station and institute –

Yellow River Museum: -.The museum is composed of four parts, "The Great Yellow River", "Scourges of Yellow River in the history", "People's Achievement of Yellow River Harness", and "The Yellow River in Progress". They were shown by photos, video, diagram, physical sample and so on. In the first part "The Great Yellow River", the long and rich history of Yellow River is exhibited by the team of YRCC. Then after the team members showed the second part i.e displays the violence and changeability of the Yellow River, reminding people of the danger, third part, the positive changes of the Yellow River with the comparison between the harm to people in the old society and the benefit of people in the new society. The fourth one "Yellow River in Progress" was also shown by the YRCC member which was the developing and the future plan of it, painting a beautiful and enthralling blueprint of making the old river bloom. Huayuankou Yellow River Embankment: - The Embankment was constructed having top width more than 7.5 m and black top with bituminous. Proper drainage arrangement was also made to drain out the rain water to minimise the rain cut and damage of slope. The embankment was strengthened by spreading the excavated silt on both side of the embankment and facilitating afforestation. Afforestation in both side about 100 m in country side and 50 m in river side was developed to enhance the environment and ecology system. The site is developed so as its look as tourist spot.

Development of Land to enhance Ecology & Environment in Huayuankou, Country side of Embankment, developed as Tourist Spot

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Hydro met station and institute: - The team also visited the Hydro met station at HYK (Huayuankou) station where the team of YRCC showed the protection of river bank along with the spurs (Groyne system). It was explained by the field officer of YRCC, that in July 1958, the HFL observed at HYK station was 94.22 m while discharge was 22300 cumecs. But in August 1996 it was 95.13 m while discharge was only 7600 cumecs. This indicates that this river carries huge amount of sediment during course of flow which causes to rise in the bed in respect to neighbouring ground level that is why Yellow River is known as suspended river. The protection works was as good as the site looks as tourist spot. After that the team also visited the Hydro met institute in Huayuankou where the team of YRCC explained about the hydro met station their method of data collection and its transmission to central server. They explained that 11 nos Hydrological Research institutes for research development works has been established.

Protection of Spur in Huayuankou developed as Tourist Spot

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Hydro met Station at HYK (Huayuankou) station

Meeting with YRCC Team in Hydro met Institute in HYK (Huayuankou)

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Hydro met Institute in Huayuankou

The next day of the tour i.e on 19th April, 2018 the team visited Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research (YRIHR) and Physical Modelling Centre. In the YRIHR the meeting was started with the introduction of YRIHR then after the experts of this institute explained through presentation their Sediment Management policy with the uses of silt, Dike Safety Monitoring Technology, introduction to Physical Modelling Centre. YRIHR is a national institute mainly committed to manage Yellow River through latest technology, including hydrology and water resources, soil conservation, flood prevention, sediment management, hydraulic engineering and so on. It was established by the YRCC in 1950. It has one key lab and two research centres of MWR. For reducing the flood risk and sediment management, they developed integrated approaches such as:-  Construction of standardized Embankment with multipurpose dike system with functioning of controlling floods, transportation, environment and scenery. The total length of constructed embankment is about 8400 km.  For water and sediment regulation, four approaches in the river has been adopted -  Trapping/ retaining the sediment by construction of DAM / Reservoir and flushing it to the Yellow sea with the aim to scour the river to improve the channel capacity.  Transporting the sediment to the sea by maintaining the sediment water ratio to carry the sediment. For this they developed the regulating system for observation of discharge and sediment load at different location.  Warping: - Use of dredged silt to strengthen the embankment.  Dredging the channel to increase the channel capacity to pass more discharge.

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In addition to this they also adopted water and soil conservation programme in which they constructed 91000 check dams for trapping sediment, construct terrace land, restrain land cultivation and herding & reforestation. Besides structural activities YRCC has also developed  Forecasting, Early warning and Regulatory system  Emergency Relief protocol  Flood Protection and communication network  Strengthening the management involvement in flood prevention  Promoting intelligent flood prevention techniques for hidden hazard such as foundation seepage and piping  Training to enhance capacity building  Establishment of 11 nos Hydrological Research Institutes for research development works  Provision of CCTV for monitoring system  Preparation of several guidelines for embankment safety and its monitoring.

Xiaolangdi Reservoir for Flood Control and Sediment Management

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Xiaolangdi Reservoir for Flood Control and Sediment Management Usage of silt: -

A lot of works has been done for sediment control through construction of high as well as small reservoirs and flushing silt on regular basis into the sea. However, the silt excavated is utilised in  Making artificial stone/ boulder  Bricks manufacturing  Strengthening the embankment by spreading the excavated silt on both side of the embankment and facilitating afforestation.  Making tourist spot on studs/ spurs Visit of Physical Modelling Centre of Yellow River:- The Yellow River Conservancy Commission has a well-planned Physical Modelling Centre established in 1950 and is the part of Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research (YRIHR). It is multidisciplinary comprehensive institute with research mainly on floods and sediment related problem and also to ensure: -  Any design either structure/ embankment are correct or not  Identification of site location for regular dredging for river channelization  Analysing silt characteristic  Study regarding soil and land slide in a particular catchment/ command by providing artificial rainfall  Also conduct several studies for flood protection as well as embankment strengthening  Also, to facilitate suction technology to extract and dispose / discharge the sediment deposited u/s of the reservoir.

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The team visited Xiaolangdi Reservoir model, Lower Yellow River Channel model and Soil and water loss experiment hall.

The Xiaolangdi Reservoir model: -The model was constructed in 1998 for the whole Xiaolangdi reservoir. The simulated reservoir is about 124 km long, 150-190 m in elevation. The model covers 100 % of its Yellow River stem part of the reservoir and 95 % of the tributaries in prototype. The model is about 420m long, 15 m wide averagely and 2.4 m high with the fine ashes of the burnt coal from a thermo-power plant in Zhengzhou as model sediment. The main horizontal scale is 1:300 and vertical scale is 1:60.

Physical Model of U/S of Xiaolangdi Reservoir with tributaries

Physical Model of U/S of Xiaolangdi Reservoir for catchment treatment

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Movable bed model for the river reach from Xiaolangdi dam to Taochengu:-This model is for Xiaolangdi dam to Taochengu, 476 km long in prototype having horizontal scale 1:600 and vertical scale 1:60. The model sediment is of ashes of burnt coal in Zhengzhou thermo- power plant. The main objectives of this model is:-  To study the model similarity laws and modelling methods for heavy sediment laden river,  To study the effects of the Xiaolangdi reservoir operation on flow and sediment transport & Safety of the flood plains along the lower Yellow River  To study the mechanism of morphological evolution  To test and improve the integrated harnessing and training alternative for wandering channel  To study the flood protection works and sediment management, raised flood plain with rehabilitation solutions.  This model also includes the effect of tributaries joining to the main course of the Yellow river.

The team also visited the soil and water loss experiment hall. It was observed that this model hall has facility of soil erosion and land slide in upper catchment by applying artificial rainfall. The model hall is well equipped with automatic rain gauge facility and mechanism for developing the real scenario of the above problem. The Centre has also a hydraulic lab with water circulating facilities used for modelling purpose. This lab has equipped setup of required machinery such as motor pump, delivery system etc.

Physical Model of D/S of Xiaolangdi Reservoir for River Channel

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Physical Model of Catchment for study of Soil and Land Erosion

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Visit to China Meteorological Administration

The team also visited China Meteorological Administration campus which have various Centres working as Mathematical/ Numerical Modelling Centre. The prominent centre are:- 1. National Climate Centre 2. National Meteorological Centre 3. CMA Public Met Service Centre 4. National Met Information Centre 5. CMA Weather Modification Centre 6. National Satellite Met Centre 7. CMA Met Observation Centre 8. CMA Numerical Weather Prediction Centre These Centres also work for Flood Prevention and Disaster Mitigation through  Better monitoring, early warning, urgent rescuing of extreme dangerous situation on dike  Using new instruments, equipment and material for Flood fighting  Various policy for Flood Prevention and disaster mitigation  Standards & Criteria for Water Management The Centres also works on River and Sediment Management through  Study of sediment transport behaviour  Study of River dynamics  Sediment Disposal and utilisation  Simulation technology An official discussion was held with Centre expert on the various study that they are doing and it has been found that the Centres provide global met as well as climate prediction and impact assessment such as  Meteorological Disaster Risk Management & Risk based early warning services in China  Guidelines for climate risk  Nationwide Risk survey & mapping  Risk warning for hazards such as rainfall, runoff, flow and forecast of Probable Quantitative Precipitation Estimate (QPE) / Quantitative Probable Flood (QPF)  Severe weather forecast  The flood forecasting time is 24 hrs for river 214 river basin sites for four level such as – Warning Level Flood Level Guarantee Level Levee Height The Centre of CMA forecasts rainfall on hourly, 2 hourly, 6 hourly & 8 hourly basis. They usage HPV model for forecast developed by Sweden which is mainly suitable for snow melting areas and for large catchment also. The accuracy of forecast is about 95 % as they have adequate observation network. This model is not suitable for river Kosi whose catchment is about 1/10th of the Catchment of Yellow River. That is why we used Mike, HECRAS, and TUFLOW model for modelling purposes.

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Presentation by Expert of National Meteorological Centre, CMA, Beijing

Various Centres under China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Beijing

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Suggestions on Exposure and Study visit: -

On exposure and Study visit; it has been observed that Government of China has done tremendous work including structural as well as non- structural activities for flood prevention and silt management considering the environmental and ecology aspect. The Yellow River Conservancy Commission is doing works for Yellow River Management to ensure lives of people especially in lower reach by providing water supply as well as power including flood protection. They have also established adequate numbers of research institutes and observation stations to carries various studies on Yellow River Basin. Now, the Yellow river is fully controlled in respect to flood and sediment management but has taken about 70 years for this. On the basis of exposure visit; the Following conclusions emerged on which Government should take initiatives such as:-  Embankment should be strengthened by spreading excavated silt from the river on both sides and doing afforestation. It has been observed the embankment of Yellow River is well maintained by bituminous road for easy to move as well as inspection purposes, so Kosi River embankment should have bituminous road.  The embankment of Yellow River has both side drainage facilities to control the rain cut. This should also be adopted.  Excavated/ Dredged silt material should be used for commercial purposes such as for manufacturing of artificial stone block, bricks as used in Yellow River basin.  Regular dredging should be carried out at identified vulnerable locations to channelize the river like Kosi as carried out in Yellow river.  Yellow River Commission has adequate nos of hydrological research Institutes having experts in their respective fields to study and analyse the data obtained from the observation stations for flood protection and sediment management.  The studies carried out by Mathematical Modelling Centre and Physical Modelling Centre is very important for flood prevention and sediment management. They suggest China Government to execute flood protection works as required. Hence, our existing research institutes such as WALMI should be upgraded with latest technology. Also Mathematical Modelling Centre established in Patna should be strengthened and the Proposed Physical Modelling Centre at Birpur (Supaul) should have adequate modelling studies facility with adequate expertise so as these centres are be able to suggest Government for flood protection works at appropriate locations.  During visit to Yellow river, it has been observed that army personnel are also trained to prepare themselves to do the rescue operation at the time of flood hazards occurrence. So we should also consider the collective framework needed to minimise flood risk hazard.  Yellow River Conservancy Commission has done tremendous works for catchment treatment in upper and middle reaches to control the silt erosion and landslides. They have adequate facility to study the type and quantity of soil erosion taking place in actual through occurring artificial rainfall in Physical Modelling Centre. Such Modelling

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technology should be adopted especially in those areas where soil erosion is more prominent in our river systems.  Yellow River Conservancy Commission has done tremendous works on flood prevention, flood protection and sediment management and also have vast experience, so sharing of experience with technology is needed for better coordination with Yellow River Conservancy Commission experts with Chines team of Ministry of Water Resources. China should be invited to study the Kosi River as they have given consent if invited.

At Physical Modelling Centre, Zhengzhou

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