Environmental flow monitoring system–the need of the hour.

The environmental flow is the mitigation strategy proposed to overcome the environmental impact due to the construction, and operation of the hydropower project. Maintaining the environmental flow is one thing to worry but the conflict between the perception towards the maintenance of the environmental flow among the administer and locale differs at two extremes. In 2017, National Green Tribunal has passed the order to maintain 15 % of the average lean season flow as the environmental flow in the downstream side of the dam. The amount of water to be maintained also differs from project to project. Hence a proposal of device that typically assesses the environmental flow needed based on the hydrological, habitat, and hydraulic data fed into. This research work proposes an instrument that evaluates the environmental flow requirement and alerts the stakeholders in case of any failure in maintaining the environmental flow in the downstream side of the dam. A sensor is attached to it that monitors the maintenance of the environmental flow, failure in maintenance will alert the river authorities. Additionally, the environmental flow calculated will be displayed in the government offices where it is visible to the public on a daily basis. This helps in creating awareness among the locales, farmers, and other stakeholders to know the importance of the environmental flow. This also helps in creating transparency between the dam administrators and the locales about both the extreme level of impact due to the hydropower project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]