Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Ramganga Reservoir (Uttarakhand)
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ESSENCE - International Journal for Environmental Rehabilitation and Conservation Volume VIII: No. 1 2017 [214 – 223] [ISSN 0975 - 6272] [www.essence-journal.com] Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services of Ramganga Reservoir (Uttarakhand) Malik, D. S. and Tyagi, Divya Received: January 29, 2017 Accepted: February 20, 2017 Online: June 30, 2017 Introduction nine hundred glaciers feed its major rivers and “O sage Naarad! Among the places on earth, many of their tributaries. Rain and spring-fed the land of India is blessed, In India- the land rivers nourish the mid-Himalayan region of the of Himalaya is blessed and the region in state, where most of the mountain population Himalayas where Ganga is born is especially dwells. Uttarakhand is India’s newest himalyan blessed because this is the place where she state. Here altitude is the principal determining exists in confluence with God.” factor for natural processes and human (Skandapuran-Kedarkhandam, Chapter 149, activities. Rapid changes in altitude across short Shloka 39-40) distances, leading to tremendous variation in Pauri Garhwal is a district in Uttarakhand state climate, have generated a profusion of of India. Its headquarters is at Pauri. Pauri geological, geographical, biological and Garhwal district is ringed by Haridwar, cultural diversities in the state. Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand is characterized by a tremendous Chamoli, Almora and Nainital districts from variation in climate across the transverse zones. three sides. The southern boundary of Pauri It varies from the sub-tropical humid climate of Garhwal district touches with the Bijnor district the terai region to the tundra-like climate of the of Uttar Pradesh. This district falls partly in the Great Himalaya ridges. The climatic variation is Gangetic plains and a major part in the even more dramatic along the slopes of the Himalayan North. mountain ranges. Forests are the backbone of Uttarakhand is gifted with abundant natural Uttarakhand’s environment. They account for resources – scenic vistas, forests, rivers, about 65 per cent of the state’s geographical wilderness, wildlife among many others. Over area. They are storehouses of biodiversity. For correspondence: Scores of plants in the forests are wild relatives Department of Zoology & Environmental Science, of cultivated crops and represent an invaluable Gurukula Kangri University, Haridwar Email: [email protected] genetic resource. Many wild plants have medicinal properties. The state’s forests also 214 Divya Tyagi/Vol. VIII [1] 2017/214 – 223 have an abundance of wild animals. The snow storing and regulating water, the dam and leopard, musk deer, Himalayan brown bear, reservoir projects construction can change the Asiatic black bear, and pheasants like Western process of runoff and sediment downstream, Tragopan, Himalayan Monal and cheer and so on, which might impact downstream pheasant found in the Great Himalaya region are agriculture and causes channel erosion. endangered species. Elephants and tigers According to WCD (2000), 46 per cent of the abound in the Shivaliks and the terai regions. water in the 108 most important rivers of the world is first flowing into a reservoir before it Ramganga river originates from the shivalik continues its way to a natural lake and/or to the range in the outer Himalayas of district Chamoli sea. The efficiency of reservoirs at trapping and after flowing 125 kms. Through hilly terrain sediment is frequently reported as 70 -90 per it emerges into plain at Kalagarh dam site. cent of the environmental hazards of dams and Ramganga river is a tributary of River Ganga. reservoirs. Modification of hydrological regime In order to harness, the potentialities of as formation of reservoir (hydroflushing, Ramganga River, the Uttar Pradesh state sometimes with important variations in water Government decided to construct a Dam across level flood, low water level, runoff distribution it at a site Which is 3km. Upstream from the in general), change of groundwater levels and place where river enters the plains. The valley is accumulated high concentrations of suspended known by the name of Patli Dun. The sub- material during flushing events. Detrital himalayan region where the dam is situated is (terrigenous) sedimentation trapping of known by the name of Shiwalik Ranges. suspended matter and bed load decreased the Ramganga dam is situated about 3 km upstream down-river sediment transport with of Kalagarh villages in district Pauri Garhwal of accumulation and retention of organic matter. Uttarakhand. It is about 110 km to the North- Change of temperature profile (and temperature East of Moradabad. The exact location of the Change of down-river water temperature and Dam site is latitude 29º 31’ 13” North and linked physical parameters) contributed the longitude 78º 45’ 35’’ East. It is the first venture function of viscosity meteorology and in the Himalaya and has laid the foundation for seasonality impact on biochemical cycles, e.g. still greater venture in these mountains. oxygen depletion. Modification of physico- Government authorized its construction in chemical water parameters due to increase of 1961. reservoir water salinity in downstream river and Hydrological Characteristics groundwater. The contribution to organic production (phytoplankton and plant growth) Ramganga dam has created a lake of 80 sq. kms and nitrogen cycling (mostly nitrification) area with a storing capacity of 2448 million cum among water quality, organisms (e.g. of water which provides irrigation facilities to macrophytes) and sediment contents of the 6.01 lac hect. land and additional production reservoir responsible for. N-loss to atmosphere of food grain to the tune of 3 lacs tones. For 215 Divya Tyagi/Vol. VIII [1] 2017/214 – 223 (NO2, N2), Oxygen depletion by nitrification downstream fisheries, and loss of the services of Other nutrients cycles of iron, manganese, downstream floodplains. The impact of dams sulphur, silica delivered from the watershed and reservoir projects on aquatic livings focused have to changing water composition sediment on fishes, reptiles, birds and mammals. The dam volume from upstream to downstream of blocking has a serious impact on migratory reservoir (Sundborg, 1992; Toniolo and fishes due to destroying and distributing their Schultz, 2005). spawning, breeding and their habitats, which forces the fishes from the river water gradually The hydrological parameters, temperature is the transform into the lakes fishes and make some most critical environment factor influencing environmental- sensitively fish species be metabolism, growth, reproduction, distribution, endangered. Ecological theory suggests high survival of flora and fauna in fresh water biodiversity is associated with greater reservoir (Singh and Mathur, 2005). efficiency of resource use within ecosystems Temperature also affects mainly productivity, (Gamfeldt and Hillebrand, 2008). Biodiversity solubility of oxygen and other gases in might also determine the resilience or reservoir ecosystem. The typical water maintenance of ecosystem services (Haines- temperature in reservoir effects vertical thermal Young and Potschin 2010), as systems with stratification. The constructed dam and high biodiversity can better adapt to future reservoir on the river greatly change the conditions or are potentially more resistant to hydrological processes and hydraulic conditions biological invasions (Taylor and Duggan 2012). of the river and also modify the thermodynamic Crocodile have of varieties of reptiles have state of the river which thus changes water growth in the pocket of lake. Reservoir has temperature. Dam and reservoir project mainly provided added attraction of birds. Therefore, focuses on water temperature, aquatic livings, the number and types of fishes will change, terrestrial livings, hydrological regime and the which impact remarkable local fishes. The most resettlement of migrants from reservoir. The common local and migratory birds also hydrological characteristics of Ramganga observed around the periphery of Ramganga reservoir is represented in Table 1. reservoir as Bulbul, Golden backed wood Biodiversity of Ramganga reservoir peacker, Blue fly catcher, Wintering water fowl, Biodiversity is the most important ingredient as Brahminy, Green shank, Eagles, Woodpecker, a biological resources of an ecosystem. Red headed laughing thrush. The Ramganga Ecological consequences of damming that have reservoir provide a natural water resource to been mentioned in the literature are loss of most of the wild mammals represented as Tiger, forests and wildlife habitats, loss of species Panther, Leopard cat, Musk deer, Gaural, Beer, populations and the degradation of upstream Bat, Rhesus Monkey and Squirrel. Jordi and catchment areas due to inundation, loss of Ming (2009) was studied on biodiversity of aquatic biodiversity, including upstream and three Gorges reservoir from Yangtze River of 216 Divya Tyagi/Vol. VIII [1] 2017/214 – 223 Central China. The result revealed that there Ecosystem/Ecological Services were 6000 plant species, over 500 terrestrial The concept of ecosystem services provides a vertebrates and about 160 species of fish were robust rationale for biodiversity conservation found. complementary to traditional arguments based In Ramganga reservoir have been occurred on intrinsic value. It also provides a mechanism about 40 fish species and conserves a wide for optimizing investments in biodiversity occurrence of icthyofaunal diversity.