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The presence of highly toxic dioxins, specifically polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), in drinking water is a matter of great concern due to their long-lasting nature and harmful effects. In this study, we detected three out of the five dioxin congeners: 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD), 1, 2, 3, 7, 8-pentachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (PeCDD), and octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (OCDD). The investigation revealed that three dioxins were present in water samples of winter season, while TCDD and OCDD were found in the summer season. The geometric mean concentrations of PCDDs were 229.9 ng/L (winter) and 108.4 ng/L (summer), exceeded the maximum contaminant level of 30 pg/L set by the USEPA in surface water. The estimated daily intake of PCDDs for residents through drinking water was 273.97 ng-WHO2005-TEQ/kg/days during winter and 78.875 ng-WHO2005-TEQ/kg/days during summer. Our study emphasizes the urgent need for further research on persistent organic pollutants in drinking water to safeguard public health and community well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While leeches as intranasal foreign bodies are not frequently encountered, they can be one of the causes of epistaxis. The aim of the study is to raise awareness among healthcare professionals about the possibility of patients from leech endemic regions presenting with epistaxis. Case presentation: We present a series of epistaxis cases due to intranasal leech infestation. In our series of 10 cases, there were 7 male and 3 female patients, aged between 2 and 53 years old. The duration of the complaint ranged from 1 to 5 weeks. All patients experienced with blood-stain nasal discharge or frank nasal bleeding at some point and most of them have a history of leech infestation from spring water as a local source. This article presents our approach to managing nasal leech infestation as epistaxis and outlines the precautionary measures taken for the retrieval of this living foreign body. Conclusion: Details of the history must be taken before concluding the diagnosis. Maintain a high index of suspicion of leech infestation as a hidden cause of epistaxis especially in patients coming from endemic areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorghum is a major staple crop in India and the fifth most important cereal globally. Drought significantly impacts sorghum production, reducing growth and yield. Developing drought-tolerant genotypes is crucial. This study evaluated drought tolerance in rabi sorghum genotypes based on biochemical and yield parameters during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 rabi seasons. Using a split-plot design with two replications, the study aimed to identify the best drought-tolerant genotype. Results showed that the BJV-44 genotype had the highest proline content, with 23.36 µmol/g fresh leaf weight under rainfed conditions at 90 days after sowing, compared to 14.70 µmol/g under irrigated conditions. Basavan Moti and M-35-1 genotypes followed with 20.50 µmol/g and 22.40 µmol/g, respectively, under rainfed conditions. Additionally, BJV-44 and M-35-1 exhibited the smallest decline in grain yield per plant under rainfed conditions (76.17 and 73.50 g plant-1, respectively) versus irrigated conditions (80.08 and 79.88 g plant-1, respectively). Conversely, M 148-138 and Tandur L showed the largest yield declines under rainfed conditions (44.36 and 40.04 g plant-1, respectively) compared to irrigated conditions (78.67 and 70.96 g plant-1, respectively). Out of 20 sorghum genotypes studied, M-35-1, BJV-44, Basavan Motti, DKS-35, SPV 486, Phule Anuradha, and Phule Vasudha exhibited superior biochemical and yield traits under rainfed conditions, demonstrating their drought tolerance and capacity to perform well with limited water availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the historical context and current dynamics of the transboundary water issues between India and China. Both countries share multiple transboundary river basins, with the Brahmaputra River being one of the most significant. The importance of the Brahmaputra River to both nations goes beyond just providing resources. It has implications for national security, regional stability, and human livelihoods. However, China's upstream control over the river and its extensive dam-building projects have raised concerns in downstream India and Bangladesh about potential impacts on water availability, agriculture, and livelihoods. The river system is critical for the socioeconomic well-being of millions of people, yet the competing demands for water resources have led to geopolitical tensions. The paper highlights China's strategic use of water resources, including plans for large-scale dams, which India views as a potential threat to its water security. It also underscores the importance of a nuanced understanding of hydropolitics, emphasizing the need for human security, particularly water security, in addressing these challenges. It argues that while "water wars" are unlikely, "water tensions" are significant and must be addressed through comprehensive bilateral agreements and collaborative efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most coal in India originates from the Korb basin (Chhattisgarh), where coal mines, thermal power, and aluminum plants operate. Groundwater in this region faces severe pollution due to land reclamation, leaching of coal‐related contaminants, waste disposal, and industrial effluent seepage. This work presents results from monitoring groundwater pollution in the Korba basin from 2012 to 2017. Fluoride, aluminum, manganese, and iron levels exceeded acceptable quality limits across all 28 studied locations, with excessive nitrate, magnesium, calcium, and lead levels in specific sites. Tracking seasonal and temporal fluctuations in the most polluted site, namely Kudurmal, revealed peak solute concentrations during the monsoon period and a sustained 18% increase during the study period. Factorial analysis suggests groundwater contamination arises from both human activities and natural sources. These findings underscore the urgent necessity of devising remediation strategies for the drinking water supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater in north India remains a vital food and water security resource for more than one billion people. Both summer monsoon drying, and winter warming pose considerable challenges for rapidly declining groundwater. However, their impacts on irrigation water demands and groundwater storage under the observed and projected future climate remain unexplored. Using in situ observations, satellite data, and a hydrological model that considers the role of irrigation and groundwater pumping, we show that summer monsoon drying and winter warming accelerate groundwater depletion in north India during the observed climate, which will continue in the projected future climate. Summer monsoon precipitation has significantly (P‐value = 0.04) declined (∼8%) while winters have become warmer in north India during 1951–2021. Both satellite (GRACE/GRACE‐FO) and hydrological model‐based estimates show a rapid groundwater depletion (∼1.5 cm/year) in north India with a net loss of 450 km3 of groundwater during 2002–2021. The summer monsoon drying followed by winter warming cause a substantial reduction in groundwater storage due to reduced groundwater recharge and enhanced pumping to meet irrigation demands. Summer monsoon drying and winter warming will continue to affect groundwater storage in north India in the future. For instance, summer monsoon drying (10%–15% deficit for near‐far periods) followed by substantial winter warming (1–4°C) in the future will further accelerate groundwater depletion by increasing (6%–20%) irrigation water demands and reducing groundwater recharge (6%–12%). Groundwater sustainability measures including reducing groundwater abstraction and enhancing the groundwater recharge during the summer monsoon seasons are needed to ensure future agricultural production. Plain Language Summary: Groundwater in north India is facing rapid depletion due to summer monsoon drying and winter warming. The decline in summer monsoon precipitation and warmer winters have led to major droughts, resulting in a massive loss of groundwater between 2002 and 2021. Summer monsoon drying coupled with winter warming climate will increase irrigation water demands and reduce groundwater recharge. This necessitates the implementation of groundwater sustainability measures to ensure future agricultural production during monsoon droughts. Key Points: Examined the role summer monsoon drying and winter warming on groundwater storage in IndiaRapid groundwater depletion (∼1.5 cm/year) resulted in a net loss of 450 km3 of groundwater during 2002–2021Summer monsoon drying followed by substantial winter warming under the warming climate will further accelerate groundwater depletion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geospatial information on river gauging stations, such as station locations, catchment boundaries, river flow paths and other hydrographic data are basic building blocks of hydrological analyses. Such information for India's river basins is available from Central Water Commission (CWC) and water resources information system (WRIS), but is limited in extent and unreliable. Using widely used global hydrography products, catchment boundaries were delineated for 100 gauging stations in the Ganga river basin (GRB), and their catchment areas were estimated. The delineated boundary for the GRB, and also station-wise catchment areas from the present study were much more consistent with global hydrography products than those available from CWC and WRIS. Lack of reliable, analysis-ready hydrography data is a hindrance to hydro-climatological research. The long-term objective of this study is to help build such a needed dataset using high-resolution remote sensing products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has ability to intensify the magnitude of flood and drought episodes, as well as their amplitude; also it has the potential to exacerbate hydrological extremes. It is crucial to forecast changes to hydrological regimes and determine the level of uncertainty around them to increase resilience and prepare for future changes. In order to enlighten long-term estimates, an attempt has been made to sustain the available water resources through Calibration and Validation of river discharge data using SWAT model for Upper Yamuna River Basin. Spatial climatic data were further crystallized to forecast climatic projection scenarios for Base line period, Mid-Century and End Century considering RCPs 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5. Result reveals that the average annual minimum temperature is estimated to be increased 1.4 °C in Mid-Century and 2.2 °C in End Century from the Base line Scenario while the average annual maximum temperature is found to be increased 1.5 °C in Mid-Century and 2.1 °C in End Century from the Base line Scenario. Further, while analyzing the hydrological components, Soil water percentage is expected to be increased in Mid-Century, whereas Percolation rate is found to be increased for all scenarios other than BL-MC (4.5) which is an indication of rise in Ground water. In addition to it, Surface flow is observed as a considerable increase from 4.33 to 72.69% in all scenarios. Also the Surface flow is more in case of End Century as compared to the Mid-Century. The estimated Ground water flow is found to be increased except BL-MC (4.5 & 8.5). Overall water yield has been estimated as a relative change from 7.06 to 18.70% based upon the specified conditions. The prediction for Evapotranspiration values is found as decreased in all scenarios except BL-MC (4.5 & 8.5). The outcome of the present study is very useful for planning of development strategies in the project area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Out of 5 million Indian spring water systems, a few were characterised for hydrochemistry and freshwater potential. The present study focuses on analysing the hydrochemistry, discharge, and drinking/irrigation water quality of both cold and thermal spring clusters namely Southern Kerala Springs (SKS) and Dakshina Kannada Springs (DKS) of Southern Western Ghats, India. Currently, eleven springs from SKS and ten from DKS including one thermal spring (TS) with temperature ranges from 34 to 37 °C were considered. The study revealed that cold springs (CS) of SKS are Na-Cl type, while the thermal and cold-water springs in DKS are Na-HCO3 and mixing water type, respectively. Two distinct mechanisms predominantly define the hydro-chemical composition of the springs—SKS are influenced by precipitation, whereas DKS is likely by chemical weathering processes. While comparing the major ions and saturation indices of thermal springs (TS), it is evident that silicate minerals predominantly affect the chemical composition of water. CaCO3− is oversaturated in TS water and tends to precipitate as a scale layer. PCA showed that both geogenic and anthropogenic factors influence water chemistry. WQI categorized the CS in both the clusters are in the "Excellent" rank as compared to TS. Irrigation water quality signifies that the cold springs are only suitable for irrigation. Moreover, it is evident from the discharge that both SKS and DKS were rainfed in nature. Discharge monitoring designated that the CS could augment drinking water supplies in the nearby regions indicating the necessity of conservation and sustainable use considering future freshwater scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of water availability in sub-humid regions is important due to distinct climatic and environmental conditions. In this study, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) models have been assessed in simulating streamflows in the sub-humid tropical Kabini basin in Kerala, India, spanning 1260 km2. Calibration and validation utilized daily weather data from 1997 to 2015 from the Muthankera gauging station. The study investigated the impact of routing methods on runoff simulation in the ArcSWAT, exploring Muskingum and Variable Storage methods. Evaluation metrics encompassed Nash–Sutcliffe Efïciency (NSE), Coefficient of Determination (R2), Percent bias (PBIAS), RMSE-observations standard deviation ratio (RSR), and Peak Percent Threshold Statistics (PPTS) approach for high-flow values. The result indicates that HEC-HMS outperforms SWAT concerning R2 and NSE values during daily calibration and validation. Monthly simulations showed HEC-HMS closely aligning with SWAT (Variable storage), outperforming SWAT (Muskingum). The PPTS approach proved effective in simulating high-flow values. Both models exhibited proficiency in streamflow analysis within the study area, promising predictive potential for future hydrological studies in sub-humid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice (Oryza sativa) is a staple food of more than half of the population of the world and provides food security and livelihoods for millions of population. Direct seeding of rice (DSR) refers to the process of direct sowing the seeds in the field rather than by transplanting seedlings from the nursery. Direct seeded rice is an age old practice and before the introduction of green revolution in India. Rainfed rice was often broadcasted into moist soil and crops were highly prone to weed competition resulted into low yield. Rice ecosystems and establishment methods determined the weed spectrum and degree of infestation in rice field (DSR). Weeds are considered as a major biological constraint in direct seeded rice. In direct seeded rice, weed management depend on weed flora, critical period of weed control, availability of water and method to be adopted. Integrated weed management (IWM) is essential to achieve the long term, sustainable and economic management of weeds in direct seeded rice. The literature regarding the direct seeded rice, critical period of crop weed competition, different types of weed flora and different methods for the effective and sustainable management of weeds in direct seeded rice are reviewed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge are substitute procedures to enhance groundwater and surface water for providing an unceasing water supply to a demand area. This analysis recommends the methodology to demarcate harvesting of rainwater and artificial recharge sites as recognizing constructive artificial recharge sites applying multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), integrated with remote sensing (RS), and GIS, procedures for supplementing groundwater properties in the Upper Shilabati catchment of West Bengal state, India. The Upper Shilabati catchment is a drought-prone area with high water demand to fulfill sustainable livelihood. The categorized regions like very low 5% (83.05 km2), low 32% (523.44 km2), moderate 26% (425.93 km2), high 37% (604.70 km2), and very high 0.002% (0.04 km2) while harvesting of rainwater regions are very low 6% (97.49 km2), low 25% (404.43 km2), moderate 53% (866.53 km2), high 13% (212.09 km2), and very high 4% (64.420 km2). The examining outcome indicates that the projected and previously current artificial recharge construction, like Percolation Tanks (PT), Check Dams (CD), Nala Bund (NB), Farm Ponds (FP), and Bore Wells (BW) with the entire numbers of 5, 2, 2, 2, and 1 similarly. The zones delineated for generating numerous artificial recharge structures with 112 artificial recharge constructions are notified, and 60 artificial recharge locations fall in the high recharge region. This artificial recharge is located in 28 (moderate recharge) and 24 sites (low recharge). Study outcomes could be applied to communicate an effectual groundwater management plan for domestic and agricultural determinations with confirm sustainable water supply for this basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study assessed the effectiveness of infiltration-based Low Impact Development (LID) techniques and augmented infiltration LIDs (such as recharge shaft) in a coastal urban catchment in India using a semi-coupled approach between numerical models VS2DI and Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Site specific VS2DI modelling indicated that the infiltration LIDs resulted in more saturation excess runoff due to the soil's insufficient hydraulic conductivity and increased lateral flow. Catchment-scale modeling indicated that LIDs significantly improved water retention (p ≪ 0.05), with a 35% reduction in total runoff volume. The recharge shafts were shown to be more efficient in reducing runoff volume and peak runoff, particularly for high runoff rates (more than 22 mm/hr). The study suggests that direct recharge to the aquifer through recharge shafts could be a suitable solution to manage runoff and meet the demand for domestic water supply during times of water scarcity in coastal urban catchments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between rainfall and groundwater is a complex phenomenon as it varies spatially with respect to local hydrogeological characteristics and temporally with hydro meteorological variations. To understand the resilience of the groundwater system to the changing climate, rainfall-groundwater interaction needs to be analysed in detail. The Rainfall and Time Trends (HARTT) have been widely used in recent studies to model the impact of the rainfall and the groundwater level fluctuation. However, not many such studies have been reported in tropical hilly areas. Bhadra reservoir catchment is a tropical hilly catchment in India which is characterised by heavy rainfall, steep topography and shallow water table conditions and significant subsurface flow conditions. The area is largely dependent on groundwater for irrigation and drinking water supply. Nonparametric statistical methods such as Mann–Kendall (MK) test, Sen's slope estimator and Sequential Mann–Kendall Test (SQMK) are used to study the temporal trends in the rainfall and static groundwater levels. Further, contribution of rainfall to groundwater level fluctuation is analysed using HARTT model. Study shows a decreasing trend in rainfall and groundwater level in the upper catchment. Further, 1 mm increase or decrease in the rainfall anomaly is estimated to cause 0.0012 m decrease or increase in the depth to water table. Only 36% of the groundwater level fluctuation is explained by rainfall induced recharge; nevertheless, the relation is non-uniform throughout the catchment. Spatial variation in topography and hydrogeological conditions is suspected to have significant impact on the rainfall and groundwater interaction leading to poor coefficient of determination for the regression model between rainfall anomaly and the groundwater level fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is critical era of climate change and water resource concerns to comprehend the dynamics of water availability and sustainable management. In this context, the amount of recharge required to completely restore the water was calculated using SWAT model. The majority of river basin management programmes have been concentrated on enhancing groundwater resources, an increasing water allocation, and an evaluating water quality in India. There has not been a coordinated hydrologic effort for river rehabilitation. This main objective of this research was to calculate, surface runoff and recharge needs for Kanari river's revival based on the SWAT model approach. The groundwater recharge rate and runoff were calculated using SWAT model with references of weather data. In the SWAT model, hydrologic response unit (HRU) estimated based on the slope, land use and land cover, and soil maps etc. SWAT model splits the region into sub-basins wise and HRUs were estimated. Although the river basin region crated 18-HRUs based on the SWAT model, this model produced the Kanari river sub-water basin's balance components. Out of the total amount of precipitation, surface runoff accounted for 46.2%, percolation for 26.9%, evapotranspiration for 26.9%, and deep recharge and lateral flow for 1.33%. So, 46.2% of precipitation is accounted for surface runoff. The calculated Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of effectiveness or efficiency (NS) for the calibration period was 0.83., while the calibration period's runoff's coefficient of determination (R2) was determined to be 0.92256. The runoff coefficient of determination (R2) value was 0.82, while the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of effectiveness or efficiency (NS) for the validation period was found to be 0.71. SWAT model's annual recharge varied from 75.27 to 379.02 mm depending on the functions selected. The results of study area can be useful for development of groundwater resources, soil and water conservation planning in the hot region area under the climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ensure water sustainability, alarming levels of water scarcity across the globe is a critical issue warranting urgent address. The present study aims to bring to light the perception of farmers regarding water conservation and management practices from the selected five districts of the Haryana region of India. By analyzing the responses of 125 farmers, collected through a self-administered questionnaire, the impact of socio-demographic factors, current irrigation system, and cost-benefit perception of the farmers was studied on water conservation and management practices. Using ordinal regression analysis, the study revealed that the cost-benefit perception of the farmers, viz. willingness to pay an additional price for canal water and an increase in the availability of water due to canal lining, are the major factors responsible for undertaking conservation and sustainability measures. Further, socio-demographic variables such as age and education also influence water conservation behavior. The study recommends vital policy reforms and initiatives for efficient water use and management to resolve the grave concern of scarcity of usable water. The present study is unique in its suggestion of a comprehensive water conservation and management framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater has been the largest accessible freshwater source globally. The overall dimensions of every basin's water budgeting are closely linked to the quantity quality of available surface and subsurface water. In this paper, the groundwater levels trend in six districts within the Baitarani River Basin, Odisha State, India has been analyzed. Data on the depth to groundwater level for pre and post-monsoon season from 32 wells spread over six different regions from 1997 to 2020 were analyzed. Sen's slope techniques and creative trend analysis were used to investigate the behavior of groundwater level changes in pre- and post-monsoon periods to identify both monotonic and non-monotonic behaviors. The findings showed that, throughout the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods, the depth to groundwater level for four Tubewell, five Borewell, and seven Dugwell locations increased. However, only three tubewell stations Champua, Bhadrak, and Karanjia exhibited declining trends in the pre- and post-monsoon periods. In the case of borewell, only one station (Anadapur) has a negative trend in post-monsoon. For Dugwell, during pre-monsoon Banspal represents the –ve trend, and Bhandaripokhari, Banspal, Anandapur, and Joda show negative trends in post-monsoon seasons. A significant decline in groundwater level was observed in three stations for tubewell, one station for borewell, and four stations for dugwell observed in the current study. Accordingly, spatial maps of increasing and decreasing trends of groundwater levels were prepared, which can be used by water resource managers to identify the causes of declining groundwater levels for managing the resources effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater (GW) is a key water resource for domestic and agricultural activities. Industrial activities often affect GW chemistry. Therefore, assessment of GW quality for drinking and irrigation purposes is required to be assessed to ensure its suitability in and around industrial setups. Present study was planned to investigate the GW suitability for domestic and irrigation purposes around Bokaro Industrial Area, Jharkhand, India. Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Permeability Index (PI), and percentage sodium (% Na) were evaluated for irrigation purposes, while pH, total hardness (TH), and electrical conductivity (EC), Total dissolve solid (TDS), F−, SO42−, HCO3−, Cl−, NO3−, Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ for domestic usage. Results showed wide variation in the physicochemical characteristics as major cations were found in the order: Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+, while major anions were in the order of HCO3−> Cl−> SO42−> NO3−> F−. The range of pH 6.15–7.73 and EC was 230–1676 μS cm−1, while TH, Cl−, HCO3−, SO4−, NO3‐, F−, Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ was varied from 66–743, 3.3–289.9, 61–392, 5.5–148.5, 1.2–61.4, 0.66–4.38, 14.5–170.3, 4.9–80.2, 12.3–102.7, and 0.37–5.7 mg/L, respectively. It was found that GW quality at most of the sites was suitable for irrigation and domestic purpose except at few locations. Further, results revealed that industrial activity has noticeable impact on the groundwater quality but, the overall suitability indicates a potential recharge system for the aquifers in the area which maintains the GW chemistry. Albeit alarming values of some of the GW parameters, namely, pH, total hardness, F−, HCO3−, Cl−, NO3−, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ at some locations require attention to design and execute effective water management plans to avoid possible irrigation and human health risks in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fresh water is essential to human society and the survival of all terrestrial ecosystems. Despite the fact that India possesses a diverse range of fresh water resources, most systems are under pressure from anthropogenic activity, posing major threats to fish diversity. As a result, conservation and management are vital to the interests of all persons, nations, and governments, and thus the current research. Present research work done from November 2021 to October 2022. Approximately 17 species were collected and identified during the study of the Borda dam, belonging to 7 orders, 9 families, and 16 genera. Among them, 5 species were belong to the Order Cypriniformes, and Siluriformes each, 3 species to Order Perciformes, while the Orders Osteoglossiformes, Synbranchiformes, Beloniformes and Cichliformes comprises single species. As a result, the findings of our current study will provide significant information about the diversity of fish fauna in the Borda dam, which will be used in the future for monitoring, fisheries management, and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the driver of groundwater depletion, this paper estimates a dynamic panel regression model using district-level secondary data from 1995 to 2017. Results show that the number of rainwater-harvesting structures, annual average rainfall, forest cover and net sown area improve groundwater levels. Tube well irrigation and rice cultivation can adversely affect groundwater levels. The positive relationship between surface water and improved groundwater level is consistent in all the estimated models. Hence, efficient use and management of surface and groundwater are crucial for the long-term sustainability of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the Just–Pope approach to investigate the effects of seasonal weather variables and extremes on the mean yield and yield variability of rice, bajra, chickpea, groundnut and sugarcane in India during the period 1990–2015. Results reveal that changes in rainfall and evapotranspiration across seasons largely affect mean yields for most crops, including bajra, chickpea and groundnut. However, high summer rainfall and low monsoon evapotranspiration extremes reduce groundnut and chickpea yield variability. Considering the importance of water availability to crop yields, this study suggests improving irrigation and water reallocation and management to reduce the severity of seasonal climate effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India boasts of a vast freshwater resource network (rivers, wetlands, and groundwater), which has unique ecological, social and economic values associated with it. Despite their importance for both people and biodiversity, its freshwater ecosystems (FWEs) are heavily impacted through multiple factors such as pollution, overexploitation, habitat loss/modification and climate change. India is also among the hotspots of water resource overuse that has caused a serious decline in freshwater availability.Given that healthy FWEs lie at the centre for supporting the country's ecology, health, economy, livelihoods and ultimately achieving multiple policy goals, it is crucial that holistic and focused efforts are made to protect, conserve, and restore all types of FWEs.We call for an urgent and a greater focus on implementing conservation actions for FWEs in India and suggest the following strategy to enhance focus on their conservation: (1) establishing a shared freshwater conservation vision at a national scale, (2) developing and including national freshwater conservation goals within global efforts, (3) conducting simultaneous conservation action planning at regional scales and (4) bridge planning to implementation gap by strengthening key enabling conditions: i) mainstream FWE conservation within key existing governance instruments, ii) secure sustainable conservation funding, iii) improve data access and knowledge translation; iv) create national awareness around importance of FWEs; v) facilitate collaboration among key actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green hydrogen can be the transitional solution required to reduce anthropogenic emissions and enhance energy independency from fossil fuel. To improve green hydrogen adoption, a cluster-based infrastructure, called a hydrogen hub, is devised taking into account the demand-supply interplay coupled with transport ease. In this paper, we have identified sites across states that are conducive for hydrogen hubs. It involves a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) framework deployed to assign priorities within competing set of criteria. A comprehensive analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used to rank criteria that are connected to establish a functioning hydrogen hub. These criteria include, but not limited to, proximity to refineries, fertilizer plants, substations, chlor-alkali units, steel manufacturing plants, water availability, access to gas pipelines, railway line access, and finally distance to highways. Our analyses indicate that proximity to refineries and fertilizers scored higher (scores directly proportional to importance) while railway line access scored the least. These prioritised scores are used to spatially locate sites using geographical information system. In a total of thirteen states identified, Gujarat had the largest parcel of most suitable land for setting up hydrogen hub followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. For India to set up a functioning hydrogen economy and achieve green hydrogen goals, it is important to identify states that can drive the agenda forward. This paper illustrates a way (amongst many available ways) to identify states based on their strength and capability to fulfil the national goal of 5 million tons of green hydrogen by 2030. • The paper addresses setting up of green hydrogen hubs in India based on a multi-criteria site selection framework. • Nine selection criteria covering aspects of hydrogen ecosystem proposed to identify site(s) suitable for hydrogen hubs. • Integration of AHP and GIS is used to ascertain land parcels where hydrogen economy can sustain across states in India. • Zones in 13 states were identified as potential hydrogen hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has abundant water resources, including rivers and snow-covered mountains in the Himalayas, which can supply the country's water needs. In many areas, however, accessible water supplies are depleting due to fast population growth and the need to fulfill rising demands for irrigation, human and industrial consumption. Physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics were stuided of the Asan river water in Doon valley of Uttarakhand, India, that sampled were collected a fourteen water quality parameters at seven locations from October 2018 to March 2019. The water quality index and water quality maps was prepared in the Arc GIS software 10.7 using Inverse distance weighted (IDW) method. The sampled datasets were used to prepare a spatial water quality index map based on Analytical Hierarchy Process. Based on the results the weightage of the pH was found to the maximum (24%), BOD (17%), DO (13.7%), TDS (11.1%), EC (7.8%), TH (4.8%), CH (4.6%), MH (4.5%), WT (3.4%), AT (2.4%), Na (1.9%), K (1.7%), NO3(1.5%) and PO4 (1.3%). The result demonstrates that the water is heavily polluted towards station three caused due to the extensive anthropogenic activities. Thus, there is a need for combined government and non-government measures to enable the Asan rivers to slow their decline and return to their natural, pollutant-free state, which is crucial for the health of their environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to climate change, rapid warming and its further intensification over different parts of the globe have been recently reported. This has a direct impact on human health, agriculture, water availability, power generation, various ecosystems, and socioeconomic conditions of the exposed population. The current study thus investigates the frequency and duration of heatwaves, human discomfort, and exposure of the human population to these extremes using the high-resolution regional climate model experiments under two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP8.5) over India. We find that more than 90% of India will be exposed to uncomfortable warm nights by the end of the 21st century with the highest rise over western India, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab, and the Haryana region. States like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, eastern parts of MP and UP, and some parts of J&K will be the worst hit by the intense and frequent heatwaves and human discomfort followed by the densely populated Indo-Gangetic plains under RCP8.5. Strict enforcement of the stringent policies on stabilization of population growth, improvement of local adaptive capacities, and economic status of the vulnerable population along with enforcing effective measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions are important to reduce human exposure to future heat stress. We demonstrate that a proper mitigation-based development (RCP2.6) instead of a business-as-usual scenario (RCP8.5) may help to reduce 50–200 heatwave days, 3–10 heatwave spells, and 10–35% warm nights over the Indian region. Consequently, this can avoid the exposure of 135–143 million population to severe discomfort due to extreme heat conditions by the end of the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of climate change on rainfall patterns and intensity necessitates an accurate estimation of runoff from rainfall to effectively manage water resources. This study utilized the MIKE HYDRO River software to evaluate rainfall-runoff in the upper Vaigai sub-basin. Input parameters, including rainfall, evaporation, and stream discharge data, were collected over a period of 16 years from 2000 to 2015. The auto-calibration capabilities of the software were employed to calibrate the model from 2000 to 2010, which was validated using data sets collected from 2011 to 2015. The optimal model and operating parameters were determined, and hydrographs were compared for simulated and observed runoff. The reliability and accuracy of the MIKE HYDRO River model were assessed using various goodness-of-fit indicators, including the coefficient of determination (R2), root-mean-square error (RMSE), and index of agreement. The R2 values demonstrated a strong correlation of 0.79 and 0.87 with the observed and simulated runoff for the calibration and validation period, respectively. The attainment of an RMSE of 4.05 m3/s and 2.20 m3/s and an index of agreement of 0.93 and 0.96 during the calibration and validation period, respectively, confirmed the model's excellent performance. The results of the rainfall-runoff simulation indicate that the MIKE HYDRO River tool is suitable for rainfall-runoff studies and integrated water supply management in the upper Vaigai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of the impact of climate variability on evapotranspiration and moisture availability is crucial for planning of water resources and achieving food security in north-west India. Therefore, spatio-temporal variability in annual and seasonal climatic variables [maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin) and rainfall), reference evapotranspiration (ETo), moisture index (MI) and aridity index (AI)] were assessed for three regions (north-east, central and south-west) of Indian Punjab during baseline period (1971–2018), mid-century (2040–2060) and end century (2080–2095). The long-term data of Tmax, Tmin and rainfall during baseline period was collected from difference sources, and the MarkSim data of Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 during mid-century (2040–2060) and end century (2080–2095) was used. The ETo, AI and MI were calculated from Tmax, Tmin and rainfall during different time periods, and the temporal variations in these parameters during baseline period, mid-century and end century were studied using Mann–Kendall test. In addition, spatial variability in these parameters was studied using inverse distance weighted method. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 4.8 °C in different regions of Punjab, and the variable pattern of rainfall is expected by mid-century and end century. Annual and Kharif (June–October) season rainfall is likely to increase by 18.2 to 42.9%, but it is expected to decrease by − 7.6 to − 62.3% (− 27.0 to − 7.6% for north-east, − 23.5 to − 17.6% for central and − 42.8 to − 62.3% for south-west region) during Rabi season (October–April). As a result of increase in temperature and erratic rainfall pattern, ETo is likely to increase by 7.4 to 13.2% in the three regions of the state. The analysis of MI and AI indicated better moisture availability conditions in the north-east followed by central and lowest in the south-west region. Analysis for mid-century (2040–2060) and end century (2080–2095) indicated that the annual MI is predicted to be slightly dry in north-east (− 32.2 and − 26.7) and central (− 54.4 and − 53.7) regions, but semi-dry in the south-west region (− 68.4 and − 68.9). Similarly, annual aridity index is predicted to be humid in north-east and semi-arid in central and south-west region. During the baseline period, wheat and rice yields were observed to be positively correlated with ETo in all the regions. However, aridity index, moisture index and rainfall were observed to be negatively correlated with wheat yield and positive with rice yield. The results of this study suggested that climatic variations by mid-century and end century can have significant implications on crop and water productivity along with severe pressure on water resources in the region. As the climatic conditions are likely to become more uncertain in future with large fluctuations, hence research is required to precisely explain the moisture extraction patterns of crops and their productivity under future climatic scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Champhai, the rice bowl of Mizoram, is known for wet rice practices. Rapid urbanization and global climate change increased the demand for groundwater. Champhai city, being a hilly township in northeast India, is very difficult to identify the potential groundwater water availability. The present study aimed at groundwater potentiality zonation in Champhai town. For these purposes ten (10) factors from topographic, climatic, hydrological and other conditions were assigned weightage based on the AHP (analytical hierarchy process) technique. The aspect was given maximum weightage as the aspect working as the controlling factors of precipitation intensity, vegetation and soil type, while LULC (land use land cover) was assigned minimum weightage that unscientific human activities reduced infiltration rate. Subsequently, an addition of ten weighted rasters was performed for groundwater potentiality zonation. As a result, it was seen that the maximum part of the study area covered low potentiality zones (31.88%), whereas high and very high potential zone covered 14.73% and 5.08, respectively. A scientific validation technique, namely AUC (area under curve) value of 0.737, denoted a good classified groundwater water potentiality zone. Further, the single-layer sensitivity analysis highlighted that elevation, slope, aspect, infiltration number, distance to streams and rainfall had the maximum effective factors based on their effective weightage. The map removal sensitivity analysis highlighted that TWI (Topographic Wetness Index) and aspect had the maximum influence on the model. However, in a hilly environment like Champhai, the output of the current study will work as a blueprint for planning and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study elucidates methods for isolation and biochemical identification of thermophilic bacteria isolated from the Gauri Kund hot spring of Uttarakhand, India. Heavy metals are discharged from various industries and man-made activities into the soil and water resources. Increased toxic concentrations of heavy metals are responsible for disturbing metabolism and may cause lethal and chronic diseases in humans and plants. Therefore, this study aims to isolate and identify some metalresistant bacterial strains of thermophiles. A total of 3 iron (Fe) and 3 manganese (Mn) resistant bacterial strains were isolated. These strains were capable of tolerating the presence of Fe, and Mn metal ions. Additionally, the metal tolerance limit of isolated strains was determined by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The thermophilic strain GA7 showed the highest MIC (475 μg/lt.) against Mn ions. However, for more accurate results, molecular characterization is also required and reported in another study with the results of a detailed bioremediation assay. The unique cell wall structures and thermoadaptation mechanisms of thermophilic bacteria help in heavy metal Bioremediation. It is concluded that bacterial bioremediation is a very good, eco-friendly, and cost-effective biotechnological approach to reduce heavy metal contamination from the soil and water bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spring constitutes one of the primary water resources in some parts of the world, such as the Indian Himalayas. However, these remain imperfectly surveyed and delineated far and wide in most areas worldwide. Due to natural and anthropogenic factors, the springs are under great threat. All over the globe, springs have left as data deficit and have not relatively gained considerable attention in comparison to other systems like rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands. This is also true for India, where most of the research is usually centered on groundwater, rivers, lakes and wetlands. This manuscript presents an overview of studies carried out on various themes of spring water systems, such as characteristics, classification schemes, and different empirical and analytical methods at international and national levels. A comprehensive overview of the literature identified the demand for an integrated approach of different empirical and analytical methods to strengthen the understanding of spring hydrology in the Himalayan region and elsewhere. Research highlights: Springwater system protection needs a forewarning of imminent contamination and thus, an integrated approach of conceptual and management-related groundwater models should be developed in India on a large scale. Empirical and analytical approaches should be used to attain an inclusive understanding of springwater hydrology and water quality. Himalayan springs should be studied considering the current updated classification schemes to obtain a comprehensive understanding of them. Monitoring of data and simulation models should be developed to establish an integrated and comprehensive understanding of Himalayan spring hydrogeology and hydrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glacier database provides an opportunity to track its dynamics and address issues linked with water resources, hazards and sustainability. To better understand the dynamics of Eastern Dhauliganga basin, we mapped the clean and debris‐covered glaciers by using satellite images from Landsat‐series and Sentinel 2. The band‐ratio based methods—NDSI (Normalised Difference Snow Index) and NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) were used to map the clean ice glaciers. The debris‐covered glaciers were delineated using topographic parameters and thermal band of Landsat TM. The glacier extent and length change were monitored for 25 glaciers in the basin, of which 13 are clean ice and 12 are debris‐covered glaciers. During the time period from 1994 to 2018, higher area loss was observed for clean ice glaciers (±20.6%) compared with debris‐covered glaciers (±10.9%). The clean‐ice glaciers retreated at a rate of 4.8–33.7 m/year, whereas debris‐covered glaciers retreated at a rate of 2.9–28.8 m/year during 1994–2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reintroducing megafauna to their historic range is an effective strategy to halt their extinctions and restore ecosystems. Wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is an endangered megaherbivore that is lost from 95% of its range. About 90% of its global population (less than 4000) resides within India, in two isolated populations: northeast and central India. The central Indian population is on the verge of extinction and warrants urgent conservation interventions. We assess the potential and provide a strategy for reintroducing buffaloes in Kanha National Park, India. Habitat suitability using the global occurrence of buffalo revealed low‐lying grasslands with least human pressure found in Kanha (390 km2) to be suitable. Within this suitable range, we evaluated vegetation composition, forage biomass, and potential carrying capacity. Multidimensional ordination classified these suitable sites into moist and dry grassland clusters. Moist grasslands were found to better suit reintroduction due to lower grazing pressure, higher productivity, and availability of perennial water sources. Distinct matriarchal clades of swamp and river buffalo were observed. Within the river buffalo clade, Indian wild buffaloes formed a distinct cluster with close proximity between northeast and central Indian samples, suggesting northeast buffaloes could be sourced for a founding population in Kanha. Following IUCN guidelines, we discuss the reintroduction strategy that could sustain approximately 200 buffaloes in the area and subsequently expand to other suitable habitats in central India. If implemented as proposed, recovery of this lost ecosystem engineer will help to restore grasslands, and swamp habitats, as well as contribute to its global conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every facet of life, including human habitation, economic development, food security, etc., depends on water as a valuable resource. Due to the burgeoning population and rapid urbanization, water availability needs to be simulated and measured using hydrologic models and trustworthy data. To fulfill this aim, the SWAT model was processed in this work. The SWAT model was formulated to estimate the hydrological parameters of Yeralwadi using meteorological data from IMD (India Meteorological Department) for the period 1995-2020. The observed discharge data was collected from the HDUG Nasik group and used in the calibration and validation of the Model. The SWAT model was corrected & validated through the SUFI-II algorithm in SWAT-CUP to get a better result. The model's sensitivity is checked by using statistical parameters like Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and a coefficient of determination (R²). NSE values were 0.72 and 0.80 in calibration and validation, and R² were 0.80 & 0.76 in calibration and validation, respectively, indicating the acceptance of the model. Results show that 40.6% of the total yearly precipitation was lost by evapotranspiration. The estimated total discharge from the Yeralwadi catchment was 55.6%, out of which 41.2% was surface runoff and 14.4% was baseflow. The other 17.8% was made up of percolation into confined and unconfined aquifers, which served as soil and groundwater storages. The surface runoff is influenced by Curve number (CnII), SOL_AWC, ESCO, and base flow was influenced by ALPHA-BF and GW_REVAP. This study will be useful to water managers and researchers to develop sustainable water resource management and to alleviate the water scarcity issues in the study basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the emerging groundwater crisis in Chhattisgarh state, India, exacerbated by extensive agricultural practices heavily reliant on groundwater irrigation, particularly for crops like paddy. Topics include the rapid increase in bore wells for irrigation, resulting in significant groundwater depletion across various regions of the state, and the associated environmental impacts such as reduced freshwater availability and deterioration in groundwater quality.

Streamflow flash droughts (SFDs), characterized by a rapid decline in streamflow over a relatively short period, affect water availability, hydropower generation, and the ecosystem. However, atmospheric and land processes that drive SFDs in the monsoonal climate of India remain unexplored. Using observations, reanalysis data sets, and model simulations, we examined the critical drivers of SFDs in 64 catchments in India during the 1971–2018 period. We identified meteorological flash droughts (MFDs) using precipitation and SFDs using in situ observations and model simulations of streamflow. We show that precipitation deficit and anomalous high temperature, driven mainly by the summer monsoon breaks, lead to the development of MFDs. Antecedent baseflow conditions play a major role in the propagation of MFDs to SFDs. Favorable atmospheric conditions (driven by the monsoon breaks) cause MFDs, which translate to SFDs. High and low baseflow conditions limit the rapid decline in streamflow, which controls the occurrence of streamflow flash drought. On the other hand, favorable atmospheric conditions combined with moderate baseflow can trigger SFDs in India during the summer monsoon season. Moreover, humid catchments are more prone to propagation from MFDs to SFDs during the monsoon season in India. Understanding the crucial role of atmospheric and land drivers can assist in examining the occurrence of streamflow flash drought with implications for water resources planning and management. Plain Language Summary: Streamflow flash droughts (SFDs) occur when the amount of water flowing in rivers and streams declines rapidly in a shorter period than conventional long‐term droughts. SFDs significantly affect water availability, hydropower generation, and the ecosystem. However, the physical processes and mechanism of occurrence of SFDs during the summer monsoon season remain unexplored in India. We used streamflow of 64 catchments in India from 1971 to 2018. We found that most SFDs occur after the commencement of meteorological flash droughts (MFDs), which are defined as a rapid decline in precipitation in a short period. The development of MFDs is caused by a lack of rainfall and abnormally high temperatures during breaks in the monsoon season. Moreover, the amount of baseflow before MFDs plays an essential role in the propagation of meteorological to streamflow flash drought. The presence of moderate baseflow before the commencement of MFDs leads to the development of SFDs during the summer monsoon season. Additionally, humid catchments, where sufficient moisture is available, are more likely to favor the propagation of meteorological to streamflow flash drought. Understanding the driving factors for SFDs could assist in water resource planning and management in India. Key Points: Large precipitation deficit and anomalous high temperature develop meteorological flash droughts (MFDs), which propagate to streamflow flash droughts (SFDs) if the antecedent baseflow remains moderateHigh baseflow conditions before the onset of MFDs restrict the propagation of MFDs to SFDsSmaller catchments show less, while humid catchments have a high tendency to propagate MFDs to SFDs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glaciers of the Indian Himalayas were much larger during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and started retreating post-LIA (16 to 19 century). The rate of recession accelerated dramatically in the twentieth century. If similar trends continue, power generation and the availability of water for irrigation and drinking purpose will be adversely affected. Hence, understanding the long term response of glaciers with respect to changing climatic conditions is essential. The present study evaluates and quantifies the comprehensive quasquicentennial (1888–2017) (129 years) response of the Janapa Garang glacier (JPG) regarding spatial changes in glacial geomorphic features, as well as area, volume, and ice-mass changes. The assessment of Janapa Garang is based on glacier boundaries derived from Survey of India (SOI) topographic maps (Survey years 1888 and 1962), Landsat 7 data of 1999 and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS data of 2017. The remote sensing data have proved to be useful and economically viable for mapping the extent of JPG situated in remote, inaccessible and frosty environments. In addition, multi-temporal, multi-spectral characteristics and synoptic coverage of remote sensing data are potent for such studies. For quasquicentential scale, where the remote sensing data are not available, the historical SOI maps of 1888 and 1962 provide significant inputs. The quasquicentential response of JPG is preserved in the form of various glacial geomorphic features (accumulation zone, exposed ablation zone, moraine covered ablation zone, snout, lateral, medial and terminal moraines as well as deglaciated valley) and is reflected through reduction in glacier length, area, volume and ice-mass. The study reveals 3760 m total lengthwise retreat of JPG with variation in snout elevation by 362 m asl. The total percentage loss in the glacier area, volume, and ice mass from 1888–2017 is 38%, 51% and 50% respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fresh water is vital for all living creatures and maintains the hydrological cycle. Surface water bodies conserve freshwater and exhibit dynamic changes yearly due to high/low rainfall and over/underutilization. Therefore, extracting water bodies and determining their extent is imperative for effective water resource management. Water body extraction using Water Indices (WI) and Machine Learning (ML) face threshold selection and feature optimization challenges, respectively. This paper proposes a Lightweight Attention-based Multiscale Neural Network (LWAMNNet) for surface water body extraction from Linear Imaging Self Scanning‒III (LISS-III) remote sensing images. The LWAMNNet is an encoder-decoder architecture designed using a modified residual block in both the encoder and decoder to extract high-level features. Feature Extraction Module (FEM) is sandwiched between encoder and decoder to extract global contextual features. The LWAMNNet replaces convolutions with depthwise separable convolutions to reduce computation complexity. In the decoder, the attention module is incorporated to provide attention to fused features (i.e., combined deep features with spatial encoder features) at different scales. The LWAMNNet effectively extracts different-sized water bodies with non-linear boundaries. The proposed LWAMNNet qualitatively and quantitatively outperforms other DL models in performance metrics (accuracy of 99.5%) and computation complexity (in terms of trainable parameters and time). Additionally, the water extent of five major reservoirs in south India was determined annually from 2016 to 2019. Also, the reason for water dynamics is analyzed with the help of rainfall and water availability data provided by the Indian Metrological Department (IMD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study addresses the long-term trend in rainfall, minimum and maximum temperature, and the climate indices for the river catchments located in the diverse climate of the Western Ghats of India. The dry sub-humid Chaliyar catchment and humid Kajvi catchment have shown a dramatic change in the decadal rainfall, with the decade 1950–1960 being the point of change. The monsoon rainfall has decreased in the Chaliyar and Netravati catchments and increased insignificantly in the Kajvi catchment. With the increase in mean temperature, the number of rainy days is decreasing, and intense rainfall is increasing in the pre-monsoon. The increase in minimum temperature is more severe in all three catchments, irrespective of the region's climate. The decline in rainy days is more figurative in the humid and per-humid catchments and has seen a 16–20% decrease in R × 1 day, R × 3 day, and R × 5 day in the past six decades with an insignificant increase in the dry sub-humid catchment. The frightful increase in warm days/nights with a decrease in cool days/nights has been alarming for the extremity of temperature in future years. The significant changes in the forest area in Chaliyar and Kajvi catchment and the increase in a built-up area in Netravati may have a decisive role in the nonseasonal variability in rainfall and temperature along with increasing greenhouse gases. In the case of meteorological drought studied using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), moderate droughts have occurred over the Chaliyar and Kajvi, and extreme droughts over the Netravati catchments with no reduction in the frequency or severity of short-duration extreme rainfall events. The geographical location of the catchment has a greater impact on the characteristics of the rainfall and meteorological drought, and these changes in the hydrological regimes of the catchment have a significant bearing on the water availability in the catchments in the future years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater recharge is essential for managing surface and subsoil water resources. Not only for supplying people with daily drinking water, groundwater use for agricultural land and people's livelihood is also continuously increasing. As a result, there has been a decline in groundwater supply in various parts of the world, and it is highly desirable to identify the potential groundwater zones for specific sustainable development. This study aims to use an easy-to-use tool package named Landslide Sustainability Mapping Tool pack (LSM tool Pack) for preparing potential groundwater zone based on R and ArcGIS software integration. This tool uses five modules for processing. Among them, the Feature selection (FS) module brings a novel approach, determining the best subset feature for demarcating the groundwater potential zone. As a result, this best factor subset is used as an input of this tool pack. Additionally, PE modules evaluate the performance of proposed models in statistical performance metrics. In addition, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was obtained with the integration of Performance Evaluation (PE) modules and ARC maps, which helps visual interpretation in evaluating models. This study uses the LSM tool Pack in the Rupnarayan river basin to map the potential groundwater zone based on fourteen controlling factors selected through the FS module, which will further help the local government to make a substitute policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian southwest monsoon rainfall has a huge socioeconomic influence, and any changes in monsoon rainfall patterns will have major consequences for agriculture, water supplies, and other connected sectors of economy. The paper explores the charactering and forecasting of the southwest monsoon rainfall (June to September) patterns over the Central region of India for the period (1901–2021: 121 years) using linear state space modeling. The study period is split into two periods, i.e., earlier period (EP: 1901–1950) and the recent period (RP: 1951–2021). The linear state space model (LSSM) with significant latent components such as trend, seasonal, periodic and random variations or noise is selected for modeling the southwest monsoon rainfall (SWMR) based on Bayesian information criteria (BIC) and statistical fit for the two periods. The result indicates that an increase in linear time trend during the EP and the RP has a decreasing local linear time trend in SWMR, and it is interesting to notice that the EP had no noteworthy periodic variations, whereas the RP exhibits significant periodic variations in SWMR. Further, the selected LSSM forecasts SWMR patterns for the period 2022–2028, and it has been observed that the Central Indian region is expected to receive substantial rainfall in the years 2026, 2027 and 2028. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The agricultural sector in India primarily relies on monsoon rains, making it necessary for agricultural water managers to study variations in water availability by analyzing rainfall patterns. This information is critical for deciding cropping patterns and irrigation approaches, managing water resources, and improving crop water productivity. The long-term spatiotemporal variability over the command area, India Meteorological Department (IMD) based selection of thresholds for extremes indices, and thorough analysis of the consequences of extreme on agriculture make the study unique. These aspects collectively enhance the perception of the climate–agriculture relationship, which is essential for promoting agriculture resilience under changing rainfall patterns. This type of research is very limited in the literature. Therefore, the present study focuses on comprehensively analyzing the spatiotemporal variability of rainfall and extreme precipitation indices and their implications on agriculture. The study is carried out in the Upper Ganga Command Area (UGCA), India's oldest irrigation canal system, by using long-term (1901–2021) high-resolution (0.25 × 0.25°) daily rainfall gridded data obtained from IMD, Pune. Eight different extreme rainfall indices are used to assess spatiotemporal variations. The Mann–Whitney–Pettitt test identified 1970 as a significant change point. Rainfall trends and extreme indices for pre- and post-1970 periods were examined using the non-parametric modified Mann–Kendall test. The results show significant increases in rainfall trends for the annual, monsoon, and kharif seasons from 1901 to 1970, but significant decreases were observed during 1971–2021. This difference resulted in a noticeable decrease in average precipitation in the latter period, approximately 62 mm less than in 1901–1970. Similarly, extreme precipitation indices, including the number of rainy days (NxRainy), consecutive dry days (CWD), simple daily intensity index (SDII), and total precipitation (PRCPTOT), exhibited increasing trends in 1901–1970, but they showed significant decreasing trends in 1971–2021. In addition, there is a strong positive correlation between these indices and total precipitation. The study also found that geographical factors influence these trends, with all indices, except SDII, strongly correlated with latitude and elevation, but not with longitude. The implications of these negative rainfall and extreme rainfall trends were further analyzed, and the results indicate a significant impact on the cropping patterns in the study area. The present research findings will be beneficial for regional water resource managers and policymakers in better understanding the existing trends in rainfall distribution over the UGCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluates and compares the performance of different rainfall products, namely, Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), India Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded, Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource (POWER), and Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Network-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) with gauge-based measurements over Narmada River basin, India. The ground-based daily rainfall data (1981–2020) of 11 gauging stations have been collected from the Water Resources Department, Madhya Pradesh and the evaluation of rainfall product has been accomplished on a point-to-grid basis (nearest neighbor method) at annual and seasonal scales with the help of continuous and categorical statistical metrics. The results reveal a strong positive correlation (> 0.75) between rainfall estimates of different products and gauge-based measurements at annual scale demonstrating higher similarity in rainfall estimates and observed data, whereas seasonal estimates have exhibited comparatively weaker relationship. Likewise, percent bias (PBIAS) demonstrates least bias in annual and monsoon rainfall estimates and high in other seasons. These findings reveal that rainfall estimates tend to improve with increasing time scale (season to annual). However, majority of the rainfall products have overestimated the low rainfall (western region) and underestimated the high rainfall (eastern and southeastern regions). Further, the values of critical success index (CSI) indicate IMD gridded product outperforms in detecting rainfall events accurately followed by POWER, PERSIANN-CDR, and CHIRPS. These results suggest that IMD gridded estimates provide the best alternate to ground-based rain measurements. However, rainfall estimates from POWER, PERSIANN-CDR and CHIRPS can also be used in various hydrometeorological investigations over Narmada River basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adequate and consistent rainfall is essential for sustaining water resources, agricultural production, and overall economy of a nation. To explore the variability and changes in rainfall system, the most common and widely employed conventional trend methods are linear regression (LR) and Mann-Kendall (MK) trend tests. These methods are often subject to inconsistent results with respect to the extent of changes reported in rainfall patterns. This study utilizes the advanced LR i.e., quantile regression (QR) and the modified MK (m-MK) trend methods to investigate the retrospective rainfall characteristics and associated trends for multi-temporal periods i.e., long-term (1951–2020), bifurcated (pre-1985 and post-1985), and most-recent (2000–2020), over different climate zones of India. Furthermore, temporal evolution and trend consistency (stability) were examined by comparing multi-temporal slope coefficients at various quantiles (τ) of rainfall distribution. The long-term trends in general rainfall characteristics (GRCs) exhibited drying patterns, while opposite increasing trends were observed in extreme rainfall characteristics (ERCs) for most of the study region. The results of QR at median tail (τ = 0.5) were more or less consistent with the results of m-MK test. Interestingly, an increase in the trend significance and magnitude was observed at higher quantiles (τ > 0.8). The bifurcated and long-term periods showed contrasting results in rainfall characteristics, suggesting trend instability whereas during pre-1985, post-1985, and most-recent periods, the temporal evolution of GRCs revealed a systematic increment in positive trend significance. Altogether, the advanced and modified trend assessment in the present research compliments conventional trend methods with improved trend detection and trend consistency identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing water consumption and climate change are putting countries globally at risk of running out of water supplies. The provision of groundwater helped reduce global food scarcity, but overexploitation resulted in the depletion of groundwater resources in many regions worldwide. This study applies the concepts of reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability to determine the spatial distribution of sustainability in groundwater resources over the intensive groundwater-irrigated regions of South Asia and China. The satellite-based Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data of groundwater storage for 2003‒2020 was acquired and used for this reason. The findings showed a decrease in groundwater storage in Northern China, Western India, and Eastern Pakistan, with the highest declination rate in Western India by − 50 to − 200 mm per decade. Groundwater reliability, resiliency, and vulnerability decreased in some regions of the study area, with the highest decrease in west India by − 0.2 to − 0.3 per decade. This caused a decrease in groundwater sustainability in the area at a rate of − 0.1 to − 0.3 per decade. The reduction in groundwater sustainability in western India may be due to intensive groundwater abstraction in those regions. It is important to prevent excessive groundwater pumping in the study area for sustainable development. It also is imperative to adopt sustainable groundwater management strategies, such as reducing groundwater extraction during drought years and growing less water-consuming crops in less sustainable regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir operational performance was observed through extensive simulation studies. Behavior study of historical operational parameters was useful to fine-tune and verify the operational rules, as well as to frame up emergency action preparedness. Performance study of yield, reliability, and eco-flow with different storage ratios for various supply policies indicated optimum storage ratio as 0.19. In-stream flow varied inversely with storage ratio. Supply policy, storage ratio, and temporal distribution of inflow influenced the reservoir yield remarkably. Similar behavior of both ecological metrics – eco-flow indicator and coefficient of variation – was observed with different storage ratios. But, releasing additional ecological flow led a quasi-natural flow paradigm at the downstream keeping human activities intact. Three numbers of operational guide curves as introduced will provide optimal solution towards maximum resource utilization to meet human and ecological needs. This conceptual study provides a comprehensive guidance on how to deliver a reliable water supply yield from a reservoir while maintaining the natural variability of downstream eco-flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water is an essential resource. An understanding of catchment water balance is crucial to ensure water availability in the region. Hydrological models are credible tools for water balance assessment of a region. These models are data intensive. The traditional hydrological modeling approach relies on station-based observed data. The availability of sufficient long-term consistent observed data is often limited. On the other hand, climate reanalysis data for a long timeperiod is available from multiple data sources. This study estimates runoff characteristics for Lower Tapi River Basin in western India, with the help of a Soil Conservation Service Curve Number method. The catchment water balance in terms of runoff, baseflow, and recharge at sub-basin scale is worked out with the help of station-based and climate reanalysis datasets. The model output are calibrated against observed river gauging data. A reasonable fit between model-simulated and observed runoff is obtained in terms of duration and magnitude of runoff peak. Tested model is applied to future climate scenarios. The simulations show an increase in surface runoff, recharge, baseflow and total runoff for future time period. Results reveal that climate changes have significant impact on hydrology of the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the ability of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in simulating streamflow of the Periyar River basin in India. The model was calibrated with six years of data (1990–1995), validated with three years (1996–1998) with 3 years warm-up period for monthly time steps. SWAT-CUP's (Soil and Water Assessment Tool-Calibration and Uncertainty Program) algorithm, called Sequential Uncertainty Fitting 2 (SUFI-2), was employed for calibration and validation. The sensitivity analysis revealed that SCS runoff curve number (CN2) was the most dominant parameter affecting streamflow in the basin. The four statistical performance indices used in this study for calibration and validation showed 'good' performance of the model for the basin, with a coefficient of determination (R2) as 0.70 and 0.70; Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) as 0.70 and 0.68; Percent Bias (PBIAS) as 3.8 and −9.7; and the ratio of root mean square error to standard deviation of measured data (RSR) as 0.55 and 0.56, respectively. The results also showed that calibration with SUFI-2 algorithm could improve the model performance considerably. The water balance study shows that surface runoff contributes the highest with 41% of total water availability, followed by 28% actual evapotranspiration, and 24% percolation to shallow aquifers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]