DOCSLIB.ORG

Programme – Policy – Implementation of Program – Monitoring Flood 2008 - Impact

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Programme – Policy – Implementation of Program – Monitoring Flood 2008 - Impact Environment and Sustainable development: Improving Systems Performance Floods in Kosi • Failure of – Programme – Policy – Implementation of program – Monitoring Flood 2008 - Impact • The flood killed close to 1000 people and forced nearly 30 lakh people from their homes in Bihar. No cattle dead, main economic soruce of livelihood, not known. • Widespread disease and fear of epidemic • More than 300,000 houses were destroyed and at least 340,000 hectares (840,000 acres) of crops were damaged. • Crops worth over Rs.1.5 billion damaged and destroyed. 2008 Floods – Response • National Disaster Declared • Government announced USD 230 million • Announced construction of hazard safe houses for 100,000 families. • World Bank Supported the above program with USD 220 million commitment. • Chief minister asked for 145 billion rehabilitation package. • Instituted inquiry commission under Justice Walia • OUTCOME: • Out of a total 100,000 houses to be constructed by the Government in the Kosi region comprising Madhepura, Saharsa and Supaul districts, only 12,500 were erected till February 2014. • Justice Walia commission report tabled in 2014 (after FIVE YEARS) identified administrative failure and holds government responsible. Who’s at fault? • KOSI for being the way it is – Bihar’s Sorrow • Government – national, state, local, etc. • Zero accountability – authoriies responsible for it go left untouched. • Lack of preparedness • Lack of communication to the downstream population at the time of the embankment breach • Corruption – poor quality material used in construction of barrages/dams and poor upkeep. • Zero value of human life..that sustains CHALTA HAI ATTITUDE – Almost always last minute response. • Who else………God?? Nature’s Fury or Man made Disaster? • Kosi is named as Sorrow of Bihar!! • Since 1963, Kosi has breached 7 times and 2008 at kusaha was its 8th and most impactful. • All the earlier breaches had occurred downstream of the barrage. But this year the breach happened upstream of the barrage and the flow was less than what normally is during floods. • The Kosi has an annual silt load of 94,400 acre feet. The embankment, which was build to hold 0.95 million cusecs of water, gave way when water was less than 0.14 million cusecs • The day the breach occurred, the water in the Kosi was 0.134 million cusecs at the breach point, while usually the river has 0.4 million cusecs during floods Let’s meet KOSI Some Info about KOSI • Kosi flows between the boundary of Nepal and India. It origninates in Nepal • It is the largest tributaries of Ganga. The river along with its eight tributaries drains an area of 69,300 sq km before it meets ganga. • The Kosi river has an exceptionally high sediment yield of 0.43 milliontines/year/km2 which is accommodated in a very narrow alluvial plains, almost one-fifth of the upland area. • It shows evidence of lateral channel shifting exceeding 120 km (75 mi) during the past 250 years, via at least twelve major channels. The river, which flowed near Purnea in the 18th century, now flows west of Saharsa. • River gradient ranges from more than 10 meters/km for major upper tributaries in the mountains to as little as 6 cm/km as the lower Kosi nears the Ganga. Info Cond…. • The Kosi alluvial fan is one of the largest in the world, covering some 15,000 km² and extending 180 km from the outermost foothills of the Himalayas to the Ganga river valley. • Flood waters naturally spread out over the surface of this cone. Flows over 25,000 m³/s have been measured where the Kosi exits the Himalayan foothills, enough to create a flow of water 30 km wide. At this rate, in one week enough water would accumulate to cover the entire megafan to a depth of 1.5 meters. why it happened? • Embankments are the culprits. What we think is a solution has turned to be the problem. • The use of embankments to contain the Kosi has prevented it from spreading its silt load of 92.5 million cubic metres. • It has resulted in raising the river bed by four metres and prevented adjoining channels from draining into the river and caused permanent waterlogging in an 8360 sq km area. • As a result, one million people in 380 villages face flood fury every year and eight million are waterlogged. • Embankments in fact have increased the area prone to flooding from 2.5 million hectares in the 1950s to 6.8 million hectares Possible Alternates • Building additional dams in Nepal • Extensive soil erosion and • Increase the capacity of existing landslides in its upper catchment Dams? have produced a silt yield of about • Build more embankments 19 m³/ha/year (10 cu yd/acre/yr), downstream one of the highest in the world. • Building diversion channels • In 1962, when Bihar had 160 downstream to divert extra water? kilometres of embankments the flood-prone area was 2.5 million ha. In 2002, it had 3,340 km embankments and 6.9 million ha of flood-prone area. • Embanking the Kosi has led to a rise of 2 m in its bed in the lower reaches within 30 years of embankment construction. • Building a dam in Nepal is not a solution because constructing it will take 20 years and the huge silt load will leave it choked in no time. Alternates Contd… • After the Floods, work begun to repair the breach and bring the river back to its "old" route, within the embankment. But can it be done? What is the larger picture here? • Kosi has been changing course since 1736 and has moved westward by 120 km. Additionally, due to higher silt and sediment load, the river will continue to change its course. Possible Alternates • Since, Kosi has decisively changed course there is a good opportunity to apply ecologically sound practices such as allowing the river to flow freely. • What does this entail? Benefits of the new approach • Let the river flow in the new direction depositing silt on its course • Understanding the river behavior ( which is flowing for almost 200,000 years) and to apply this knowledge in the context of human settlements. • With the embankments gone, the Kosi can connect once again with natural drainage channels. • Silt through distribution will enrich the soil. The river can thus become the driver of a water-based economy in which surpluses are put to use to intensive agriculture. • Not long time ago, this is how the life was in North Bihar. Water culture of North Bihar knew how to live with its floods. It did not try to hold its rivers, rather wove around them a life of boats and fisheries and suitable crops. • Water based economy will trigger innovative and appropriate solutions for local needs. Benefits of the new approach • Engineering solutions to tame rivers have deprived north Bihar of the most fertile lands in the world, turning it from the cradle of civilization to one of the poorest regions of India Way forward for Auditors • Will building additional dams and barrages will do any good? • Major incremental costs and longer timelines for building new dams • Permanently altering topography putting a large landmass under risk of flooding • C/B Analysis Yamuna in Delhi • Failure of – Programme – Policy – Implementation of program – Monitoring Some Info • Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of 6,387 metres on the south western slopes of Banderpooch peaks in the uppermost region of the Lower Himalayas in Uttarakhand, it travels a total length of 1,376 kilometers (855 mi) and has a drainage system of 366,223 square kilometres (141,399 sq mi), 40.2% of the entire Ganges Basin, before merging with the Ganges at Triveni Sangam, Allahabad • Nearly 57 million people depend on the Yamuna waters. With an annual flow of about 10,000 cubic billion metres (cbm) and usage of 4,400 cbm (of which irrigation constitutes 96 per cent), the river accounts for more than 70 per cent of Delhi’s water supplies. • A stretch of around 22 km in Delhi contributes 70 per cent of the total pollution load of the river. Some Info • The government has so far spent over Rs. 5,500 crore on cleaning the river as part of Yamuna Action Plan. Many sewage treatment plants have been set up including 17 in Delhi. But these plants can only treat less than half the total waste pumped in each day. • As per the Delhi Jal Board, which is responsible for managing the city’s sewage, 680 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage is produced, while its treatment capacity is 594.72 MGD. However, DJB is able to utilize only 60% of the capacity, letting millions of Gallons flow untreated sewage in Yamuna through 19 canals. • Delhi Fresh Water Supply - Raw water is being made available to Delhi from Ganga River (240 MGD), Yamuna River (310 MGD), Bhakhra Beas Management Board (140 MGD). About 115 MGD of ground water is being explored through Ranney Wells and Tube Wells of Delhi Jal Board. Some Info • Delhi requires close to 4200 Million Liters (ML) every day, while it gets supplied only 3200 ML from all the sources. Delhi loses more than 40 percent of the its water due to leakages from its network of water supply pipelines. Thus, the city effectively ends up with just 1900 ML of water every day for a population of more than 160 lakhs, providing just 120 liters of water on an average for a person. Future Plan • The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) 2031 sewerage master plan envisages Rs. 25,000 crore to be spent to upgrade the sewerage network • New reservoirs planned are: Renuka Dam on River Giri, a tributary of Yamuna in Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh, Kishau Dam on river Tons, also a tributary of Yamuna river in Uttrakhand and Lakhwar- Vyasi Dam on river Yamuna near Lakhwar village in District Dehradun of Uttrakhand • 2 More dams planned in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand Sustainable Alternates • Immediate and necessary step: Fixing the leaky supply lines could augment the supply by almost 40%.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Kosi Embankment Breach in Nepal: Need for a Paradigm Shift in Responding to Floods
    SPECIAL ARTICLE Kosi Embankment Breach in Nepal: Need for a Paradigm Shift in Responding to Floods Ajaya Dixit The breach of the Kosi embankment in Nepal in n 18 August 2008, a flood control embankment along the August 2008 marked the failure of conventional ways Kosi River in Nepal terai breached and most of its mon- soon discharge and sediment load began flowing over an of controlling floods. After discussing the physical O area once kept flood-secure by the eastern Kosi embankment. Soon characteristics of the Kosi River and the Kosi barrage a disaster had unfolded in Sunsari district of Nepal terai and in six project, this paper suggests that the high sediment districts of north-east Bihar of India: Supaul, Madhepura, Saharsa, content of the Kosi River implies a major risk to the Arariya, Purniya and Khagariya. About 50,000 Nepalis and a stag- gering 3.5 million Indians (people of Bihar) were affected. A few proposed Kosi high dam and its ability to control floods died but the exact death toll is not known. The extent of the adverse in Bihar. It concludes by proposing the need for a effects of the widespread inundation on the dependent social and paradigm shift in dealing with the risks of floods. economic systems is only gradually becoming evident. Cloudbursts, landslides, mass movements, mud flows and flash floods are common in the mountains during the monsoon. In the plains of southern Nepal, northern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh, rivers augmented by monsoon rains overflow their banks. Sediment eroded from the upper moun- tains is transported to the lower reaches and deposited on valleys and on the plains.
    [Show full text]
  • Flood Management Strategy for Ganga Basin Through Storage
    Flood Management Strategy for Ganga Basin through Storage by N. K. Mathur, N. N. Rai, P. N. Singh Central Water Commission Introduction The Ganga River basin covers the eleven States of India comprising Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. The occurrence of floods in one part or the other in Ganga River basin is an annual feature during the monsoon period. About 24.2 million hectare flood prone area Present study has been carried out to understand the flood peak formation phenomenon in river Ganga and to estimate the flood storage requirements in the Ganga basin The annual flood peak data of river Ganga and its tributaries at different G&D sites of Central Water Commission has been utilised to identify the contribution of different rivers for flood peak formations in main stem of river Ganga. Drainage area map of river Ganga Important tributaries of River Ganga Southern tributaries Yamuna (347703 sq.km just before Sangam at Allahabad) Chambal (141948 sq.km), Betwa (43770 sq.km), Ken (28706 sq.km), Sind (27930 sq.km), Gambhir (25685 sq.km) Tauns (17523 sq.km) Sone (67330 sq.km) Northern Tributaries Ghaghra (132114 sq.km) Gandak (41554 sq.km) Kosi (92538 sq.km including Bagmati) Total drainage area at Farakka – 931000 sq.km Total drainage area at Patna - 725000 sq.km Total drainage area of Himalayan Ganga and Ramganga just before Sangam– 93989 sq.km River Slope between Patna and Farakka about 1:20,000 Rainfall patten in Ganga basin
    [Show full text]
  • World Bank Document
    Water Policy 15 (2013) 147–164 Public Disclosure Authorized Ten fundamental questions for water resources development in the Ganges: myths and realities Claudia Sadoffa,*, Nagaraja Rao Harshadeepa, Donald Blackmoreb, Xun Wuc, Anna O’Donnella, Marc Jeulandd, Sylvia Leee and Dale Whittingtonf aThe World Bank, Washington, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] bIndependent consultant, Canberra, Australia cNational University of Singapore, Singapore dDuke University, Durham, USA Public Disclosure Authorized eSkoll Global Threats Fund, San Francisco, USA fUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK Abstract This paper summarizes the results of the Ganges Strategic Basin Assessment (SBA), a 3-year, multi-disciplinary effort undertaken by a World Bank team in cooperation with several leading regional research institutions in South Asia. It begins to fill a crucial knowledge gap, providing an initial integrated systems perspective on the major water resources planning issues facing the Ganges basin today, including some of the most important infrastructure options that have been proposed for future development. The SBA developed a set of hydrological and economic models for the Ganges system, using modern data sources and modelling techniques to assess the impact of existing and potential new hydraulic structures on flooding, hydropower, low flows, water quality and irrigation supplies at the basin scale. It also involved repeated exchanges with policy makers and opinion makers in the basin, during which perceptions of the basin Public Disclosure Authorized could be discussed and examined. The study’s findings highlight the scale and complexity of the Ganges basin. In par- ticular, they refute the broadly held view that upstream water storage, such as reservoirs in Nepal, can fully control basin- wide flooding.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sediment Load of Indian Rivers — an Update
    Erosion and Sediment Yield: Global and Regional Perspectives (Proceedings of the Exeter Symposium, July 1996). IAHS Publ. no. 236, 1996. 183 The sediment load of Indian rivers — an update V. SUBRAMANIAN School of Environmental Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India Abstract This paper summarizes recent information collected on sediment transport in Indian rivers. It reveals the major contribution which Indian rivers make to the total amount of sediment delivered to the ocean at a global scale, but also highlights the large temporal and spatial variability of riverine sediment transport in the Indian sub-continent. This variability is evident not only in the quantity of the sediment transported but also in the size and mineralogical characteristics of the sediment loads. INTRODUCTION The present estimate of global sediment discharge at 15-16 X 10161 year"1 (Walling & Webb, 1983) is perhaps an underestimated value due to undetermined values for several minor catchments (Milliman &Meybeck, 1995). Nevertheless, it is now well recognized that the Pacific Oceanic islands and South and Southeast Asia constitute a single geographic region which contributes nearly 80% of the global sediment budget. Over the years, considerable data have been collected concerning sediment transport in several Indian rivers. For example, Abbas & Subramanian (1984) estimated the sediment load of the Ganges at Farraka Barrage to be 1235 t km"2 year"1, which is 8 times the world average erosion rate (1501 km“2 year"1) calculated by Milliman & Meade (1983). To improve our understanding of sediment transport processes in South Asia, there is a need to examine recently collected information.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Reservoir Dams in Deglacierizing Regions of the Nepalese Himalaya the Geneva Challenge 2018
    Constructing reservoir dams in deglacierizing regions of the Nepalese Himalaya The Geneva Challenge 2018 Submitted by: Dinesh Acharya, Paribesh Pradhan, Prabhat Joshi 2 Authors’ Note: This proposal is submitted to the Geneva Challenge 2018 by Master’s students from ETH Zürich, Switzerland. All photographs in this proposal are taken by Paribesh Pradhan in the Mount Everest region (also known as the Khumbu region), Dudh Koshi basin of Nepal. The description of the photos used in this proposal are as follows: Photo Information: 1. Cover page Dig Tsho Glacial Lake (4364 m.asl), Nepal 2. Executive summary, pp. 3 Ama Dablam and Thamserku mountain range, Nepal 3. Introduction, pp. 8 Khumbu Glacier (4900 m.asl), Mt. Everest Region, Nepal 4. Problem statement, pp. 11 A local Sherpa Yak herder near Dig Tsho Glacial Lake, Nepal 5. Proposed methodology, pp. 14 Khumbu Glacier (4900 m.asl), Mt. Everest valley, Nepal 6. The pilot project proposal, pp. 20 Dig Tsho Glacial Lake (4364 m.asl), Nepal 7. Expected output and outcomes, pp. 26 Imja Tsho Glacial Lake (5010 m.asl), Nepal 8. Conclusions, pp. 31 Thukla Pass or Dughla Pass (4572 m.asl), Nepal 9. Bibliography, pp. 33 Imja valley (4900 m.asl), Nepal [Word count: 7876] Executive Summary Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The heating of the oceans, sea level rise, ocean acidification and coral bleaching, shrinking of ice sheets, declining Arctic sea ice, glacier retreat in high mountains, changing snow cover and recurrent extreme events are all indicators of climate change caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas effect.
    [Show full text]
  • Damage from the April-May 2015 Gorkha Earthquake Sequence in the Solukhumbu District (Everest Region), Nepal David R
    Damage from the april-may 2015 gorkha earthquake sequence in the Solukhumbu district (Everest region), Nepal David R. Lageson, Monique Fort, Roshan Raj Bhattarai, Mary Hubbard To cite this version: David R. Lageson, Monique Fort, Roshan Raj Bhattarai, Mary Hubbard. Damage from the april-may 2015 gorkha earthquake sequence in the Solukhumbu district (Everest region), Nepal. GSA Annual Meeting, Sep 2016, Denver, United States. hal-01373311 HAL Id: hal-01373311 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01373311 Submitted on 28 Sep 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. DAMAGE FROM THE APRIL-MAY 2015 GORKHA EARTHQUAKE SEQUENCE IN THE SOLUKHUMBU DISTRICT (EVEREST REGION), NEPAL LAGESON, David R.1, FORT, Monique2, BHATTARAI, Roshan Raj3 and HUBBARD, Mary1, (1)Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, 226 Traphagen Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717, (2)Department of Geography, Université Paris Diderot, 75205 Paris Cedex 13, Paris, France, (3)Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Tri-Chandra Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal, [email protected] ABSTRACT: Rapid assessments of landslides Valley profile convexity: Earthquake-triggered mass movements (past & recent): Traditional and new construction methods: Spectrum of structural damage: (including other mass movements of rock, snow and ice) as well as human impacts were conducted by many organizations immediately following the 25 April 2015 M7.8 Gorkha earthquake and its aftershock sequence.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Manangement
    IDRiM(2013)3(1) ISSN: 2185-8322 DOI10.5595/idrim.2013.0061 Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Management Original paper Determination of Threshold Runoff for Flood Warning in Nepalese Rivers 1 2 Dilip Kumar Gautam and Khadananda Dulal Received: 05/02/2013 / Accepted: 08/04/2013 / Published online: 01/06/2013 Abstract The Southern Terai plain area of Nepal is exposed to recurring floods. The floods, landslides and avalanches in Nepal cause the loss of lives of about 300 people and damage to properties worth about 626 million NPR annually. Consequently, the overall development of the country has been adversely affected. The flood risk could be significantly reduced by developing effective operational flood early warning systems. Hence, a study has been conducted to assess flood danger levels and determine the threshold runoff at forecasting stations of six major rivers of Nepal for the purpose of developing threshold-stage based operational flood early warning system. Digital elevation model data from SRTM and ASTER supplemented with measured cross-section data and HEC-RAS model was used for multiple profile analysis and inundation mapping. Different inundation scenarios were generated for a range of flood discharge at upstream boundary and flood threshold levels or runoffs have been identified for each river, thus providing the basis for developing threshold-stage based flood early warning system in these rivers. Key Words Flood, danger level, threshold runoff, hydrodynamic model, geographic information system 1. INTRODUCTION Nepal's Terai region is the part of the Ganges River basin, which is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Ganges Strategic Basin Assessment
    Public Disclosure Authorized Report No. 67668-SAS Report No. 67668-SAS Ganges Strategic Basin Assessment A Discussion of Regional Opportunities and Risks Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized GANGES STRATEGIC BASIN ASSESSMENT: A Discussion of Regional Opportunities and Risks b Report No. 67668-SAS Ganges Strategic Basin Assessment A Discussion of Regional Opportunities and Risks Ganges Strategic Basin Assessment A Discussion of Regional Opportunities and Risks World Bank South Asia Regional Report The World Bank Washington, DC iii GANGES STRATEGIC BASIN ASSESSMENT: A Discussion of Regional Opportunities and Risks Disclaimer: © 2014 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 14 13 12 11 This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION 1.0 Background Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India in the year 2004 decided to undertake comprehensive assessment of feasibility of linking of the rivers of the country starting with southern rivers in a fully consultative manner and to explore the feasibility of intrastate river links of the country. Accordingly, proposal for inclusion of prefeasibility / feasibility studies of intrastate links aspect in NWDA's mandate was put up for consideration in Special General Meeting of NWDA Society held on June 28, 2006 and it was decided to incorporate this function in NWDA's mandate. Finally, MoWR vide Resolution dated November 30, 2006 modified the functions of NWDA Society to include preparation of prefeasibility/feasibility studies of intrastate links. The functions of NWDA were further modified vide MoWR Resolution dated May 19, 2011 to undertake the work of preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of intrastate links also by NWDA. Further, the Gazette notification of the enhanced mandate was issued on June 11, 2011. In the meantime, on the basis of approval conveyed by MoWR in June, 2005, NWDA requested all the State Governments to identify the intrastate link proposals in their States and send details to NWDA for their prefeasibility / feasibility studies. Bihar responded to NWDA's request vide letter No. PMC-5(IS)-01/2006-427, Patna dated May 15, 2008 and submitted their proposals. Subsequently, a meeting was held between the officers of Water Resource Department (WRD), Government of Bihar and NWDA on June 16, 2008 in Patna. In the said meeting, Government of Bihar requested NWDA to prepare the prefeasibility reports of six intrastate links out of which two were irrigation schemes.
    [Show full text]
  • Geomorphological Studies and Flood Risk Assessment of Kosi River Basin Using Remote 2011-13 Sensing and Gis Techniques
    Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... 4 Lists of Figures ............................................................................................................................ 5 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 7 1.1 General .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Flood Risk Concept ....................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Background and Motivation ....................................................................................... 12 1.4 Research Questions and Objectives ............................................................................ 13 1.5 Study Area .................................................................................................................. 14 1.6 Organization of Thesis Chapters ................................................................................. 14 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 16 2.1 General ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.2 Geomorphic Controls of Floods .................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Land-Use and Climatic Changes on Hydrology of the Himalayan Basin: a Case Study of the Kosi Basin Keshav Prasad Sharma University of New Hampshire, Durham
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1997 Impact of land-use and climatic changes on hydrology of the Himalayan Basin: A case study of the Kosi Basin Keshav Prasad Sharma University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Sharma, Keshav Prasad, "Impact of land-use and climatic changes on hydrology of the Himalayan Basin: A case study of the Kosi Basin" (1997). Doctoral Dissertations. 1961. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1961 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter free, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]
  • FLOOD FREQUENCY ANALYSIS for KOSI RIVER at ITS BARRAGE SITE Radha Krishan1 and L.B
    J. Indian Water Resour. Soc., Vol 36, No. 1, January, 2016 FLOOD FREQUENCY ANALYSIS FOR KOSI RIVER AT ITS BARRAGE SITE Radha Krishan1 and L.B. Roy2 ABSTRACT Floods are natural events that have always been an integral part of the geologic history of earth. Human settlements and coactivity have always tended to use flood plains. The Kosi river in north Bihar plains of Eastern India presents a challenge in terms of long and recurring flood hazard. Despite a long history of flood control management in the basin for more than five decades, the river continues to bring a lot of misery through extensive flooding. In the present paper the Log-Pearson Type III distribution, a statistical technique for fitting frequency distribution, has been used to predict the design flood for the river at its barrage site for the discharge data from 1964 to 2008 obtained from WRD, Govt. of Bihar. Apart from this the morphology of the River and the Kosi project have also been described and discussed. Keywords: Floods, Kosi river, frequency distribution methods INTRODUCTION Flood and drainage are the two vital interrelated problems of Bihar, a poverty stricken state particularly in North Bihar. The North Bihar plains are drained by some Himalayan rivers and the Ganga being the trunk drain. These rivers are perennial as these are rain as well as snow fed. Important rivers of North Bihar include the Kosi, Gandak, Baghmati, Burhi Gandak, Kamla, Kamla-Balan Mahananda, Kareh and few others. All these rivers have relatively youthful topography and are engaged in channel deepening. They move parallel to the Ganga in the South-east direction and then drain into it.
    [Show full text]