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Modelling Small-Scale Storage Interventions in Semi-Arid India at the Basin Scale

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11874/
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116129
doi:10.3390/su13116129
 
Title Modelling Small-Scale Storage Interventions in Semi-Arid India at the Basin Scale
 
Creator Horan, R
Wable, P S
Srinivasan, V
Baron, H E
Keller, V J D
Garg, K K
Rickards, N
Simpson, M
Houghton-Carr, H A
Rees, H G
 
Subject Watershed Management
Water Resources
Water Conservation
 
Description There has been renewed interest in the performance, functionality, and sustainability
of traditional small-scale storage interventions (check dams, farm bunds and tanks) used within
semi-arid regions for the improvement of local water security and landscape preservation. The
Central Groundwater Board of India is encouraging the construction of such interventions for the
alleviation of water scarcity and to improve groundwater recharge. It is important for water resource
management to understand the hydrological effect of these interventions at the basin scale. The
quantification of small-scale interventions in hydrological modelling is often neglected, especially
in large-scale modelling activities, as data availability is low and their hydrological functioning is
uncertain. A version of the GlobalWater Availability Assessment (GWAVA) water resources model
was developed to assess the impact of interventions on the water balance of the Cauvery Basin and
two smaller sub-catchments. Model results demonstrate that farm bunds appear to have a negligible
effect on the average annual simulated streamflow at the outlets of the two sub-catchments and the
basin, whereas tanks and check dams have a more significant and time varying effect. The open water
surface of the interventions contributed to an increase in evaporation losses across the catchment. The
change in simulated groundwater storage with the inclusion of interventions was not as significant as
catchment-scale literature and field studies suggest. The model adaption used in this study provides
a step-change in the conceptualisation and quantification of the consequences of small-scale storage
interventions in large- or basin-scale hydrological models.
 
Publisher MDPI
 
Date 2021-05
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11874/1/sustainability-13-06129-v2.pdf
Horan, R and Wable, P S and Srinivasan, V and Baron, H E and Keller, V J D and Garg, K K and Rickards, N and Simpson, M and Houghton-Carr, H A and Rees, H G (2021) Modelling Small-Scale Storage Interventions in Semi-Arid India at the Basin Scale. Sustainability (TSI), 13 (11). pp. 1-28. ISSN 2071-1050