Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin

Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin

Supported By: Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin Untitled-1 1 05/06/12 4:01 PM AUTHORS Jay O’Keeffe, Nitin Kaushal, Luna Bharati, Vladimir Smakhtin ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Working on this initiative has been a challenge. We would not have reached this stage without the inputs and support of several individuals and institutions that have helped us in our endeavour. Dr. Tom Le Quesne at WWF-UK provided us the initial conceptual framework, taught us about E-Flows and got us started on the journey. We also express our gratitude to Mr. Ravindra Kumar from SWaRA, Government of Uttar Pradesh, for being a constant source of encouragement and for his valuable contribution to this work. We would like to thank Mr. Paritosh Tyagi, Former Chairman of Central Pollution Control Board, who has been associated with the Living Ganga Programme since its inception and shared his rich knowledge on the subject, and Dr. Savita Patwardhan from Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune for providing us with much needed climate data. Key partners who have been part of this study, and without whom it would not have been possible to complete this work are Dr. Ravi Chopra and Ms. Chicu Lokgariwar, People’s Science Institute, Dehradun; Prof Vinod Tare, Prof. Rajiv Sinha and Dr. Murali Prasad, IIT Kanpur; Dr. Vikrant Jain, Delhi University; Prof. Prakash Nautiyal, Garhwal University; Prof. AK Gosain, IIT Delhi; and Dr. Sandhya Rao, INRM. We would like to thank Ms. Laura Forster for the technical editing of this report. At WWF-India, we are highly obliged to Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, who gave us unparalleled support for taking on this tough assignment and Dr. Sejal Worah, Programme Director, who gave critical inputs in shaping the study and developing this publication. Thanks are also due to Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla, who coordinated the project in its initial phase. The authors would also like to thank the dedicated support provided by the WWF-India Living Ganga team including Mr. Suresh Babu, Dr. Anjana Pant, Dr. Sandeep Behera, Dr. Asghar Nawab, Ms. Pallavi Bharadwaj, Mr. Anshuman Atroley, Ms. Arundhati Das and Ms. Ridhima Gupta. Thanks to Dr. G Areendran and Mr. Krishna Raj for GIS and mapping support. We would like to acknowledge HSBC’s financial support through HSBC Climate Partnership Published by WWF-India © WWF-India 2012 Designed by: Sarita Singh, Nirmal Singh, Mallika Das Printed by: Thomson Press, New Delhi Photo Credit: Cover & facing page Dr. Sejal Worah/WWF-India Untitled-1 1 05/06/12 4:02 PM Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin PARTNERS Photo Credit: WWF-India Facilitation: Prof. Jay O’Keeffe, UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands (currently with Rhodes University, South Africa) and Dr. Vladimir Smakhtin, IWMI – Sri Lanka Hydrology: Dr. Vladimir Smakhtin, IWMI-Sri Lanka and Dr. Luna Bharati, IWMI-Nepal Hydraulics: Prof. A K Gosain, IIT Delhi and Dr. Sandhya Rao, INRM Consultants, Delhi Fluvial Geomorphology: Prof. Rajiv Sinha, IIT Kanpur and Dr. Vikrant Jain, Delhi University Water Quality: Prof. Vinod Tare, IIT Kanpur Biodiversity: Prof. Prakash Nautiyal, Garhwal University, Srinagar Livelihoods: Dr. Murali Prasad, IIT Kanpur Cultural-Spiritual: Dr. Ravi Chopra and Ms. Chicu Lokgariwar, People’s Science Institute, Dehradun Overall Coordination: Mr. Nitin Kaushal, WWF–India 2 Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin CONTENTS Abbreviations Foreword Executive Summary Chapter 1...................................................................................................................................... 17 The concept of Environmental Flows and overview of estimation methodologies Chapter 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 39 EFA process and rationale Chapter 3 ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Zonation and site selection Chapter 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 73 The present state and environmental objectives for the upper Ganga river Chapter 5 ..................................................................................................................................... 129 Recommended flows for the upper Ganga: process and results Chapter 6 ..................................................................................................................................... 155 The way forward ABBREVIATIONS BBM Building Block Methodology CPCB Central Pollution Control Board CWC Central Water Commission DEM Digital Elevation Model EFA Environmental Flows Assessment EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EMC Ecological Management Class GAP Ganga Action Plan GEFC Global Environmental Flow Calculator GRBEMP Ganga River Basin Environment Management Plan IFIM In stream Flow Incremental Methodology IHA Index/Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration IIT Indian Institute of Technology INRM Integrated Natural Resource Management ITRC Industrial Toxicology Research Institute (now called IITR-Indian Institute for Toxicological Institute) IWMI International Water Management Institute IWRM Integrated Water Resource Management LISS Linear Imaging Self Scanning LU/LC Land use/Land cover MLIFR Maintenance Low-flow Instream Flow Requirement MoEF Ministry of Environment and Forests NGRBA National Ganga River Basin Authority NRCD National River Conservation Directorate NRSC National Remote Sensing Centre PSI People’s Science Institute SIS Social Importance and Sensitivity SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SWAT Soil and Water Assessment Tool SWaRA State Water Resources Agency UNESCO-IHE United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation- The Institute for Water Education WWF-India World Wide Fund for Nature 4 Widely revered, rivers are an integral part of the Indian society and its culture. However, today as we FOREWORD witness the extensive degradation of our rivers, it is evident that this is just not an ecological problem but a larger societal problem – changes in land use, inefficient agriculture and irrigation practices, the growing urban and industrial water footprint and ever increasing energy demands have signifcantly altered the quantity and quality of water flowing in our rivers. Our lifelines are dying. These challenges multiply when we take the case of the Ganga. Although Ganga is considered sacred and revered by millions of Indians, it is amongst the top ten rivers at risk. One of the key threats to the upper Ganga and other Himalayan rivers is water abstraction for hydropower, irrigation, urban and industrial needs. To address this, the concept of ‘minimum flows’ has recently been proposed and is being implemented in some river basins. However, this is still not based on a full understanding of the regime of flows needed in a river to maintain its ecological integrity as well as support human needs. It was this gap in a holistic approach to Environmental Flows (E-Flows) that led WWF-India to initiate a program to develop and test a methodology for determining E-Flows for the Ganga. In 2008, a team from WWF, along with key partners and experts initiated the task of examining and adapting existing global E-Flows methodologies to develop an appropriate approach for a river as complex as the Ganga. This involved integrating various aspects of the river – social and livelihood needs, cultural and spiritual requirements, hydrology and hydraulics, geomorphology, water quality and biodiversity values. The approach to assess E-Flows for the Ganga was developed based on the Building Block Methodology which had to be adapted to include the unique cultural and spiritual values of the river. This report “Assessment of Environmental Flows for the Upper Ganga Basin” captures the journey, the outcomes and the lessons gathered over the last four years of this work. We hope that this report will inspire and help different Union ministries including the Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Ministry of Water Resources, the State Governments, academics and civil society organizations, who wish to undertake E-Flows assessment in other river basins. As this was the first time that such a comprehensive E-Flows assessment has been undertaken in India, and as the team was working with data constraints, there will need to be constant updating as new knowledge, information and understanding on river basins emerges. India will need to urgently work towards an implementable policy that retains adequate and good quality freshwater in its rivers. As the Government of India revisits its National Water Policy and the River Action Plans (including the Ganga Action Plan), this work could be a starting point for a new holistic policy, one which does not ignore ecological processes and biodiversity. If this becomes an integral part of India’s water policy and management strategy, it can be hoped that rivers can still be brought back to life. RAVI SINGH Secretary General and CEO WWF-India 5 Photo Credit: Amrit Pal Singh Photo Credit: Clasping hands in prayer, a sadhu (holyman) begins his day by taking a dip, and worshipping the Ganga 6 BACKGROUND EXECUTIVE Ecosystem integrity as well as the goods and services offered by the rivers in India are getting adversely affected by changes in quantity, quality and flow SUMMARY regimes. Growing water abstractions for agriculture, domestic, industrial

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